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THE WORLD’S ENCYCLOPEDIA 


OF 



OF 


m 



NATURE AND ART, SCIENCE AND LITERATURE; 

REPRESENTING 


ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, PHRENOLOGY, ASTRONOMY, BOTANY, GEOLOGY, NATURAL 
HISTORY, ICHTHYOLOGY, MYTHOLOGY, ORNITHOLOGY, METEOROLOGY. 
MINERALOGY, CHEMISTRY, ZOOLOGY, ENTOMOLOGY, BIOGRAPHY, ETC.; 

AND CONTAINING 

A FULL AND AUTHENTIC DESCRIPTION 


OF THE 

MOST REMARKABLE AND ASTONISHING 


PLACES, BEINGS, ANIMALS, CUSTOMS, EXPERT 
MENTS, PHENOMENA, ETC.; 


OF BOTH 

ANCIENT AND MODERN TIMES, IN ALL PARTS OF THE GLOBE, 

COMPRISING CORRECT ACCOUNTS OF THE MOST 




WITH AN APPENDIX CONTAINING CURIOUS EXPERIMENTS AND AMUSING RECREATIONS. 

NEW REVISED EDITION. 


/ 


By I. PLATT, D.D. 

ji 

ILLUSTRATED WITH ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE ENGRAVINGS. 


SOLD BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY YR 'GHT^Sj 

I MAY 26 1881 

No 


NEW YORK: 

JOHN R. ANDERSON & COMPACT, / 

No. 17 MURRAY STREET. 

Chicago: Union Publishing House. 

San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft & Company. 
Wabash, Ind. : W. B. Payne. 

































/I 3 I O S' 

- p 7 


COPYRIGHT, 1878, BY 

HENRY S. ALLEN. 


COPYRIGHT, 1881, BY 

M. S. ALLEN. 


of cqhg rB,> 

IWAlMlSSaSs 




I 





^3 




3 



4 

CONTENTS. 


8 " 




o 

IN . 


CHAPTER I. 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 


FAQ I 

Tho Human Body—The Countenance—The Eye—The Ear—The neart—The Circulation 
of the Blood— Respiration — The Hair of the Head—The Beard—Women with 
Beards—Sneezing. .. 13 


CHAPTER II. 

curiosities respecting man—( Continued ). 

Difference between the Sexes—Comparative Number of the Sexes at a Birth—Extra¬ 
ordinary Instances of Rapid Growth—Daniel Lambert—Giants—Dwarls—Kimos— 
Curious Account of the Abderites—Account of a Country in which the Inhabitants 
reside in Trees... .. 34 


CHAPTER III. 

curiosities respecting man—( Continued ). 

Astonishing Acquisitions made by Blind Persons—Wonderful Performances of a Fe¬ 
male, blind almost from Infancy—Wonderful Instances of Adroitness of Persons 
born defective in their Limbs Curious Account of Incapacity of distinguishing 
Colors—Ventriloquism—Sword-Swallowing—Indian Jugglers . 46 

CHAPTER IY. 

curiosities respecting man—( Continued ). 

Instances of Extraordinary Fasting—Wonders of Abstinence—Sleep-walking—Sleep¬ 
ing Woman of Danninald—Instances of Extraordinary Dreams—Poetical. Gram¬ 
matical, and Scientific Deaths—Anthropophagi, or Men-eaters—Account of a Wild 
Man. 65 


CHAPTER Y. 

curiosities respecting man—( Continued ). 

Striking Instances of Integrity—Shocking Instances of Ingratitude—Extraordinary 
Instances of Honour—Surprising Effects of Anger—Remarkable Effects of Fright, 
or Terror—Notable Instance of the Power of Conscience... 77 

CHAPTER YI. 

curiosities respecting man—( Continued ). 

Remarkable Instance of Memory—Surprising Instance of Skill in Numbers—Extraor¬ 
dinary Arithmetical Powers of a Child—Curious Instance of Mathematical Talent 
-Stone-eater—Poison-eater—Bletonism—Longevity. 80 


CHAPTER YH. 

CURIOSITIES respecting man—( Continued ). 

Combnstion of the Human Body, produced by the long immoderate Use of Spirituous 
Liquors. From the “Journal de Physique,” Pltiviose, Year 6: written by Pierre 
Aime Lair. ^ 


CHAPTER VIII. 

curiosities respecting man —( Continued ). 

John Elwes—Daniel Dancer—Henry Wolbv—John Henley—Simon Brown, and his Ca¬ 
rious Dedication to Queen Carolina—Edward Wortley Montague—Blaise Pascal— 

Old Parr—George Psalmanazar—John Case—John Lewis Cardiac—John Smeaton— 

George Morland—Henry Christian Heinecken—Thomas Tophatn—Zeuxis. 104 

(iii) 












IV 


CONTTENS. 


CHAPTER IX 

curiosities respecting man— (Continued). 

Nicholas Pesce—Paul Scarron—Maria Gaetana Agnesi—Anna Maria Schurman—Samuel 


Bisect, the noted Animal Instructor—John Philip Baratier—Buonaparte. Ill 

CHAPTER X. 

curiosities respecting man—( Continued ). 122 

CHAPTER XI. 

curiosities respecting man— (Concluded). isi 

CHAPTER XII. 

curiosities respecting animals. 


&ntmal Generation—Ecrmation of Animals—Preservation of Animals—Destruction of 
Animals—Animal Reproductions. . 180 


CHAPTER XIII. 

curiosities respecting animals— (Continued). 

rhc Beaver, and its Habitations—The Mole—The Frog—The Toad—The Rhinoceros- 
Crocodiles and Alligators—Fossil Crocodile—The Omithorhynchus Paradoxus— 

The Marmot, or Mountain Rat, of Switzerland. 1M 


CHAPTER XIV. 

curiosities respecting animals— (Continued). 

The Elephant—Fossil Elephant—The Chameleon—The Common Tortoise—Orang-Ou¬ 
tang—The Unicorn—The Common Seal—The Ursine Seal—American Natural Histor7 166 


CHAPTER XV. 

curiosities respecting animals— (Concluded). 

Remarkable Strength of Affection in Animals—Surprising Instances of their Sociality- 
Unaccountable Faculties possessed by some Animals—Remarkable Instances of 
Fasting in Animals—Extraordinary Adventures of a bheep—Sagacity of a Monkey 
—Astonishing Instance of Sagacity in a Horse—Sagacity of Dogs—Curious Anec¬ 
dotes of a Dog—Remarkable Dog. 184 


CHAPTER XVI. 

curiosities respecting fishes. 

The Frog-fish—Bird-catcliing Fish—The Nautilus—The Air-bladder in Fishes—Respira¬ 
tion m Fishes—Showe. of Fishes.. 196 


CHAPTER XVII. 

curiosities respecting FISHES— (Concluded). 

The Whale—Whale Fishery—The Kraken. 204 

V* 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING SERPENTS AND WORMS. 

The Scorpion—The Boa Constrictor—The American Sea Serpent—FascinatingSerpents 
—The Caterpillar—Caterpillar-eaters—The Silk-worm—The Tape-worm—The Ship- 
worm—The Lizard imbedded in Coal.. 5)13 


CHAPTER XIX. 

if 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BIRDS. 

The Common Peacock—The Egyptian Vultnre—The Secretary Vulture—The Stork— 

The Great Pelican—The Bird of Paradise—The Ostrich—The Mocking-bird of 
America—The Social Grosbeak—The Bengal Grosbeak—The Humming-bird—The 
Golden Eagle. . 22t 










CONTENTS. 


V 


CHAPTER XX. 

curiosities respecting birds—( Continued ). 

rhe Cuckoo—The Cormorant—The Great Bustard—The Alarm-bird—The Carrier, or 
Courier Pigeon—The Wild Pigeon, its multiplying Power—Singular Bird inhabiting 
a Volcano in Guadaloupe—Curious Adventure of an Owl—Curious Facts in Natural 
History—The Chick in the Egg. 24fl 

CHAPTER XXI. 

curiosities respecting birds—( Concluded ). 

Birds’ Nests—Migration of Birds—Curious Method of Bird-catching in the Faro Isles— 
Song of Birds. 251 

CHAPTER XXII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 265 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

curiosities respecting insects—( Continued ). 

The Clothier Bee—The Carpenter Bee—The Mason Bee—The Upholsterer Bee—The 
Leaf-cutter Bee—Curious Account of an Idiot Boy and Bees—Mr. Wildman’s Cu¬ 
rious Exhibitions of Bees explained. 277 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

curiosities respecting insects—( Continued ). 

The Wasp. 286 

CHAPTER XXV. 

curiosities respecting insects— {Continued). 

Ants—White Ants—Green Ants—Visiting Ants—The Ant-lion. 290 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

curiosities respecting insects— (Continued). 

The Spider—Ingenuity of the Spider—Spider tamed—Curious Anecdote of a Spider, etc. 314 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

curiosities respecting insects— {Continued). 

Luminous Insects. 319 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

curiosities .respecting insects—( Continued ). 

The Flea—On tho Duration of the Life of a Flea—The Louse... 326 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

curiosities respecting insects— (Continued). 331 

CHAPTER XXX. 

curiosities respecting insects— (Continued). 

The Common House Fly—The Hessian Fly—The May Fly—The Vegetable Fly—The 
Boat Fly—The Ephemeral Flies—Butterflies—Metamorphoses of Insects—The 
Death-watch. 339 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

curiosities respecting insects— (Continued). 

Locusts and Musquitoes, and their Uses in the Creation;—from Kirby, Spence and 

Fothergill..!. 348 











v\ 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER XXXII. 

curiosities respecting insects—( Concluded ). 

Animalcules—'The Cheese Mite—The Hydra, or Polypes. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

CURTOSITIES RESPECTING VEGETABLES. 

Curiosities in the Vegetable Kingdom—Germination in Seeds—Dissemination of Plants 
—Number of Plants upon ‘he Earth—Sensibility of Plants—The Sensitive Plant ... 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

curiosities respecting vegetables—( Continued ). 

The Cocoannt Tree—The Bread-fruit Tree—The Bannian Tree—Fountain Trees—The 
Tallow Tree—The Paper Tree—The Calabash Tree—Remarkable Oak—Dimensions, 
etc., of some of the largest Trees now growing in England—Upas, or Poison Tree .. 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

curiosities respecting vegetables—( Continued ). 

Cmrious Plant near the Cape of Good Hope—The Mandrake—Changeable Flower—Chi¬ 
nese Method of Preparing Tea—Antiquity of Sugar—Curious Effects of Cinchona, 
or Peruvian Bark—Curious Particulars of a Pound Weight of Cotton-wool—Ani¬ 
mated Stalk—'Animal Flower. 


CHAPTER XXXVI. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VEGETABLES—( Concluded ). 
CHAPTER XXXVII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING STONES. 

The Meteoric Stone—Labrador Stone—Asbestos—Mushroom Stone—The Changeable 
Stone—A Wonderful Diamond—A Singular Curiosity. 


CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MOUNTAINS. 

Natural Description of Mountains—The Peak in Derbyshire—Snowden in Wales—Skid- 
daw in Cumberland. 


CHAPTER XXXIX. 

curiosities respecting MOUNTAINS—( Continued ). 

The Andes—Pichinca—Monte Bolea—Pausilipo—Monte Nnovo—Spectre of the Broken 
— Gauts, or Indian Apennines—Pico—Written Mountains—Athos—Sulphur Moun¬ 
tains. 


CHAPTER XL. 

curiosities respecting mountains— {Continued). 

CHAPTER XLI. 

curiosities respecting mountains— ( Concluded ). 

Description of Vesuvius—Hecla—Etna.". 

CHAPTER XLII. 

curiosities respecting grottoes, caves, etc. 

Grotto in South Africa—Grotto del Cani—Grotto of Antiparos—Grotto of Guacharo— 
Snow Grotto—Cave of Fingal—Cave near Mexico—The Nitre Laves of Missouri — 
Okey Hole—Borrovvdale—Needle’s Eye. 

CHAPTER XLIII. , 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MINES. 

Diamond Mine in the Brazils—Mines of Peru—Volcanic Eruptions of Mud and Salt— 
Pitch Wells-- Visit to a Coal-pit. 











CONTENTS. 


vii 


CHAPTER XLIV. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE SEA. 

General Observations respecting the Sea, or Ocean—Particular Curiosities of the Sea- 
On the Saltucss of the Sea—On the Tides—Waves stilled by Oil. 471 


CHAPTER XLV. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING the sea—( Concluded ). 481 

CHAPTER XLVI. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING WATERFALLS, LAKES, GULFS, WHIRL¬ 
POOLS, ETC. 

The Falls of Niagara—Lake of Killamey—Lake Solfatara—Whirlpool near Suderoc— 
Maelstrom—Gulf Stream—New Island starting from the Sea. 485 

CHAPTER XL VII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BURNING SPRINGS. 

Naphtha Springs—Burning Springs in Kentucky—Hot Springs of Iceland—Ilot Springs 
of Ouachitta—Other Burning Springs. 402 

CHAPTER XLVIII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING EARTHQUAKES. m 

CHAPTER XLIX. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING WINDS, HURRICANES, ETC. 

Remarkable Winds in Egypt—Whirlwinds of Egypt—Tornado—Harmattan—Hurricane 
—Monsoons—Velocity of the Wind. 507 

CHAPTER L. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING SHOWERS, STORMS, ETC. 

Surprising Showers of Hail—Singular Effects of a Storm—The Mirage—Sand Floods— 
Showers of Gossamers—Winter in Russia. 518 


CHAPTER LI. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ICE. 

On the Greenland, or Polar Ice—On the Tremendous Concussion of Fields of Ice—Ice¬ 
bergs—Magnitude of Icebergs—The Glaciers—Shower of Ice—Remarkable Frosts.. 525 

CHAPTER LTI. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING RUINS. 

Ruin at Siwa, in Egypt—Ruins of Palmyra—Ruins of nerculancum and Pompeii— 
Ancient Ruins or Balbec—Ruins of Agrigentum, in Sicily—Ancient Grandeur of 
Carthage. 5.'M 


CHAPTER LIII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANCIENT BUILDINGS, TEMPLES, AND OTHER 

MONUMENTS OF ANTIQUITY. 

Eotpttan CrnxosTTTES : —Pompey’s Pillar—Buildings and Library of Alexandria— 
Temple of Tentyra—Palace of Mem non—Temple of Osiris. 544 

CHAPTER LIV. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BUILDINGS, ETC.—( Continued ). 

Temple of Diana at Ephesus—Laocoon—Babylon—Alhambra. 65/ 

CHAPTER LV. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING TEMPLES, ETC.—( Continued ). 

Seraglio -Museum—Colossus—and Obelisk. . 564 













mi 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER LYL 

curiosities respecting temples, etc.—( Concluded) 

inverlochy Castle—Magdalen’s Hermitage—Curiosities of Friburg—Curiosities of Augs¬ 
burg—Eecurial—Florence Statues—Great Wall of China—Floating Gardens—Curi¬ 
osity at Palermo. 574 


CHAPTER LVII. 

curiosities respecting the ark, etc. 

Curiosities respecting the Ark of Noah—The Galley of Hicro—and the Bridge of Xerxes 682 

CHAPTER LYIII. 

BASALTIC AND ROCKY CURIOSITIES. 

Giant’s Causeway—Stonehenge. 59(1 


CHAPTER LIX. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE VARIOUS CUSTOMS OF MANKIND. 

Curious Demonstrations of Friendship—Singularities of different Nations in Eating- 
Female Beauty and Ornaments—Various Modes of Salutation—Maiden—Lad.v of the 
Lamb—Curious Custom respecting Catching a Hare—Extraordinary Ancient Custom 594 

CHAPTER LX. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE CUSTOMS OF MANKIND—( Continued ). 

Marriage Ceremonies of different Nations—Marriage Custom of the Japanese—Bacon 
Flitch Custom at Dunmow, Essex—On the Origin of Rings in general—Matrimonial 
Ring—Extraordinary Marriage Custom—Hand-fasting. 602 

CHAPTER LXI. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE CUSTOMS OF MANKIND—( Continued ). 

Funeral Ceremonies of the Ancient Ethiopians—Funeral Ceremonies of the Chinese— 
Ancient Funeral Ceremonies of the Dajakkese—Ancient Modes of Mourning— 
Feasts among the Ancients of various Nations—Feast of Lanterns. . 609 

CHAPTER LXII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE CUSTOMS OF MANKIND—( Continued ). 

Origin of the Sheriff’s counting Hobnails—Origin of the Order of the Garter—Origin 
and History of the Claim and Allowance of the “Benefit of Clergy’’ in Criminal 
Convictions—Curious Tenures—The Origin of May Poles and Garlands—Curious 
Custom at Oakham—Curious Practice in North Holland. 622 

CHAPTER LXIII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE CUSTOMS OF MANKIND— (Continued). 

Shrovetide—Candlemas Day—Passion or Holy Week—Origin of Valentine’s Day—Ori¬ 
gin of Plough Monday—New Year’s Gifts—Chiltern Hundreds—Origin of the term 
“ John Bull ’’—Origin of the Old Adage, “ If it rains on St. Swithin’s Day, it will 
rain Forty Days afterwards”—Curfew Bell. 680 

CHAPTER LXIV. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE CUSTOMS OF MANKIND.—( Concluded .) 

Ancient Religious, Mysteries and Oracles—Curious -Baptism—Kalmuck Praying Ma¬ 
chines—Curious Penance at Calcutta. . 636 

CHAPTER LXV. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VARIOUS PHENOMENA OR APPEARANCES 

IN NATURE. 

CHAPTER LXYI. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VARIOUS PHENOMENA OR APPEARANCES 

IN nature—( Continued ). 

Extraordinary Properties and Effects of Lightning—Thunder Rod—Fire-balls—Terrible 
Effects of Electrified Clouds—Surprising Effects of extreme Cold—Astonishing 
Expansive Force of Freezing. 651 











CONTENTS. 


IX 


CHAPTER LXVII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VARIOUS PHENOMENA OR APPEARANCES 

IN NATURE—( Continued ). 

W atcr-spout—Fata Morgana—Fairy Rings—Sheet of Phosphoric Fire—Phosphorus ... 663 

CHAPTER LXYIII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VARIOUS PHENOMENA OR APPEARANCES 

IN nature—( Continued). 

Bpots in the Sun—Diminution of the Sun—Parhelia, or Mock Snns—Eclipseg—Halo, or 
Corona, and similar Appearances—Falling or Shooting Star—Volcanoes in the Moon 671 

CHAPTER LXIX. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VARIOUS PHENOMENA OR APPEARANCES 

IN NATURE—( Concluded ). 

The Aurora Borealis. . 684 


CHAPTER LXX, 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING GALVANISM. 689 


CHAPTER LXXI. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAGNETISM. 693 


CHAPTER LXXII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE ARTS, ETC. 

Early Invention of several useful Arts—Automaton—Androides—Extraordinary Pieces 
of Clock-work —Heidelberg Clock — Strasburg Clock — Clepsydra — Invention of 
Watches. 698 


CHAPTER LXXIII. 

curiosities respecting the arts—( Continued). 

Telegraph—Spectacle of a 8 ea-fight at Rome—Wooden Eacle and Iron Fly—Whitehead’s 
Ship—Scaliot’s Lock, elc.—Praxiteles’ Venus—Weaving Engine—Hydraulic Birds— 
Herschel’s Grand Telescope—Boverick’s Curiosities—Bunzlau Curiosities—Artificial 
Flying.. 708 


CHAPTER LXXIV. 

curiosities respecting the arts —{Concluded). 

Burning Glasses—Ductility of Glass—Remarkable Ductility and Extensibility of Gold— 
Pin-making—Needles—Shoes—The Great Bell of Moscow . 717 


CHAPTER LXXV. 


CURIOSITIES IN HISTORY, ETC. 727 

CHAPTER LXXYI. 

CURIOSITIES IN HISTORY, ETC.—( Continued ). 782 


CHAPTER LXXVII. 

curiosities in history, etc.—( Continued ). 737 

CHAPTER LXXVIII. 

curiosities in history, etc.—( Continued ). 

Long Absent Husband returned—Curious Historical Fact—The most Extraordinary 

Fact on Record- The Travelling Faquirs. ‘“*0 







X 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER LXXIX. 

CURIOSITIES IN HISTORY, ETC.— ( Concluded). 

Great, Events from Little Causes—Dreadful Instances of the Plague in Europe—Fire of 
Loudon—Vicar of Bray—Curious Account of the Ceremonies at Queen Elizabeth’s 
Dinner—A Blacksmith’s Wife become a Queen—Swine’s Concert. ... TIC 


CHAPTER LXXX. 

CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. 

Origin of the Materials of W T riting—Minute Writing—Titles of Books—Literary Labour 
and Perseverance—Curious Account of the Scarcity of Books—Celebrated Libraries 
—Book of Blunders—Curious Account of the Means of Intellectual Improvement in 
London.... 761 


CHAPTER LXXXI. 

curiosities of literature—( Continued ). 

Origin of tke Word “ News ”—Origin of Newspapers—Instances of New Studies in Old 
Age—Literary Shoemakers—Imprisonment of the Learned—Singular Customs 
annually observed by the Company of Stationers—Book of Sports—Origin of Cards 
—Explanation of all the Letters on a Guinea. 7G2 


CHAPTER LXXXTI. 

CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE— (Concluded). 

Curious Address to the late Queen Charlotte—Quaint Lines on Queen Elizabeth—Cu¬ 
rious Names adopted in the Civil Wars—Curious Extracts from the Will of an Earl 
of Pembroke—Curious Letter from Pomare. King of Otaheite, to the Missionary 
Society—Curious Love Lettwr and Answer—Creeds of the Jews—The Unbeliever’s 
Creed—Explanation of the Terms “ Whig ” and “ Tory ”. 709 

CHAPTER LXXXIII. 

MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 

Monster—Individuation—Reproduction—Peruke—Centaurs and Lapithae. 777 


CHAPTER LXXXIV. 

miscellaneous curiosities— (Continued). 

Spontaneous Inflammation—Diseases peculiar to Particular Countries—Injuries from 
Swallowing the Stones of Fruits—Extraordinary Surgical Operation—Extraor¬ 
dinary Cures by Burning—Illumination by Electricity—Divisibility of Matter. 78€ 


CHAPTER LXXXY. 

miscellaneous curiosities—( Continued). 

The Jew’s Harp—Remarkable Aqueducts—Criclmp Linn—Eddystone Rocks—Dismal 
Swamp—Curious Wine-cellar—Mint of Segovia—Remarkable Mills—Silk Mill at 
Derby—Portland Vase—Murdering Statue—A Curious Pulpit. 795 


CHAPTER LXXXYI. 

miscellaneous curiosities—( Continued). 

Extraordinary Echoes and Whimpering Places—Natural Productions resembling Arti¬ 
ficial Compositions — Remarkable. Lamps — Perpetual Fire — Magical Drum — An 
Extraordinary Cannon—Curious Account of Old Bread—Substitute for Spectacles 
—Winter Sleep of Animals and Plants. 802 


CHAPTER LXXXYII. 

miscellaneous cuuiosities—( Continued). 

Lama—Nun—Mahometan Paradise—Opinions respecting Hell—London—Coins of the 
Kings of England—Coinage and Coins of the United States.. 


810 











CONTENTS. 


XI 


CHAPTER LXXXVIII. 

miscellaneous curiosities—( Continued !). 

The Five Human Races—Rome—Rome from the Capitol—Cologne Cathedral—Restruc- 
of the Bastile—Cleopatra’s Barge—Jewish High-Priest—Invention of Printing ... 

CHAPTER LXXXIX. 

miscellaneous curiosities—( Continued ). 

Wonderful Fast of Hr. Tanner—Other Celebrated Fasts—Human Work and Human 
Waste—Spirit Rappings—The Man-Turtle—Mesmerism—Hypnotism—Ice Factories 
— Pulque—Celluloid—Petroleum, Benzine. 

CHAPTER XC. 

miscellaneous curiosities—( Continued ). 

The First Steamboat—Steamship Great Eastern—Ship Great Harry—Pacific Railroad— 
Great Trestle Bridge on Pacific Railroad—Sutro Tunnel—Flying Machine—Dis¬ 
covery of Gold.. 


CHAPTER XCI. 

miscellaneous curiosities—( Concluded ). 

New Mode of Telegraphy—Telephone—Phonograph—Photophone—Electric Light— 
Elevated Railroads—Great Suspension Bridge, New York City—Central Park, New 
York City—Egyptian Obelisk, New York Central Park—Mammoth Cave of Ken¬ 
tucky-Hot Springs of Arkansas. 


APPENDIX. 

Containing Curious Experiments and Amusing Recreations 


817 

S24 

835 

839 

848 
















■ 









. 












. 




' 



























* 
















































CONTENTS OF APPENDIX. 


PAS3 

A Person having an even Number of Counters in one Iland, and an odd Number in the 

other, to tell in which Hand each of them is ... . 848 

A Person having fixed on a Number in his Miud, to tell him what Number it is. 849 

Another Method of discovering a Number thought on. . 849 

To tell the Number a Person has fixed upon, without asking him any Questions. 849 

A curious Recreation—The Blind Abbess and her Nuns. 851 

Any Number being named, add a Figure, which shall make it divisible by 9. 851 

A Person having made choice of several Numbers, to tell him what Number will 

exactly divide the Sum of those which he has chosen. 852 

To find the Difference between any two Numbers, the greater of which is unknown.... 852 

A Person striking a Figure out of the Sum of two given Numbers, to tell him what 

that Figure was. 853 

By knowing the last Figure of the Product of two Numbers, to tell the other Figures.. 853 

A curious Recreation with a Hundred Numbers, usually called the Magical Century_ 854 

A Person in Company having privately put a Ring on one of his fingers, to Name the 

Person, the Hand, the Finger, and the Joint on which it is placed. 855 

To make a Deaf Man hear.. 856 

When two Chests are like one another, and of equal Weight, being filled with different 

Metals, to distinguish the one from the other. 85G 

ToJind the Burden of a Ship at Sea or in a River. 857 

To Measure the Depth of the Sea. 857 

Method of Melting Steel, and causing it to Liquefy. 858 

How to dispose two little Figures, so that one shall light a Candle and the other put 

it out. . 858 

The Camera Obscura, or Dark Chamber.. 858 

To show the Spots in the Sun’s Disc. 860 

To magnify small Objects by means of the Sun’s Rays. 860 

To cut a Looking-glass or Crystal without the help of a Diamond . 861 

By the means of two plain Looking-glasses, to make a Face appear under different 

forms. 861 

To know which of two different Waters is the lightest, without any Scales. 862 

To know if a suspicions Piece of Money is good or bad. 862 

To hold a Glass full of Water with the Mouth downwards, so that the Water shall not 

run out.. 88-3 

The Mysterious Watch. 863 

To make a Glass of Water appear to boil... 863 

How to make a Cork fly out of a Bottle. . 864 

To produce Gas Light on a small scale. 864 

Thunder Powder. 864 

To tell, by the Dial of a Watch, at what hour any Person intends to rise. 864 

Experiments showing the Power of Attraction and Repulsion. 865 

Experiments respecting the Centre of Gravity. 866 

Experiment showing the Power of Steam. 867 

Diminution of Heat by Evaporation. 867 

Experiment to ascertain the Strength of Spirits of Wine. s 67 

To ascertain the Strength of Brine. 867 

Experiments showing the Pressure and Elasticity of Air. 867 

Experiments respecting Sound. 868 

Electrical Experiments. 869 

Electricity of Silk Stockings. 870 











































XIV 


CONTENTS OF APPENDIX. 


PAGE 

To suspend a Ping by a Thread that has been burnt. 872 

Chemical Illuminations. 872 

A Flash of Lightning when one enters a Room with a lighted Candle. 872 

The Fiery Fountain. S72 

A Lamp that will burn Twelve Months without replenishing. 872 

The Magic Oracle. 873 

Method of constructing a Voltaic Pile.,. 875 

Magnetical Experiments. 876 

Light produced by Friction, even under Water. 878 

Hydraulic Experiments. . 879 

Another Hydraulic Experiment, called the Miraculous Vessel. 880 

A curious Hydraulic Experiment, called Tantalus's Cup . . 880 

A curious Chemical Experiment, called the Tree of Diana. 880 

A remarkable Experiment, called Prince Rupert’s Drops . . .. 881 

How to make Sympathetic Inks of various Kinds. 881 

Other Sympathetic Inks. 883 

A Sympathetic Ink which appears by being w r etted with water. 884 

Experiments with Sympathetic Ink. 884 

How to Write on Glass by means of the Rays of the Sun. 886 

To produce different Colors, by pouring a colorless Liquor into a clean Glass. 886 

To produce a Color which appears and disappears by the Influence of the Air . 886 

To turn a colorless Liquor Black, by adding a White Powder to it. 887 

Freezing Mixture. 887 

Experiments with the Microscope. 887 

Experiments with the Thermometer and Barometer. 891 

Rules for judging of and predicting the State of the Weather by the Barometer. S92 

Method of Preserving Birds. 893 

To take the Impression of the Wings of a Butterfly in all their Colors. 894 

To take the Impression of a Leaf of any Tree, Plant, or Shrub, with all its Veins. 894 

Experiments respecting Colors, etc. 895 

A Quantity of Eggs being broken, to find how many there were without remembering 

the Number. 898 

To find the least Number of Weights, that will weigh from One Pound to Forty. 898 

A Number of Metals being mixed together in one Mass, to find the Quantity of each of 

them. 899 

To make a mutual Exchange of the Liquor in two Bottles, without using any other 

Vessel.* . 900 

How to make a Peg that will exactly fit Three different Holes. 900 

To place Three Sticks upon a Table in such a manner that they may appear to be 

unsupported by anything but themselves. 901 

How to prevent a heavy Body from falling, by adding another heavier Body to it on that 

side toward which it inclines. 901 

To make a false Balance that shall appear perfectly just when empty, or when loaded 

with unequal Weights. 901 

now to lift up a Bottle with a Straw, or any other slight Substance ... 902 

To make a Pen, which holds One Hundred Sheep, hold double the Number, by only 

adding two Hurdles more. 902 

How to make a Piece of Metal, or any other heavy Body, swim upon the Surface of 

Water like a Cork. 903 

How to prove that Two anc Two do not make Four. 904 

Method of Secret Writing. 904 

Optical Experiments.877, 878, 907 

How to make a violent Tempest by means of artificial Rain and Hail . 908 

Magic Square. 908 


























































LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Frontispiece, Rome from the Capitol. (Face Title). to pace page 

Daniel Lambert and George Morland. . 40 

Indian Chief, Black Buffalo. 0 t 

Fear. 70 

Orator Henley and John Elwes . 106 

Kapoleor I.. 126 

Musk Ox and American Bison. 142 

Gazelle and Antelope. 146 

Brown Bear and Grizzly Bear... 148 

Fossils—Iguanodon. 156 

Rhinoceros . 162 

Vampire Bat and Rougette. 166 

Hunting the White Elephant... 168 

The Orang-Outang. 178 

Seal Hunting. 18t) 

St. Bernard Dog and the Iceland Dog. 184 

Esquimaux Dog and Bull Dog . 186 

Danish Dog and Fox Hound . 188 

Various specimens of the Monkey Tribe. IDO 

Persian Greyhound and Pointer. 192 

Animal Sagacity. 194 

The Frog-Fish. 196 

Silk-worms. 

gumming Birds. .. 236 

Birds in the Tropics. 240 

The Great Bustard and Ostriches of South Africa. 243 

Indian Bird’s Nest. 252 

The Honey Bee. 266 

Cedars of Lebanon. 374 

Norway Spruce Fir . 378 

Effects of an Earthquake. 499_ 

Sand Flood in the Deserts of Arabia. 499 

Arctic Regions . 525 

Icebergs of Greenland and Spitzbergen. 526 

Traveling in the Arctic Regions. 628 

Navigating among the Icebergs ..... 532 

Palmyra..<.. 531 

The Parthenon at Athens . 538 

Amphitheatre of Yespasian. 540 

Roman War Chariot. 542 

Thyatira. 544 

Pyramids of Gozeh, Egypt . 546 

Temple of Tentyra in Egypt. 550 

Temple of the Ancient Egyptians at Thebes. 554 

Interior of Ancient Roman House . 563 

Church of Notre Dame at Paris . 564 

City of Damascus. 570 

Cocoanut Trees and Pyramids of Egypt. 571 

The Giant’s Causeway. 591 

The Spectre of the Broken. 591 / 


J/lU 

O 




o U 


-v 































































XVI. 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 


TO FACE PAGE 


The Emperor of China. 59G 

A Chinese School . 600 

Witnessing a battle from the clouds. 604 

Egyptian Shop-keeper . 606 

Roman Soldiers and Consul. 618 

Ancient Persian Soldiers . 620 

The Fata Morgana as observed in the Harbor of Messina. 665 

Parhelia, or Mock Sun—The lguis Fatuus . 673 

Falling Stars—Monsoon in India.. 681 

Aurora Borealis, in Arctic Regions and Scotland . 684 

Navigating the Air. 710 

Glass Blowing, Process of. 716 

Cassar landing in Great Britain . 730 

Caesar crossing the Rubicon . 732 

Eddystone Lighthouse . 796 

Races of Man. 816 

Cleopatra’s Barge. 818 

Destruction of the Bastile... 821 

A Jewish Priest . 823 

John Gutenberg. 823 

Ship Great Harry. 836 

Elevated Railroads. 842 

Suspension Bridge. 844 

Egyptian Obelisk (Cleopatra’s Needle). 846 

Diagrams of Wonderful Experiments. 878 


TO FACE PAGE 

Muscles of the Humau Body, Profile View 16 
Muscles of the Human Body, Back View 18 


Simon Brown . 168 

Bhise Pascal .. 108 

Edward Wortley Montague . 110 

George Psalmanzar. 110 

John Lewis Cardiac . 112 

John Smeaton. 112 

John Case.114 

Thomas Topharn. 114 

Zeuxis. 116 

Nicholas Pesce. 116 

Paul Scarron. 118 

Samuel Bisset . 118 

Maria Galtana Agnesi.. 122 

Anna Maria Schurman . 122 

Richard Savage. 128 


TO FACE PAGE 


William Huntington. 128 

The Ornithorhyncus Paradoxus.164 

Terrible Adventure with a Shark. 198 

Whale Fishery. 208 

The Sea Serpent . 218 

Bird Catcher at St. Ivilda. 260 

The Ant-Eater. 290 

Ingenuity of the Spider. . 314 

The Bannian Tree. 372 

The Paper Tree. 376 

The Peak Cavern.410' 

King Solomon’s Ancient City of Baalbec. 536 

Pompey’s Pillar. 548 

The Great Wall of China . 578 

Ancient Method of Storming a Fort. 616 

WaterSpouts.663 

Great Bell of Moscow.726 































































INTRODUCTION 


It was well observed by Lord Bacon, that “It would much 
conduce to the magnanimity and honour of man, if a collection 
were made of tne extraordinaries of human nature, principally 
out of the reports of history; that is, what is the last and highest 
pitch to which man’s nature, of itself, hath ever reached, in all 
the perfection of mind and body. If the wonders of human nat¬ 
ure, and virtues as well of mind as of body, were collected into a 
volume, they might serve as a calendar of human triumphs.” 

The present work not only embraces the Curiosities of human 
nature, but of Nature and Art in general, as well as Science and 
Literature. Surrounded with wonders, and lost in admiration, the 
inquisitive mind of man is ever anxious to know the hidden 
springs that put these wonders in motion; he eagerly inquires 
for some one to take him by the hand and explain to him the cu¬ 
riosities of the universe. And though the works of nature are 
great, and past finding out, and we cannot arrive at the perfection 
of science, nor discover the secret impulses which nature obeys, 
yet can we by reading, study, and investigation dissipate much of 
the darkness in which we are enveloped, and dive far beyond the 
surface of this multifarious scene of things. The noblest employ¬ 
ment of the human understanding is to contemplate the works of 
the great Creator of the boundless universe, and to trace the 
marks of infinite wisdom, power, and goodness throughout the 
whole. 

A considerable portion of the following pages is devoted to 
Curiosities in the works of Nature. It also presents to the reader 
a view of the great achievements of the human intellect in the 
discoveries of science, and the wonderful operations of the skill, 
power, and industry of man in the invention and improvement of 
the arts, in the construction of machines, and in the buildings 
and other ornaments the earth exhibits, as trophies to the glory of 
the human race. 

The work is divided into ninety-one chapters. The Curiosi¬ 
ties respecting Man occupy eleven chapters. The next four chap¬ 
ters are devoted to Animals ; then two to Fishes ; one to Serpents 



XVI11 


INTRODUCTION. 


and Worms; three to Birds ; eleven to Insects ; six to Vegeta¬ 
bles ; three to Mountains; two to Grottoes, Caves, etc.; one to 
Mines; two to the Sea ; one to Lakes, Whirl pools, etc.; one tc 
Burning Springs ; one to Earthquakes ; one to Remarkable Winds; 
one to Showers, Storms, etc. ; one to Ice ; one to Ruins; four to 
Buildings, Temples, and other Monmnents of Antiquity; and one 
to Basaltic and Rocky Curiosities. The fifty-eighth chapter is 
devoted to the Ark of Noah, the Galley of Hiero, and the Bridge 
of Xerxes. The next six chapters detail at length the various 
Customs of Mankind in different parts of the World, and also ex¬ 
plain many Old Adages and Sayings. The next five chapters ex¬ 
hibit a variety of curious phenomena in nature, such as the Ignis 
Fatuus, Thunder and Lightning, Fire Balls, Water Spouts, Fairy 
Rings, Spots in the Sun, Volcanoes in the Moon, Eclipses, Shoot¬ 
ing Stars, Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights, etc., etc. The 
seventieth chapter is on Galvanism. The seventy-first on Mag¬ 
netism. The next three chapters delineate the principal Curiosi¬ 
ties respecting the Arts. Then follow five chapters on some of 
the principal Curiosities in History; three on the Curiosities of 
Literature ; and nine on Miscellaneous Curiosities. 

Truthful descriptions are given of the finest Buildings, the most 
remarkable Ruins ; of the most extensive Libraries ; of Animals, 
their propagation, nature and habits; of Wonderful Automatons 
and strange Machines ; of Icebergs and Hot Springs; of huge 
Mountains and deep Caverns ; of Bees and Birds ; of the Ant and 
the Beaver ; of Mines, Mining, Currency, and Coins ; of Diseases 
and Cures ; of Mesmerism and Galvanism ; of Feasts and Famines; 
of Female Beauty, how to promote and how to injure it; of splen¬ 
did Palaces and gorgeous Temples; of Scientific Investigations 
and priceless Discoveries ; of Music and Musical Instruments ; of 
Microscopic and Telescopic Wonders; of Human Perfections and 
Monstrosities; of Lightning, Thunder, Tornadoes, Cyclones; of 
Virulent Poisons and their Antidotes ; and of the other wonders 
of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. 

An Appendix is added, containing a number of easy, innocent, 
amusing Experiments and Recreations. 

The Compiler trusts the work will afford both entertainment 
and instruction for the leisure hour of the Philosopher or the La¬ 
borer, the Gentleman or the Mechanic. In short, all classes may 
find in the present work something conducive to their pleasure 
and improvement, as it will afford a constant source of subjects 
for interesting and agreeable conversation. 


THE 


Book of Wonders and Curiosities. 


CHAP. 1. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

1 he Human Body—the Countenance—the Ei/e—the Ear the 

Heart the Circulation of the Blood — Respiration—the Han 
oj the Head the Heard Women with Beards — Sneezing. 

“ Come, gentle reader, leave all meaner things 
To low ambition, and the pride of kings. 

Let us, since life can little more supply 
Than just to look about us, and to die; 

Expatiate free o’er all this scene of Man, 

A mighty maze! but not without a plan. 

V wild, where weeds and llow’rs piomiscuous shoot; 

Or garden, tempting with forbidden fruit. 

Together let us beat this ample field, 

1 ry what the open, what the covert yield; 

The latent tracts, the giddy heights, explore, 

Of all who blindly creep, or sightless soar: 

Eye nature’s walks, shoot folly as it flies, 

And catch the manners living as they rise; 

Laugh where we must, be candid where we can, 

But vindicate The ways of God to man.” 

W e shall, in the first place, enter on the consideration oi 
The Curiosities of the Human Body.— The following 
account is abridged from the works of the late Drs. Hunter 
and Paley. 

Dr. Hunter shows that all the parts of the human frame are 
requisite to the wants and well-being of such a creature as 
man. He observes, that, first the mind, the thinking imma¬ 
terial agent, must be provided with a place of immediate resi¬ 
dence, which shall have all the requisites for the union of 
6pint and body ; accordingly, she is provided with the brain, 
where she dwells as governor and superintendant of the whole 
fabric. 

In the next place, as she is to hold a correspondence with 
all the material beings around her, she must be supplied with 
organs fitted to receive the different kinds of impression which 


✓ 



14 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAM, 


they will make. In fact, therefore, we see that she is pro¬ 
vided with the organs of sense, as we call them: the eye is 
adapted to light; the ear to sound ; the nose to smell; the 
mouth to taste ; and the skin to touch. 

Further, she must be furnished with organs of communication 
between herself in the brain, and those organs of sense ; to 
give her information of all the impressions that are made upon 
them; and she must have organs between herself in the brain, 
and every other part of the body, fitted to convey her com¬ 
mands and influence over the whole. For these purposes the 
nerves are actually given. They are soft white chords which 
rise from the brain, the immediate residence of the mind, and 
disperse themselves in branches through all parts of the body 
They convey all the different kinds of sensations to the mind 
in the brain; and likewise carry out from thence all her com¬ 
mands to the other parts of the body. They are intended to 
be occasional monitors against all such impressions as might 
endanger the well-being of the whole, or of any particular 
part; which vindicates the Creator of all things, in having ac¬ 
tually subjected us to those many disagreeable and painful 
sensations which we are exposed to from a thousand accidents 
in life. 

Moreovei, the mind, in this corporeal system, must be en¬ 
dued with the power of moving from place to place; that she 
may have intercourse with a variety of objects; that she may 
fly from such as are disagreeable, dangerous, or hurtful; and 
pursue such as are pleasant and useful to her. And accord¬ 
ingly she is furnished with limbs, with muscles and tendons. 
the instruments of motion, which are found in every part of 
the fabric where motion is necessary. 

But to support, to give firmness and shape to the fabric; 
to keep the softer parts in their proper places; to give fixed 
points for, and the proper directions to its motions, as well as 
to protect some of the more important and tender organs from 
external injuries, there must be some firm prop-work inter¬ 
woven through the whole. And in fact, for such purposes 
the bones are given. 

The prop-work is not made with one rigid fabric, for th. t 
would prevent motion. Therefore there are a number of bone 

These pieces must all be firmly bound together, to prevent 
their dislocation. And this end is perfectly well answered by 
the ligaments. 

The extremities of these bony pieces, where they move and 
rub upon one another, must have smooth and slippery sur¬ 
faces for easy motion. This is most happily provided for, by 
the cartilages and mucus of the joints. 

The interstices of all these parts must be filled up with 
some soft and ductile matter, which shall keep them in their 


1 h 


THE HUMAN BODY. 

places, unite them, and at the same time allow them to move 
a little upon one another; these purposes are answered by the 
cellular membrane, or edipose substance. 

There must be an outward covering over the whole appa¬ 
ratus, both to give it compactness, and to defend it from a 
thousand injuries ; which, in fact, are the very purposes ol 
the skin and other integuments. 

Say, what the various hones so wisely wrought ? 

How was their frame to such perfection brought ? 

What did their ligures for their uses fit. 

Their numbers fix, and joints adapted knit; 

And made them all in that just order stand, 

Which motion, strength, and ornament, demand 7 

Blackmore. 

Lastly, the mind being formed for society and intercourse 
with beings of her own kind, she must be endued with powers 
of expressing and communicating her thoughts by some vi¬ 
sible marks or signs, which shall be both easy to herself, and 
admit of great variety. And accordingly she is provided with 
the organs and faculty of speech, by which she can throw out 
signs with amazing facility, and vary them without end. 

Thus we have built up an animal body, which would seem 
to be pretty complete; but as it is the nature of matter to be 
altered and worked upon by matter, so in a very little time 
such a living creature must be destroyed, if there is no pro¬ 
vision for repairing the injuries which she must commit upon 
herself, and those which she must be exposed to from without. 
Therefore a treasure of blood is actually provided in the heart 
and vascular system, full of nutritious and healing particles; 
fluid enough to penetrate into the minutest parts of the ani¬ 
mal; impelled by the heart, and conveyed by the arteries, it 
washes every part, builds up what was broken down, and 
sweeps away the old and useless materials. Hence we see 
the necessity or advantage of the heart and arterial system . 

What more there was of the blood than enough to repair 
the present damages of the machine, must not be lost, but 
should be returned again to the heart; and for this purpose 
the venous system is provided. These requisites in the animal 
explain the circulation of the blood, a priori.* 

All this provision, however, would not be sufficient; for 
the store of blood would soon be consumed, and the fabric 
would break down, if there was not a provision made by fresh 
supplies. Thesf wc observe, in fact, are profusely scattered 
round he in the «nimal and vegetable kingdoms ; and she is 
furnished with hands, the fittest instruments that could be con¬ 
nived for gathering them, and for preparing them in their 
varieties for the mouth. 

* This subject will be more fully explained hereafter. 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 


16 


But these supplies, which we call food, must be considera¬ 
bly changed; they must be converted into blood. Theretou" 
she is provided with teeth for cutting and bruising the food, 
and with a stomach for melting it down; in short, with all 
the organs subservient to digestion: the finer parts of the ali¬ 
ments only can be useful in the constitution; these must be 
taken up and conveyed into the blood, and the dregs must be 
thrown off. With this view, the intestinal canal is provided, 
it separates the nutritious parts, which we call chyle, to be 
conveyed into the blood by the system of the absorbent ves¬ 
sels; and the coarser parts pass downwards to be ejected. 

We have now got our animal not only furnished with what 
is wanting for immediate existence, but also with powers of 
protracting that existence to an indefinite length of time. 
But its duration, we may presume, must necessarily be li¬ 
mited; for as it is nourished, grows, and is raised up to its 
full strength and utmost perfection; so it must in time, in 
common with all material beings, begin to decay, and then 
hurry on into final ruin. 

Thus we see, by the imperfect survey which human reason 
is able to take of this subject, that the animal man must 
necessarily be complex in his corporeal system, and in its 
operations. 

He must have one great and general system, the vascular, 
branching through the whole circulation: another, the ner¬ 
vous, with its appendages—-the organs of sense, for every 
kind of feeling: and a third, for the union and connection of 
all these parts. 

Besides these primary and general systems, he requires 
others, which may be more local or confined: one, for strength, 
support, and protection,—the bony compages : another, for 
the requisite motions of the parts among themselves, as well 
as for moving from place to place,—the muscular system: an¬ 
other to prepare nourishment for the daily recruit of the body, 
—the digestive organs. 

Dr. Paley observes, that, of all the different systems in the 
human body, the use and necessity are not more apparent, 
than the wisdom and contrivance which have been exerted, in 
putting them all into the most compact and convenient form: 
in disposing them so, that they shall mutually receive from, and 
give helps to one another: and that all, or many of the parts, 
shall not only answer their principal end or purpose, but 
operate successfully and usefully in a variety of secondary 
ways. If we consider the whole animal machine in this light, 
and compare it with any machine in which human art has 
exerted its utmost, we shall be convinced, beyond the possi¬ 
bility of doubt, that there are intelligence and power far sur¬ 
passing what humanity can boast of. 



MUSCLES OF 1 HE HUMAN BODV — FROF1I :• V{ A' 














































* 











- 

. • 

. ' 

, . 






rHE HUMAN BODY. 


17 


One superiority in the natural machine is peculiarly striking. 
- In machines of human contrivance or art, there is no inter¬ 
nal power, no principle in the machine itself, by which it can 
alter and accommodate itself to injury which it may suffer, or 
make up any injury which admits of repair. But in the na¬ 
tural machine, the animal body, this is most wonderfully pro¬ 
vided for, by internal powers in the machine itself; many of 
which are not more certain and obvious ill their effects, than 
they are above all human comprehension as to the manner 
and means of their operation. Thus, a wound heals up of 
itself; a broken bone is made firm again by a callus; a dead 
part is separated and thrown off’; noxious juices are driven out 
by some of the emunctories ; a redundancy is removed by 
some spontaneous bleeding; a bleeding naturally stops of 
itself; and the loss is in a measure compensated, by a contract¬ 
ing power in the vascular system, which accommodates the ca¬ 
pacity of the vessels to the quantity contained. The stomach 
gives intimation when the supplies have been expended ; repre¬ 
sents, with great exactness, the quantity and quality, of what 
is wanted in the present state of the machine ; and in propor¬ 
tion as she meets with neglect, rises in her demand, urges her 
petition in a louder tone, and with more forcible arguments 
For its protection, an animal body resists heat and cold in a 
very wonderful manner, and preserves an equal temperature 
in a burning and in a freezing atmosphere. 

A farther excellence or superiority in the natural machine, 
if possible, still more astonishing, more beyond all human 
comprehension, than what we have been speaking of, is the 
distinction of sexes, and the effects of their united powers. 
Besides those internal powers of self-preservation in each in¬ 
dividual, when two of them, of different sexes, unite, they are 
endued with powers of producing other animals or machines 
like themselves, which again are possessed of the same powers 
of producing others, and so of multiplying the species without 
end These are powers which mock all human invention or 
imitation. They are characteristics of the Divine Architect .— 
Thus far Paley. 

Galen takes notice, that there are in the human body above 
600 muscles, in each of which there are, at least, 10 several 
intentions, or due qualifications, to be observed; so that, 
about the muscles alone, no less than 6000 ends and aims are 
to be attended to! The bones are reckoned to be 284; and 
the distinct scopes or intentions of these are above 40 —in all, 
about 12,000! and thus it is, in some proportion, with all the 
other parts, the skin, ligaments, vessels, and humours; but more 
especially with the several vessels, which do, in regard to 
their great variety, and multitude of their seve al intentions 
very much exceed the homogeneous parts. 

1. C 


18 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN 


-How august. 

How complicate, how wonderful, is man ! 

How passing wonder He who made him such !— 

From different natures marvellously mixt;— 

Though sully'd and dishonour'd , still divine! Yaujyj 

“ Come! all ye nations ! bless the Lord, 

To him your grateful homage pay: 

Your voices raise with one accord, 

Jehovah’s praises to display. 

From clay our complex frames he moulds, 

And succours us in time of need : 

Like sheep when wandering from their folds, 

He calls us back, and does us feed. 

Then thro’ the world let’s shout his praise. 

Ten thousand million tongues should join, 

To heav’n their thankful incense raise, 

And sound their Maker’s love divine. 

When rolling years have ceas’d their rounds, 

Yet shall his goodness onward tend; 

For his great mercy has no bounds, 

His truth and love shall never end!” 

So curious is the texture or form of the human body in 
every part, and withal so “ fearfully and wonderfully made/’ 
that even atheists, after having carefully surveyed the frame 
of it, and viewed the fitness and usefulness of its various 
parts, and their several intentions, have been struck with 
wonder, and their souls kindled into devotion towards the 
all-wise Maker of such a beautiful frame. And so convinced 
was Galen of the excellency of this piece of divine workman¬ 
ship, that he is said to have allowed Epicurus a hundred years 
to find out a more commodious shape, situation, or texture, 
for any one part of the human body! Indeed, no understand¬ 
ing can be so low and mean, no heart so stupid and insensible, 
as not plainly to see, that nothing but Infinite Wisdom could, 
in so wonderful a manner, have fashioned the bodv of man, 
and inspired into it a being of superior faculties, whereby He 
teacheth us more than the beasts of the field, and maketh us 
wiser than the fowls of the heaven. 

-Thrice happy men, 

And sons of men, whom God hath thus advanc’d; 

Created in his image, here to dwell, 

And worship him; and, in return, to rule 

O’er all his works. Milton. 

We now proceed to consider The Curiosities of the 
Human Countenance. —On this subject we shall derive 
cons’derable assistance from the same German philosopher 
that was quoted in the last section. Indeed, we shall make a 
liberal use of Sturm’s Reflections in our delineations of the 
Curiosities of the human frame. 







MUSCLES OF THE HUMAN BODY.—BACK VIEW. 




































































THE .COUNTENANCE. 


19 


The exterior of the human body at once declares the su¬ 
periority of man over all living creatures. His Face , directed 
towards the heavens, prepares us to expect that dignified ex¬ 
pression which is so legibly inscribed upon his features ; and 
bom the countenance of man we may judge of his important 
destination, and high prerogatives. When the soul rests in 
undisturbed tranquillity, the features of the face are calm anti 
composed ; but when agitated by emotions, and tossed by 
contending passions, the countenance becomes a living pic¬ 
ture, in which every sensation is depicted with equal force 
and delicacy. Each affection of the mind has its particular 
impression, and every change of countenance denotes some 
secret emotion of the heart. The Lye may, in particular, be 
regarded as the immediate organ of the soul; as a mirror, in 
which the wildest passions and the softest affections are 
reflected without disguise. Hence it may be called with 
propriety, the true interpreter of the soul, and organ of the 
understanding. The colour and motions of the eye contribute 
much to mark the character of the countenance. The human 
eyes are, in proportion, nearer to one another than those of 
any other living creatures ; the space between the eyes of 
most of them being so great, as t© prevent their seeing an 
object with both their eyes at the same time, unless it is 
placed at a great distance. Next to the eyes, the eye-brows 
tend to fix the character of the countenance. Their colour 
Tenders them particularly striking; they form the shade of 
the picture, which thus acquires greater force of colouring 
The eye-lashes, when long and thick, give beauty and ad¬ 
ditional charms to the eye. They, at the same time, act as 
delicate curtains to catch any flying particles with which 
the atmosphere may be charged. The eye-brows are ele¬ 
vated, depressed, and contracted, by means of the muscles 
upon the forehead, which forms a very considerable part 
of the face, and adds much to its beauty when well 
formed: it should neither project much, nor be quite flat: 
neither very large, nor small; beautiful hair adds much to its 
appearance. The Nose is the most prominent, and least 
moveable part of the face ; hence it adds more to the beauty 
than the expression of the countenance. The Mouth and Lips 
are, on the contrary, extremely susceptible of changes ; and, 
if the eyes express the passions of the soul, the mouth seems 
more peculiarly to correspond with the emotions of the 
eart. The rosy bloom of the lips, and the ivory white of 
the teeth, complete the charms of the human face divine. 

Another Curiosity on this subject is, the wonderful diver¬ 
sity of traits in the human countenance. It is an evident 
proof of the admirable wisdom of God, that though the bodies 
of men are so simi.ar to each ether in their essential parts. 


20 


CURIOSITIES RESPECT NG MAN. 


there is yet such a diversity in their exterior, that they 
can be readily distinguished without the liability of error 
Amongst the many millions of men existing in the universe, 
there are no two that are perfectly similar to each othei 
Each one has some peculiarity pourtrayed in his countenance, 
or remarkable in his speech; and this diversity of counte¬ 
nance is the more singular, because the parts which compose 
it are very few, and in each person are disposed according to 
the same plan. If all things had been produced by blind 
chance, the countenances of men might have resembled one 
another as nearly as balls cast in the same mould, or drops of 
water out of the same bucket: but as that is not the case, we 
must admire the infinite wisdom of the Creator, which, in thus 
diversifying the traits of the human countenance, has mani¬ 
festly had in view the happiness of men ; for if they resembled 
each other perfectly, they could not be distinguished from 
one another, to the utter confusion and detriment of society. 
We should never be certain of life, nor of the peaceable pos¬ 
session of our property; thieves and robbers would run little 
risk of detection, for they could neither be distinguished by 
the traits of their countenance, nor the sound of their voice. 
Adultery, and every crime that stains humanity, might be 
practised with impunity, since the guilty would rarely be dis¬ 
covered; and we should be continually exposed to the ma 
chinations of the villain, and the malignity of the coward • 
we could not shelter ourselves from the confusion of the mis 
take, nor from the treachery and fraud of the deceitful; all 
the efforts of justice would be useless, and commerce would 
be the prey of error and uncertainty: in short, the uniformity 
and perfect similarity of faces would deprive society of its 
most endearing charms, and destroy the pleasure and sweet 
gratification of individual friendship. 

We may well exclaim with a celebrated writer,— 

“ What a piece of work is man! how noble in reason! how infinite in 
faculties! in form, and moving, how express and admirable! inaction, 
how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god!” 


The next subject is. The Curious Formation of the 
Eye. —The Eye infinitely surpasses all the works of man’s 
industry. Its structure is one of the most wonderful things 
the human understanding can become acquainted with; the 
most skilful artist cannot devise any machine of this kind 
which is not infinitely inferior to the eye; whatever ability, 
industry, and attention he may devote to it, he will not be 
able to produce a work that does not abound with the imper¬ 
fections incident to the works of men. It is true, we cannot 
perfectly become acquainted with all the art the Divine Wis 


21 


THE EYE. 

dom has displayed in the structure of this beautiful organ; 
but the little that we know suffices to convince us of the ad¬ 
mirable intelligence, goodness, and power of the Creator. In 
the first place, how fine is the disposition of the exterior parts 
of the eye, how admirably it is defended ! Placed in durable 
orbits of bone, at a certain depth in the skull, they cannot 
easily suffer any injury; the over-arching eye-brows contri¬ 
bute much to the beauty and preservation of this exquisite 
organ; and the eye-lids more immediately shelter it from the 
glare of light, and other things which might be prejudicial; 
inserted in these are the eye-lashes, which also much contri¬ 
bute to the above effect, and also prevent small particles o 
dust, and other substances, striking against the eye.* The 
internal structure is still more admirable. The globe of the 
eye is composed of tunics, humours, muscles, and vessels, 
the coats are the cornea, or exterior membrane, which is 
transparent anteriorly, and opake posteriorly; the charoid, 
which is extremely vascular; the uvea, with the iris, which 
being of various colours, gives the appearance of differently 
coloured eyes; and being perforated, with the power of con¬ 
traction and dilatation, forms the pupil; and, lastly, the re¬ 
tina, being a fine expansion of the optic nerve, upon it the 
impressions of objects are made. The humours are the 
aqueous, lying in the forepart of the globe, immediately un¬ 
der the cornea; it is thin, liquid, and transparent; the crys¬ 
talline, which lies next to the aqueous, behind the uvea, op¬ 
posite to the pupil, it is the least of the humours, of great 
solidity, and on both sides convex ; the vitreous, resembling 
the white of an egg, fills all the hind part of the cavity of the 
globe, and gives the spherical figure to the eye. The muscles 
of the eye are six, and by the excellence of their arrangement 
it is enabled to move in all directions. Vision is performed 
by the rays of light falling on the pellucid and convex cornea 
of the eye, by the density and convexity of which they are 
united into a focus, which passes the aqueous humours, 
and pupil of the eye, to be more condensed by the crystal¬ 
line lens. The rays of light thus concentrated, penetrate 
the vitreous humour, and stimulate the retina upon which 
the images of objects, painted in an inverse direction, are 
represented to the mind through the medium of the optic 
nerves. 

I 

* Besides these, amongst the internal parts are enumerated,—the la¬ 
chrymal gland, which secretes the tears; the lachrymal caruncle, a 
small llesliy substance at the inner angle of the eye; the puncta lachry- 
malia, two small openings on the nasal extremity of each eye-lash; the 
lachrymal duct, formed by the union of the ducts leading from the 
puncta lachrymalir., and conveying the tears into the nose; the lachry¬ 
mal sac, a dilatation of the lachrymal canal. 


22 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 


-The visual orbs 

Remark, how aptly station’d for their task ; 

Rais’d to th’ imperial head’s high citadel, 

A wide extended prospect to command. 

See the arch’d outworks of impending lids, 

With hairs, as palisadoes fenc’d around 

To ward annoyance from without. Bally 

Again :— 

Who form’d the curious organ of the eye , 

And cloth’d it with its various tunicles, 

Of texture exquisite; with crystal juice 
Supply d it, to transmit the rays of light; 

Then plac’d it in its station eminent, 

Well fencd and guarded , as a centinel 

To watch abroad, and needful caution give? Seedier. 

The next subject is. The Curious Structure of the 
Ear. 

The channel’d ear, with many a winding maze, 

How artfully perplex’d, to catch the sound. 

And from her repercussive caves augment! Bally. 

Hark night, that from the eye his function takes, 

The ear more quick of apprehension makes; 

Wherein it doth impair the seeing sense. 

It pays the Hearing —double recompense. S/iahspeare, 

Although the ear, with regard to beauty, yields to the eye, 
its conformation is not less perfect, nor less worthy of the 
Creator. The position of the ear bespeaks much wisdom; 
for it is placed in the most convenient part of the body, near 
to the brain, the common seat of all the senses. The exterioi 
form of the ear merits considerable attention; its substance 
is between the flexible softness of flesh, and the firmness of 
bone, which prevents the inconvenience that must arise from 
its being either entirely muscular or wholly formed of solid 
bone. It is therefore cartilaginous, possessing firmness, folds, 
and smoothness, so adapted as to reflect sound; for the chief 
use of the external part is to collect the vibrations of the air, 
and transmit them to the orifice of the ear. The internal 
structure of this organ is still more remarkable. Within the 
cavity of the ear is an opening, called the meatus auditorius, 
oi auditory canal, the entrance to which is defended by small 
hairs, which prevent insects and small particles of extraneous 
matter penetrating into it; for which purpose there is also 
secreted a bitter ceruminous matter, called ear-wax. The 
auditory canal is terminated obliquely by a membrane, gene¬ 
rally known by the name of drum, which instrument it in 
some degree resembles; for within the cavity of the auditorv 
canal is a kind of bony ring, over which the membrana tym- 
pani is stretched. In contact with this membrane, on the 
inner side, is a small bone (malleus) against which it strikes 



THE EAR. 


23 


when agitated by the vibrations of sound. Connected with 
these are two small muscles: one, by stretching the mem¬ 
brane, adapts it to be more easily acted upon by soft and low 
sounds; the other, by relaxing, prepares it for those which 
are very loud. Besides the malleus, there are some other 
very small and remarkable bones, called incus, or the anvil, 
as orbiculare, or orbicular bone, and the stapes, or stirrup : 
their use is, to assist in conveying the sounds received upon 
the membrana tympani. Behind the cavity of the drum, is 
an opening, called the Eustachian tube, which begins at the 
back part of the mouth with an orifice, which diminishes in 
size as the tube passes towards the ear, where it becomes 
bony; by this means, sounds may be conveyed to the ear 
through the mouth, and it facilitates the vibrations of the 
membrane by the admission of air. We may next observe the 
cochlea, which somewhat resembles the shell of a snail, 
whence its name; its cavity winds in a spiral direction, and 
is divided into two by a thin spiral lamina: and lastly is the 
auditory nerve, which terminates in the brain. The faculty 
of hearing is worthy of the utmost admiration and attention: 
by putting in motion a very small portion of air, without even 
being conscious of its moving, we have the power of commu¬ 
nicating to each other our thoughts, desires, and conceptions. 
But to render the action of air in the propagation of sound 
more intelligible, we must recollect that the air is not a solid, 
but a fluid body. Throw a stone into a smooth stream of 
water, and there will take place undulations, which will be 
extended more or less according to the degree of force with 
which the stone was impelled. Conceive then, that when a 
word is uttered in the air, a similar effect takes place in that 
element, as is produced by the stone in the water. During 
the action of speaking, the air is expelled from the mouth 
with more or less force; this communicates to the external 
air which it meets, an undvdatory motion; and these undu¬ 
lations of the air entering the cavitv of the ear, the external 
parts of which are peculiarly adapted to receive them, strike 
upon the membrane, or drum, by which means it is shaken, 
and receives a trembling motion : the vibration is communi¬ 
cated to the malleus, the bone immediately in cor tact with 
the membrane, and from it to the other bones ; the last of 
which, the stapes or stirrup, adhering to the fenestra ovalis, 
or oval orifice, causes it to vibrate; the trembling of which is 
communicated to a portion of water contained in the cavity 
called the vestibulum, and in the semicircular canals, causing 
a gentle tremor in the nervous expansion contained therein, 
which is transmitted to the brain; and the mind is thus in¬ 
formed of the presence of sound, and feels a sensation pro¬ 
portioned to the force or to the weakness of the impression 


24 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 


that is made. Let us rejoice that we possess the faculty tf 
hearing; for without it, our state would be most wretched 
and deplorable; in some respects, more sorrowful than the 
loss of sight; had we been born deaf, we could not have ac¬ 
quired knowledge sufficient to enable us to pursue any art 
or science. Let us never behold those who have the misfor¬ 
tune to be deaf, without endeavouring better to estimate the 
gift of which they are deprived, and which we enjoy; or 
without praising the goodness of God, which has granted it 
to us: and the best way we can testify our gratitude is, to 
make a proper use of this important blessing. 

We now proceed to a more particular description of The 
Curiosities of the Human Heart; and the Circu¬ 
lation of the Blood. 

-Though no shining sun, nor twinkling star 

Bedeck’d the crimson curtains of the sky; 

Though neither vegetable, beast, nor bird, 

Were extant on the surface of this ball, 

Nor lurking gem beneath; though the great sea 
Slept in profound stagnation, and the air 
Had left no thunder to pronounce its Maker: 

Yet Man at home, within himself might find 
The Deity immense, and in that frame 
So fearfully , so wonderfully made! 

See and adore his providence and power. Smart. 

With what admirable skill and inimitable structure is 
formed that muscular body, situated within the cavity of the 
chest, and called the human heart! Its figure is somewhat 
conical, and it is externally divided into two parts : the base, 
which is uppermost, and attached to vessels; and the apex, 
which is loose and pointing to the left side, against which il 
seems to beat. Its substance is muscular, being composed 
of fleshy fibres, interwoven with each other. It is divided 
internally into cavities, called auricles and ventricles; from 
which vessels proceed to convey the blood to the different 
parts of the body. The ventricles are situated in the sub¬ 
stance of the heart, and are separated from each other by a 
thick muscular substance; they are divided into right and 
left, and each communicates with its adjoining auricle, one 
of which is situated on each side the base of the heart. Tl*e 
right auricle receives the blood from the head and superior 
parts of the body, by means of a large vein; and in the same 
manner the blood is returned to it from the inferior parts, by 
all the veins emptying their stores into one, which terminates 
in this cavity; which, having received a sufficient portion oi 
blood, contracts, and by this motion empties itself into the 
right ventricle, which also contracting, propels the blood into 
an artery, which immediately conveys it into the liwvgs, where 



HUMAN HEART-CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD. 25 

it undergoes certain changes, and then passes through veins 
into the left auricle of the heart, thence into the left ventricle, 
by the contraction of which it is forced into an artery, through 
whose ramifications it is dispersed to all parts of the body, 
from which it is again returned to the right auricle : thus 
keeping up a perpetual circulation, for, whilst life remains, 
the action of the heart never ceases. In a state of health the 
heart contracts about seventy times in a minute, and is sup¬ 
posed, at each contraction, to propel about two ounces of 
blood; to do which, the force it exerts is very consider¬ 
able, though neither the quantity of force exerted, nor of 
blood propelled, is accurately determined. The heart com¬ 
prises within itself a world of wonders, and whilst we admire 
its admirable structure and properties, we are naturally led to 
consider the wisdom and power of Him who formed it, from 
whom first proceeded the circulation of the blood, and the 
pulsations of the heart; who commands it to be still, and 
the functions instantly cease to act. 

This important secret of the circulation of blood in the hu¬ 
man body was brought to light by William Harvey, an Eng¬ 
lish physician, a little before the year 1600 : and when it is 
considered thoroughly, it will appear to be one of the most 
.stupendous works of Omnipotence. 

The blood , the fountain whence the spirits flow. 

The generous stream that waters every part, 

And motion, vigour, and warm life ci nveys 
To every particle that moves or lives, 

-through unnumber’d tube 

Pour'd by the heart , and to the heart again 

Refunded. - Armstrong. 

Who in the dark the vital flame illum’d. 

And from th’ impulsive engine caused to flow 
r I'h’ ejaculated streams through many a pipe 
Arterial with meand’ring lapse, then bring 
Refluent their purple tribute to their fount: 

Who spun the sinews' branchy thread, and twin’d 
The azure veins in spiral knots, to waft 
Life’s tepid waves all o’er; or, who with bones 
Compacted, and with nerves the fabric strung: 

Their specious form, their fitness, which results 
From figure and arrangement, all declare 
Th’ Artificer Divine! Bally, 

Ag*>.in:— 

-The nerves, with equal wisdom made. 

Arising from the tender brain, pervade 
And secret pass in pairs the channel’d bone. 

And thence advance through paths and roads unknown. 

Form’d of the finest complicated thread. 

The num’rous cords are through the body spread. 

These subtle channels, such is every nerve, 

For vital functions, sense, and motion serve;— 

They help to labour and concoct the food. 

Refine the chyle , and animate tho blood. 

D 


Blackmore. 






/ 

2(» CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

We now proceed to some Curious and Interesting 
Facts concerning Respiration, or the Act of 
Breathing. 

Anatomists have, not unaptly, compared the lungs to a 
sponge; containing, like it, a great number of small cavities* 
and being also capable of considerable compression and ex¬ 
pansion. The air cells of the lungs open into the windpipe 
by which they communicate with the external atmosphere: 
the whole internal structure of the lungs is lined by a trans- 
paient membrane, estimated by Haller at only the thousandth 
part of an inch in thickness; but whose surface, from its va¬ 
rious convolutions, measures fifteen square feet, which is 
equal to the external surface of the body. On this extensive 
and thin membrane innumerable branches of veins and ar¬ 
teries are distributed, some of them finer than hairs ; and 
through these vessels all the blood in the system is succes¬ 
sively propelled, by an extremely curious and beautiful me¬ 
chanism, which will be described in some future article. 

The capacity of the lungs varies considerably in different in¬ 
dividuals. * On a general average, they may be said to contain 
about 280 cubic inches, or nearly five quarts of air. By each 
inspiration about forty cubic inches of air are received into 
the lungs, and at each expiration the same quantity is dis¬ 
charged. If, therefore, we calculate that twenty respirations 
take place in a minute, and forty cubic inches to be the amount 
of each inspiration, it follows, that in one minute, we inhale 
800 cubic inches ; in an hour, the quantity of air inspired will 
be 48,000 cubic inches; and in the twenty-four hours, it will 
amount to 1,152,000 cubic inches. This quantity of air will 
almost fill 78 wine hogsheads, and would weigh nearly 53 
pounds. From this admirable provision of nature, by which 
the blood is made to pass in review, as it were, of this im¬ 
mense quantity of air, and over so extensive a surface, it 
seems obvious, that these two fluids are destined to exert 
some very important influence on each other; and it has been 
proved, by a very decisive experiment of Dr. Priestley’s, that 
the extremely thin membrane, which is alone interposed, Joes 
not prevent the exercise of the chemical affinity which pre¬ 
vails between the air which is received in the lungs, and the 
blood which is incessantly circulating through them. It 
must surely, therefore, be of the first importance to health, 
that the fluid of which we hourly inhale, at least, three hogs¬ 
heads, should not be contaminated by the suspension of 
noxious effluvia. 

* An instrument, called the Pulmometer, has been invented, which 
enables us to measure the capacity of the lungs, and which may com¬ 
municate information to the physician, of some importance, in diseases 
af this onran. 


RESPIRATION. 


27 

The purity of the atmosphere may be impaired either by 
the operation of what some denominate natural causes, or by 
the influence of circumstances resulting from our social con¬ 
dition. Its chemical constitution is changed by respiration; 
the vital principle is destroyed, and its place supplied by a 
highly poisonous gas. 

The emanations from the surface of our bodies contribute, 
in a still greater degree, to vitiate the atmosphere, and to 
render it less fit for the healthful support of life. Many of 
the organs which compose our wonderfully complicated frame 
are engaged in discharging the constituent parts of our bodies, 
which, by the exercise of the various animal functions, are 
become useless, and, if retained, would become noxious. 
Physiologists ha-ve instituted a variety of experiments, to as¬ 
certain the amount of the exhalations from the surface of the 
body. Sanctorius, an eminent Italian physician, from a series 
of experiments performed during a period of thirty years, 
estimates it as greater than the aggregate of all our other dis¬ 
charges. From his calculations it would appear, that if we 
take of liquid and solid food eight pounds in the twenty-four 
hours, that five pounds are discharged by perspiration alone, 
within that period; and of this, the greater part is what has 
been denominated insensible perspiration, from its not being 
cognizable to the senses. We may estimate the discharge 
from the surface of the body, by sensible and insensible per¬ 
spiration, as from half an ounce to four ounces per hour. 

The exhalations from the lungs and the skin are, to a cer¬ 
tain extent, offensive even in the most healthy individuals; 
but when proceeding from those labouring under disease 
they are in a state very little removed from putrefaction. 

Animal miasmata, like all other poison, become more active 
in proportion to the quantity which we imbibe. When, there¬ 
fore, the air is stagnant, and when many individuals contri 
bute their respective supplies of effluvia to vitiate it, the at 
mosphere necessarily becomes satured with the poison; and 
when inhaled, conveys it in a more virulent and concentrated 
state to the extensive and delicate surface of the lungs. 

The collection of animal effluvia in confined places, is the 
source of the generation and diffusion of febrile infection, 
but when the miasmata are respired, in a diluted state, the 
ill effects which they produce, though slower in their opera¬ 
tion, are equally certain. They, to a certain extent, pollute 
the fountain of life, and ultimately break down the vigour of 
the most robust frame; impairing the action of the digestive 
organs, engendering the whole train of nervous disorders, and 
Tendering the body more susceptible of disease. 

The lungs and the skin may equally become the means of 
ijnti oducing poisonous or infectious matter into the constitu- 


28 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 


tion. The venom of a poisonous animal, the matter of small¬ 
pox, and many other contagions, produce their influence 
through the medium of the skin. Infectious diseases are; 
communicated by the reception of air in our lungs, impreg¬ 
nated with contagious matter. The influence of the constant 
respiration of air in any degree impure, is fully evinced in the 
pallid countenances and languid frames of those who live in 
confined and ill-ventilated places; and the health of all classes 
of society suffers precisely in proportion to the susceptibility 
of their constitutions, and according to the greater or less 
impurities of the air which they habitually respire. 

Of the offensive nature of animal effluvia, the senses of 
every one who enters a crowded assembly, must immediately 
convince him. When, therefore, we reflect on the state of 
the air which we breathe in churches, theatres, schools, and 
all crowded assemblies ; and when we consider the amount 
of the exhalations emitted by each individual, and the very 
offensive nature of those emitted by many; and when, on the 
other hand, we take into consideration the importance of air 
to life, and the great quantity of this fluid which we daily 
respire, we must be naturally led to the adoption of such 
measures as would secure in our private dwellings, as well as 
in our public buildings, a full and unintermitting supply of 
fresh atmospheric air. 

It is curious to observe the influence of habit, in reconcil¬ 
ing us to many practices which would otherwise be considered 
in the highest degree offensive. Thus, while, with a fastidious 
delicacy, we avoid drinking from a cup which has been al¬ 
ready pressed to the lips of our friends, we feel no hesitation 
in receiving into our lungs an atmosphere contaminated by 
the breath and exhalations of every promiscuous assembly. 

“ Were once the energy of air deny’d, 

The heart would cease to pour its purple tide 
The purple tide forget its wonted play, 

Nor back again pursue its curious way.” 

The next Subject of Curiosity we shall consider, is. The. 
Hair of the Head. 

If we consider the curious structure, and different uses of 
the hair of our heads, we shall find them very well worth our 
attention, and discover in them proofs of the wisdom and 
power of God. 

In each entire hair we perceive with the naked eye, an ob¬ 
long slender filament, and a bulb at the extremity thicker and 
more transparent than the rest of the hair. The filament 
forms the body of the hair, and the bulb the root. The large 
hairs have their root, and even part of the filament, er closed; 
in a small membraneous vessel or capsule. The size of this* 


THE HAIR OF THE HEAD. 


29 

sheath is proportionate to the size of the root, being always 
rather larger, that the root may not be too much confined, 
and that some space may remain between it and the capsule. 
The root or bulb has two parts, the one external, the other 
internal. The external is a pellicle composed of small la¬ 
minae ; the internal is a glutinous fluid, in which some fibres 
are united ; it is the marrow of the root. From the external 
part of the bulb proceed five, and sometimes, though rarely, 

. six small white threads, very delicate and transparent, and 
often twice as long as the root. Besides these threads, small 
knots are seen rising in different places; they are viscous, 
and easily dissolved by heat. From the interior part of the 
bulb proceeds the body of the hair, composed of three parts; 
the external sheath, the interior tubes, and the marrow. 

When the hair has arrived at the pore of the skin through 
which it is to pass, it is strongly enveloped by the pellicle of 
the root, which forms here a very small tube. The hair then 
pushes the cuticle before it, and makes of it an external 
sheath, which defends it at the time when it is still very soft. 
The rest of the covering of the hair, is a peculiar substance, 
and particularly transparent at the point. In a young hair 
this sheath is very soft, but in time becomes so hard and 
elastic, that it springs back with some noise when it is cut. 
It preserves the hair a long time. Immediately beneath the 
sheath are several small fibres, which extend themselves along 
the hair from the root to the extremity. These are united 
amongst themselves, and with the sheath that is common to 
them, by several elastic threads; and these bundles of fibres 
form together a tube filled with two substances ; the one fluid, 
the other solid; and these constitute the marrow of the hair. 

The wonders of creating power are seen in every thing, 
even in the hair that adorns our surface. 

All are but parts of one stupendous whole, 

Whose body Nature is, and God the soul. 

That, chang’d thro’ all, and yet in all the same; 

Great in the earth, as in th’ ethereal frame; 

Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, 

Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees, 

Lives thro’ all life, extends thro’ all extent, 

Spreads undivided, operates unspent; 

Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part. 

As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart; 

As full, as perfect, in vile Man that mourns, 

As the rapt seraph that adores and burns: 

To him no high, no low, no great, no small; 

He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all. Pove . 

We shall now introduce to our readers some Ancient and 
Modern Opinions respecting the Hair. 

The ancients held the hair a sort of excrement, fed only 


30 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

with excrementitious matters, and no proper part of a living 
body. They supposed it generated of the fuliginous parts of 
the blood, exhaled by the heat of the body to the surface, and 
then condensed in passing through the pores. Their chief 
reasons were, that the hair being cut, will grow again, even 
in extreme old age, and when life is very low; that in hectic 
and consumptive people, where the rest of the body is con¬ 
tinually emaciating, the hair thrives; nay, that it wall even 
grow again in dead carcases. They added, that hair does not 
feed and grow like the other parts, by introsusception, i. e. by 
a juice circulating within it, but, like the nails, by juxtapo¬ 
sition. But the moderns are agreed, that every hair properly 
and truly lives, and receives nutriment to fill it, like the other 
parts; which they prove hence, that the roots do not turn 
grey in aged persons sooner than the extremities, but the 
whole changes colour at once; which shews that there is a 
direct communication, and that all the parts are affected alike. 
In strict propriety, however, it must be allowed, that the life 
and growth of hairs is of a different kind from that of the rest 
of the body, and is not immediately derived therefrom, or 
reciprocated therewith. It is rather of the nature of vege 
tation. They grow as plants do, or as some plants shoot 
from the parts of others; from which, though they draw their 
nourishment, yet each has, as it were, its distinct life and 
economy. They derive their food from some juices in the 
body, but not from the nutritious juices of the body ; whence 
they may live, though the body be starved. Wulferus, in the 
Philosophical Collections, gives an account of a woman buried 
at Nurenberg, whose grave being opened forty-three years 
after her death, hair was found issuing forth plentifully through 
the clefts of the coffin. The cover being removed, the whole 
corpse appeared in its perfect shape; but, from the crown of 
the head to the sole of the foot, covered over with thick-set 
hair, long and curled. The sexton going to handle the upper 
part of the head with his fingers, the whole fell at once, leav¬ 
ing nothing in his hand but a handful of hair: there was 
neither skull nor any other bone left: yet the hair w r as solid 
and strong. Mr. Arnold, in the same collection, gives a re¬ 
lation of a man hanged for theft, who, in a little time, while 
he yet hung upon the gallows, had his body strangely covered 
over with hair. 

Before we dismiss this subject, we shall give the following 
curious Instances of the Internal Growth of Hair. 

Though the external surface of the body is the natural 
place for hairs, we have many well-attested instances of their 
being found also on the internal surface. Amatus Lusitanus 
mentions a person who had hair upon his tongue. Pliny and 
Valerius Maximus say, that the heart of Aristomenes the 


THE BEARD 


31 

Messenian, was hairy. Csellus Rhodiginus relates the same 
of Hermogenes the rhetorician; and Plutarch, of Leonidas 
king of Sparta. Hairs are said to have been found in the 
breasts of women, and to have occasioned the distemper 
called trichiasis; but some authors are of opinion, that these 
are small worms, and not hairs. There have been, however, 
various and indisputable evidences of hairs found in the kid¬ 
neys, and voided by natural discharge. Hippocrates says, that 
the glandular parts are the most subject to hair; but bundles 
of hair have been found in the muscular parts of beef, and in 
parts of the human body equally firm. Hair has been often 
found in abscesses and imposthumations. Schultetus, open 
ing the abdomen of a human body, found twelve pints of water, 
and a large lock of hair swimming loosely in it. It has, how¬ 
ever, been found on examination, that some of the internal 
parts of the body are more subject to an unnatural growth of 
hair than others. This has long been known to anatomists; 
and many memorable instances have been recorded by Dr. 
Tyson, and others. In some animals, hairs of a considerable 
length have been discovered growing in the internal parts; 
and on several occasions, they have been found lying loosely 
in the cavities of the veins. There are instances of mankind 
being affected in the same manner. Cardan relates, that he 
found hair in the blood of a Spaniard; Slonatius, in that of a 
gentlewoman of Cracovia; and Schultetus declares, from his 
own observation, that those people, who are afflicted with 
the plica polonica, have very often hair in their blood. 

We shall, in the next place, call the reader’s attention tc 
some Curious Remarks concerning the Beard. 

A beard gives to the countenance a rough and fierce air 
suited to the manners of a rough and fierce people. The 
same face without a beard appears milder; for which reason, 
a beard becomes unfashionable in a polished nation. De¬ 
mosthenes, the orator, lived in the same period with Alex¬ 
ander the Great, at which time the Greeks began to leave off 
beards. A bust, however, of that orator, found in Hercula¬ 
neum, has a beard, which must either have been done for him 
when he was young, or from reluctance in an old man to a 
new fashion. Barbers were brought to Rome from Sicily, the 
454th year after the building of Rome. And it must relate 
to a time after that period, what Aulus Gellius says, that 
people accused of any crime were prohibited to shave their 
beards till they were absolved. From Hadrian downward, the 
Roman empercrs wore beards. Julius Capitolinus reproaches 
the Emperor Verus for cutting his beard at the instigation of 
a concubine. All the Roman generals wore beards in Jus¬ 
tinian’s time. The pope shaved his bend, which was held a 


32 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

manifest apostasy by the Greek church, because Moses, Jesus 
Christ, and even God the Father, were always drawn with 
beards by the Greek and Latin painters. Upon the dawn of 
smooth manners in France, the beaus cut the beards into 
shapes, and curled the whiskers. That fashion produced a 
whimsical effect: men of gravity left off beards altog'ether. 
A beard, in its natural shape, was too fierce even for them ; 
and they could not, for shame, copy after the beaus. This 
accounts for a regulation, anno 1534, of the University of 
Paris, forbidding the professors to wear a beard. 

Now follows, A curious account of Women with Beards. 

Of women remarkably bearded we have several instances. 
In the cabinet of curiosities at Stutgard, in Germany, there 
is the portrait of a young woman, called Bartel Graetje, whose 
chin is covered with a very large beard. She was drawn in 
1787, at which time she was but twenty-five years of age. 
There is likewise, in another cabinet, the same portrait of her 
when she was more advanced in life, but likewise with a 
beard. It is said, that the Duke of Saxony had the portrait 
of a poor Swiss woman taken, remarkable for her long bushy 
beard; and those who were at the carnival of Venice in 1726, 
saw a female dancer astonish the spectators, not more by her 
talents, than by her chin covered with a black bushy beard. 
Charles XII. had in his army a female grenadier, who wanted 
neither courage nor a beard to be a man. She was taken at 
the battle of Pultowa, and carried to Petersburg, where she 
was presented to the czar, in 1724: her beard measured a 
yard and a half. We read in the Trevoux Dictionary, that 
there was a woman seen at Paris, who had not only a bushy 
beard on her face, but her body likewise covered all over with 
hair. Among a number of other examples of this nature, that 
of the great Margaret, the governess of the Netherlands, is 
very remarkable. She had a very long stiff beard, which she 
prided herself on : and being persuaded that it contributed to 
give her an air of majesty, she took care not to lose a hair of 
it. It is said, that the Lombard women, when they were at 
war, made themselves beards with the hair of their heads, 
which they ingeniously arranged on their cheeks, that the 
enemy, deceived by the likeness, might take them for men. 
It is asserted, after Suidas, that in a similar case the Athe¬ 
nian women did as much. These women were more men than 
our J emmy-Tessarny countrymen. About a century ago, the 
French ladies adopted a mode of dressing their hair in such a 
manner, that curls hung down their cheeks as far as their 
bosom. These curls went by the name of whiskers. This 
custom, undoubtedly, was not invented after the nxampl ^ of 
the Lombard women, to fight men. 


SNEEZING. 


IV3 


We shall close this chapter with some curious observations 
ch Sneezing. 

The practice of saluting the person who sneezed existed in 
Africa, among nations unknown tu the Greeks and Romans. 
Strada, in his Account of Monomotapa, informs us, (Prol. Acad.) 
thal when the prince sneezes, all his subjects in the capital 
are advertised of it, that they may offer up prayers for his 
safety. The author of the conquest of Peru assures us, that 
the cacique of Gachoia having sneezed in the presence of the 
Spaniards, the Indians of his train fell prostrate before him, 
stretched forth their hands, and displayed to him the accus¬ 
tomed marks of respect, while they invoked the sun to en¬ 
lighten him, to defend him, and to be his constant guard. 
The ancient Romans saluted each other on these occasions: 
and Pliny relates, that Tiberius exacted these signs of homage 
when drawn in his chariot. Superstition, whose influence de¬ 
bases every thing, had degraded this custom for several ages, 
by attaching favourable or unfavourable omens to sneezing, 
according to the hour of the day or night, according to the 
signs of the zodiac, according as a work was more or less ad¬ 
vanced, or according as one had sneezed to the right or to the 
left. If a man sneezed at rising from table, or from his bed, 
it w r as necessary for him to sit or lie down again. ‘ You are 
struck with astonishment/ said Timotheus to the Athenians, 
who wished to return into the harbour with their fleet, be¬ 
cause he had sneezed ; * you are struck with astonishment, 
because among ten thousand there is one man whose brain is 
moist/ It is singular enough, that so many ridiculous, con¬ 
tradictory, and superstitious opinions, have not abolished those 
customary civilities which are still preserved equally among 
high and low. The reason is obvious : they are preserved, 
because they are esteemed civilities, and because they cost 
nothing, Among the Greeks, sneezing was almost always a 
good omen. It excited marks of tenderness, of respect, and 
attachment. The young Parthenis, hurried on by her passion, 
resolved to write to Sarpedon an avowal of her love ; she 
sneezes in the most tender and impassioned part of her letter: 
this is sufficient for her; this incident supplies the place of 
an answer, and persuades her that Sarpedon is her lover. 
Penelope, harassed by the vexatious courtship of her suitors, 
begins to curse them all, and to pour forth vows for the return 
of Ulysses. Her son Telemachus interrupts her by a loud 
sneeze. She instantly exults with joy, and regards this sign 
as an assurance of the approaching return of her husband. 
(Horn. Odyss. lib. xvii./. Xenophon was haranguing his 
troops; a soldier sneezed in the moment when he was exhort¬ 
ing them to embrace a dangerous but necessary resolution^ 
The whole army, moved by this presage, determined to pur 
2. E 


CJRIOS1T1ES RESPECTING MAN. 


34 

sue the project of their general; and Xenophon orders sacri¬ 
fices to Jupiter the preserver. This superstitious reverence 
for sneezing, so ^ncient, and so universal even in the times of 
Homer, excited the curiosity of the Greek philosophers, and 
of the rabbins. These last have a most absurd tradition re¬ 
specting it. Aristotle remounts likewise to the sources of na¬ 
tural religion, because the brain is the origin of the nerves, of 
our sentiments, sensations, &c. Such were the opinions of 
the most ancient and sagacious philosophers of Greece; and 
mythologists affirmed, that the first sign of life Prometheus’s 
•artificial man gave, was by sternutation. 




CHAP. II. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN.- (Continuedo) 

Difference between the Sexes—Comparative Number of the 
Sexes at a Birth—Extraordinary Instances of Rapid 
Growth—Daniel Lambert — Giants — Dwarfs — Kimos — 
Curious Account of the Adderites—Account of a Country 
in which the Inhabitants reside in Trees. 

Difference between the Sexes. 

O woman, lovely woman! Nature made you 

To temper man!- 

Angels are painted fair to look like you. 

There’s in you all that we believe of heav’n, 

Amazing brightness, purity, and truth, 

Eternal joy, and everlasting love ! 

Under his forming hands a creature grow; 

-adorn’d 

With what all earth or heaven could bestow, 

To make her amiable.- 

Grace was in all her steps, heav’n in her eye, 

An every gesture dignity and love. 

Lavater has drawn the following characteristic distinc¬ 
tions between the male and female of the human species. 
The primary matter of which women are constituted, appears 
4o be more flexible, irritable, and elastic, than that of man. 
They aie formed to maternal mildness and affection; all their 
organs are tender, yielding, easily wounded, sensible, and 
receptible. Among a thousand females, there is scarcely one 
without the generic feminine signs,—the flexible, the circular, 
*nd the irritable. They are the counterpart of man, taken 


Otway. 


Milton . 





DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SEXES. 3fl 

out of man, to be subject to man ; to comfort him like angels; 
and to lighten his cares. This tenderness, this sensibility, 
this light texture of their fibres and organs, this volatility of 
feeling, render them so easy to conduct and to tempt, so ready 
of submission to the enterprise and power of the man; but 
more powerful, through the aid of their charms, than man with 
all his strength. The female thinks not profoundly ; profound 
thought is the power of the man. Women feel more. Sen¬ 
sibility is the power of woman: they often rule more effectu¬ 
ally, more sovereignly, than man. They rule with tender looks, 
tears, and sighs, but not with passion and threats; for if, or 
when , they so rule, they are no longer women but abortions . 
They are capable of the sweetest sensibility, the most pro¬ 
found emotion, the utmost humility, and the excess of enthu¬ 
siasm. In their countenance are the signs of sanctity and 
inviolability, which every feeling man honours, and the effects 
of which are often miraculous. Therefore, by the irritability 
of their nerves, their incapacity for deep inquiry and firm de¬ 
cision, they may easily, from their extreme sensibility, become 
the most irreclaimable, the most rapturous enthusiasts. Their 
love, strong and rooted as it is, is very changeable ; their 
hatred almost incurab 1 *. Men are most profound; women 
are more sublime. Man hears the bursting thunder, views 
the destructive bolt with serene aspect, and stands erect 
amidst the fearful majesty of the streaming clouds; woman 
trembles at the lightning, and the voice of distant thunder; 
and sinks into the arms of man. Woman is in anguish when 
man weeps, and in despair when man is in anguish ; yet has 
she often more faith than man. Man, without religion, is a 
diseased creature, who would persuade himself he is well, and 
needs not a physician; but women without religion are 
monstrous. A woman with a beard is not so disgusting as a 
woman who is a free-thinker; her sex is formed to piety and 
religion: to them Christ first appeared. The whole world is 
forgotten in the emotion caused by the presence and proximity 
of him they love. They sink into the most incurable melan¬ 
choly, as they also rise to the most enraptured heights. Male 
sensations is more imagination, female more heart. When 
communicative, they are more communicative than man; 
when secret, more secret. In general they are more patient, 
long-suffering, credulous, benevolent, and modest. They 
differ also in their interior form and appearance. Man is the 
most firm; woman is the most flexible. Man is the straight- 
est; woman the most bending. Man is serious; woman is 
gay. Man is the tallest and broadest; woman the smallest 
and weakest. Man is rough and hard ; woman smooth and 
soft. Man is brown; woman is fair. Man is wrinkly; wo¬ 
man is not The hair of man is more strong and short; of 


86 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

woman more long and pliant. The eye-brows of man are 
compressed; and of woman less frowning. Man has most 
convex lines; woman most concave. Man has most straight 
lines; woman most curved. The countenance of man, taken 
in profile, is more seldom perpendicular than that of woman. 
Man is most angular; woman most round. 

In determining the comparative merit of the two sexes, if 
it should be found (what is indeed the fact) that women fill 
up their appointed circle of action with greater regularity 
than men, the claim of preference must decide in their favour. 
In the prudential and economical parts of life, they rise far 
above us. 

The following is a very curious calculation of The Com¬ 
parative Number of the Sexes at a Birth. 

The celebrated M. Hufeland, of Berlin, has inserted in his 
Journal of Practical Medicine, some interesting observations 
in illustration of the comparative numbers of the sexes at a 
birth. The number of males born, to that of females, observes 
the learned Professor, seems to be 21 to 20 over the whole 
earth; and before they reach the age of puberty, the propor¬ 
tion of the sexes is reduced to perfect equality; more boys 
than girls die before they are fourteen. After extending his 
interesting comparison over animated nature in general, Pro¬ 
fessor Hufeland enters into an inquiry, peculiar to himself, in 
endeavouring to ascertain the principles and commencement 
of the equality of the sexes. In some families, says he, 
equality evidently does not hold. In some, the children are 
all boys; in others, all girls. He next proceeds to take se¬ 
veral families, as 20, 30, 40, or 50, in one place, in conjunc- 
tion; or small villages of 150 or 300 inhabitants. But even 
then, the just proportion was not yet established. In some 
years, only boys, in others only girls were born; nay, this 
disproportion continued for a series of a year or two; but by 
uniting ten or fifteen years together, the regular equality ap¬ 
peared. He next considered, that what took place in small 
populations must take place every year in larger societies; 
and he accordingly found it confirmed by actual enumeration. 
He went so far as, by the aid of the minister of state, Schack- 
man, to ascertain the comparative number of boys and girls 
bom in one day over the whole Prussian dominions, and the 
result corresponded with his anticipations. The general con¬ 
clusions arrived at by M. Hufeland, are as follow:— 

1st. There is an equal number of males and females born 
in the human race.— -2d. The equality occurs every day in a 
population of ten millions.—3d. Every week in 100,000.— 
4th. Every month in 50,000.—5th. Every year in 10,000.— 
6th. And in small societies of several families, every ten 


PEOLIFIO ATION-RAPID GROWTH. 37 

or fifteen years.—7th. That it does not occur in individual 
families. 

We now proceed to narrate some Extraordinary In¬ 
stances of Rapid Growth. 

A remarkable instance of rapid growth in the human species 
was noticed in France, in 1729, by the Academy of Sciences. 
It was a lad, then only seven years old, who measured four 
feet eight inches and four lines high, without his shoes. His 
mother observed his extn ordinary growth and strength at 
two years old, which continued to increase with such rapidity, 
that he soon arrived at the usual standard. At four years oid 
he was able to lift and throw the common bundles of hay in 
stables into the horses’ racks; and at six years old, he could 
lift as much as a sturdy fellow of twenty. But although he 
thus increased in bodily strength, his understanding was no 
greater than is usual with children of his age; and their play¬ 
things were also his favourite amusements. 

Another boy, a native of Bouzanquet, in the diocese of 
Alais, though of a strong constitution, appeared to be knit 
and stiff in his joints, till he was about four years and a half 
old. During this time, nothing farther was remarkable re¬ 
specting him, than an extraordinary appetite, which nothing 
could satisfy, but an abundance of the common aliments of 
the inhabitants of the country, consisting of rye bread, ches- 
nuts, bacon, and water. His limbs, however, soon becoming 
supple and pliable, and his body beginning to expand itself, 
he grew up in such an extraordinary mannei, that at the age 
of five years he measured four feet three inches. Some 
months after, he was four feet eleven inches ; and at six, five 
feet, and bulky in proportion. His growth was so rapid, that 
overy month his clothes required to be made longer and wider; 
yet it was not preceded by any sickness, nor accompanied 
with any pain. At the age of five years his voice changed, 
his beard began to appear; and at six, he had as much as a 
man of thirty; in short, all the unquestionable marks of ma¬ 
turity were visible in him. Though his wit was riper than is 
commonly observable at the age of five or six, yet its progress 
was not in proportion to that of his body. His air and man¬ 
ner still retained something childish, though by his bulk and 
stature he resembled a complete man, which at first sight 
produced a very singular contrast. His voice was strong and 
manly, and his great strength rendered him already fit for the 
labours of the country. At five, he could carry to a great 
distance, three measures of rye, weighing eighty-four pounds; 
when turned of six, he could lift up easily to his shoulders, 
and carry loads of one hundred and fifty pounds weight to a 
great distance; and these exercises were exhibited by him as 
often as the curious engaged him thereto by some liberality. 


38 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 


Such beginnings made people think that he should soon shoot 
up into a giant. A mountebank was already soliciting his 
parents for him, and flattering them with hopes of putting him 
in a way of making a great fortune. But all these hopes sud¬ 
denly vanished. His legs became crooked, his body shrunk, 
his strength diminished, his voice grew sensibly weaker, and 
he at last sunk into a total imbecility;—thus his rapid ma¬ 
turity was followed by as swift decay. 

In the Paris Memoirs , there is an account of a girl, who,, 
when four years old, was four feet six inches in height, and 
had her limbs well proportioned, and her breasts fully ex 
panded, like those of a girl of eighteen. These things are more 
singular and marvellous in the northern than in the southern 
climates, where females come sooner to maturity. In some 
places of the East Indies, they have children at nine years 
of age. It seems at first view astonishing, that children of 
such early and prodigious growth do not become giants; but 
it appears evident, that the whole is only a premature expan¬ 
sion of the parts; and accordingly, such children, instead of 
becoming giants, always decay and die apparently of old age 
long before the natural term of human life. 

As it is our intention in this work to keep as close as pos¬ 
sible to facts, we shall not, knowingly, deal in fiction or fabie. 
It is from a most respectable source that we have derived the 
foil owing Curious Account of Giants. 

M. Le Cat, in a memoir read before the Academy of Sciences 
at Rouen, gives the following account of giants that are said 
to have existed in different ages. Profane historians have 
given seven feet of height to Hercules, their first hero : *nd 
in our days we have seen men eight feet high. The giai t, 
who was shown in Rouen, in 1735, measured eight feet soi le 
inches. The emperor Maximin was of that size. Shenki is 
and Platerus, physicians of the last century, saw several of 
that stature; and Goropius saw a girl who was ten feet high. 
The body of Orestes, according to the Greeks, was eleven 
feet and a half; the giant Galbara, brought from Arabia to 
Rome, under Claudius Caesar, was near ten feet; and the bo» es 
of Secondilla and Pusio, keepers of the gardens of Sallust, 
were but six inches shorter. Funnam, a Scotsman, who Jived 
in the time of Eugene II. king of Scotland, measured eleven 
feet and a half; and Jacob Le Maire, in his voyage to the 
Straits of Magellan, reports, that on the 17th of December, 
1615, they found at Port Desire, several graves covered with 
stones ; and having the curiosity to remove the stones, they 
discovered human skeletons of ten and eleven feet long. The 
Chevalier Scory, in his voyage to the Peak of Tenerifle, says, 
that they found, in one of the sepulchral caverns of that 
mountain, the head of a gaunche, which had eighty teeth, 
and that the body was not less than fifteen' Ret long. The 


G1 AN rs» 


39 

giant Ferragus, slain by Orlando, nephew of Charlemagne, 
.vas eighteen feet high. Rioland, a celebrated anatomist, 
who wrote in 1614, says, that some years before, there was to 
be seen, in the suburbs of St. Germain, the tomb of the great 
giant Isoret, who was twenty feet high. In Rouen, in 1509, 
in digging in the ditches near the Dominicans, they found a 
stone tomb, containing a skeleton whose skull held a bushel 
of corn, and whose shin bone reached up to the girdle of the 
tallest man there, being about four feet long ; and, conse¬ 
quently, the body must have been seventeen or eighteen feet 
high. Upon the tomb was a plate of copper, whereon was 
engraved, “ In this tomb lies the noble and puissant lord, the 
Chevalier Ricon De Vallemont, and his bones.” Platerus, a 
famous physician, declares, that he saw at Lucerne, the true 
human body of a subject which must have been at least 
nineteen feet high. Valence, in Dauphine, boasts of pos¬ 
sessing the bones of the giant Bucart, tyrant of the Vivarias, 
who was slain with an arrow by the Count De Cabillon, his 
vassal. The Dominicans had a part of the shin bone, witn 
the articulation of his knee, and his figure painted in fresco, 
with an inscription, showing “ that this giant was twenty-two 
feet and a half high, and that his bones were found in 1705, 
near the banks of the Morderi, a little river at the foot of the 
mountain of Crusal, upon which (tradition says) the giant 
dwelt/’ M. Le Cat adds, that skeletons have been discovered 
of giants, of a still more incredible height, viz. of Theutobo- 
chus, king of the Teutones, found on the 11th of January, 
1613, twenty-five feet and a half high; of a giant near Ma- 
zarino, in Sicilv, in 1516, thirty feet; of another, in 1548, 
near Palermo, thirty feet; of another, in 1550, of thirty-three 
feet; of two found near Athens, thirty-three and thirty-six 
feet; and of one at Tuto, in Bohemia, in 1758, whose leg 
bones alone measured twenty-six feet! But whether these 
accounts are credited or not, we are certain that the stature of 
the human body is by no means fixed. We are ourselves a 
kind of giants, in comparison of the Laplanders; nor are these 
the most diminutive people to be found upon the earth. 

The Abbe La Chappe, in his journey into Siberia, to ob¬ 
serve the last transit of Venus, passed through a village irv 
habited by people calied Wotiacks, who were not above four 
feet high. The accounts of the Patagonians likewise, wnich 
cannot be entirely discredited, render it very probable, that 
somewhere in South America there is a race of people very 
considerably exceeding the common size of mankind ; and 
consequently that we cannot altogether discredit the relations 
of giants, handed down to us by ancient authors, though what 
degree of credit we ought to give them, is not easy to be de¬ 
termined. 


40 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

Daniel Lambert, the Fat Man.—This prodigy of corpu¬ 
lence, or obesity, was born at Leicester, March 13, 1770. 
He became keeper cff the prison in his native town. He first 
went to London for exhibition, in 1806, and was visited by 
persons of all ranks, and was considered the then wonder ot 
the world. After this he travelled over England, and aston¬ 
ished every beholder by his immense bulk. He was very 
polite, shrewd, and well informed. This extraordinary man 
died at Stamford, on the 21st of June, 1809. He had tra¬ 
velled from Huntingdon to that town ; and on the Tuesday 
before his death, he sent a message to the office of the Stam¬ 
ford newspaper, requesting, that “ as the mountain could not 
wait upon Mahomet, Mahomet would go to the mountain ;” 
or, in other words, that the printer would call upon him, and 
receive an order for executing: some handbills, announcing: 
Mr. Lambert’s arrival, and his desire to see company in that 
town. The orders he gave upon that occasion were delivered 
without any presentiment that they were to 6e his last, and 
with his usual cheerfulness ; he was then in bed, only fatigued 
from his journey, and anxious to be able to see company 
early in the morning. However, before nine o’clock, the day 
following, he was a corpse. His corpulency had been gradu¬ 
ally increasing, until nature could no longer support it. He 
was in his 40th year; and upon being weighed within a few 
days, by the famous Caledonian balance, in the possession of 
Mr. King, of Ipswich, was found to be 52 stone, 11 lbs. in 
weight, (14 lb. to the stone,) which Is 10 stone 11 lb. more 
than the great Mr. Bright, of Essex, weighed. 

No less true than remarkable is the following; Curious 
Account of Dwarfs. 

Jeffery Hudson, the famous English dwarf, was born at 
Oakham in Rutlandshire, in 1619; and about the age of seven 
or eight, being then but eighteen inches high, was retained in 
the service of the Duke of Buckingham, who resided at Bur¬ 
leigh on the Hill. Soon after the marriage of Charles I. the 
king and queen being entertained at Burleigh, little Jeffrey 
was served up to table in a cold pie, and presented bv the 
duchess to the queen, who kept him as her dwarf. From 
seven years till thirty, he never grew taller; but after thirty 
he shot up to three feet nine inches, and there fixed. Jef¬ 
fery became a considerable part of the entertainment of the 
court. Sir William Davenant wrote a poem called Jeffreidos , 
on a battle between him and a turkey cock; and in 1638 was 
published a very small book, called the New Years Gift , pre¬ 
sented at court by the Lady Parvula to the Lord Minimus, 
(commonly called Little Jeffery ,) her majesty’s servant, written 
uy Microphilus, with a little print of Jeffery prefixed. Before 



DANIEL LAMBERT. 



GEORGE MORLAND 


























DWARFS. 


41 


this period, Jeffery was employed on a negociation cf great 
importance: he was sent to France to fetch a midwife for th& 
queen; and on his return with this gentlewoman, and her ma¬ 
jesty's dancing-master, and many rich presents to the queen 
from her mother Mary de Medicis, he was taken by the Dun- 
kirkers. Jeffery, thus made of consequence, grew to think 
himself really so. He had borne with little temper the teazing 
of the courtiers and domestics, and had many squabbles with 
the king’s gigantic porter. At last, being provoked by Mr. 
Crofts, a young gentleman of family, a challenge ensued: 
and Mr. Crofts coming to the rendezvous armed only with 
a squirt, the little creature was so enraged, that a real duel 
ensued; and the appointment being on horseback, with pistols, 
to put them more on a level, Jeffery, at the first fire, shot his 
antagonist dead. This happened in France, whither he had 
attended his mistress during the troubles. He was again 
taken prisoner by a Turkish rover, and sold into Barbary. 
He probably did not remain long in slavery, for, at the be¬ 
ginning of the civil war, he was made a captain in the royal 
army; and in 1644, attended the queen to France, where he 
remained till the Restoration. At last, upon suspicion of his 
being privy to the Popish plot, he was taken up in 1682, and 
confined in the Gate-house of Westminster, where he ended 
his life in the sixty-third year of his age. 

In the memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences, a rela¬ 
tion is given by the Count de Tressau, of a dwarf, called 
Bebe , kept by Stanislaus III. king of Poland; who died in 
1764, aged twenty-three, when he measured only thirty-three 
inches. At his birth, he measured only between eight and 
nine inches. Diminutive as were his dimensions, his reason¬ 
ing faculties were not less scanty ; appearing indeed not to 
have been superior to those of a well-taught pointer: but, 
that the size and strength of the intellectual powers are not 
affected by the diminutiveness or tenuity of the corporeal or¬ 
gans, is evident from a still more striking instance of little¬ 
ness, given us by the same nobleman, in the person of Mon¬ 
sieur Borulawski, a Polish gentleman, whom he saw at 
Luneville, whence he visited Paris, and who, at the age 
of twenty-two, measured only twenty-eight inches. This 
miniature of a man, considering him only as to his bodily 
dimensions, appears a giant with regard to his mental powers 
and attainments. He is described by the count as possessing 
all the graces of wit, united with a sound judgment and an 
excellent memory; so that we may with justice say of M. 
Borulawski, in the words of Seneca, and nearly in the order 
In which he has used them, “ Posse itigenium, fortissimum ac 
beatissimum , sub quolibet corpusculo latere .” Epist. 66. Count 
BorulawsH was the son of a Polish nobleman attached to tne 
2 F 


42 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN 


fortunes of King Stanislaus, who lost his property in conse¬ 
quence of that attachment, and who had six children; three 
dwarfs, and three well grown. What is singular enough, they 
were bom alternately, a big one and a little one, though both 
parents were of the common size. The little count's youngest 
sister was much less than him, but died at the age of twenty- 
three. The count continued to grow till he was about thirty, 
when he had attained the height of three feet two inches : he 
lived to see his fifty-first year. He never experienced any 
sickness, but lived in a polite and affluent manner, under the 
patronage of a lady, a friend of the family, till love, at the 
age of forty-one, intruded into his little peaceful bosom, and 
involved him in matrimony, care, and perplexity. The lady 
he chose was of his own country, but of French extraction, 
and the middle size. They had three children, all girls, and 
none of them likely to be dwarfs. To provide for a family 
now became an object big with difficulty, requiring all the 
exertion of his powers (which could promise but little) and 
his talents, o^ which music alone afforded any view of profit, 
lie played extremely well upon the guitar; and by having 
concerts in several of the principal cities in Germany, he 
raised temporary supplies. At Vienna he was persuaded to 
t urn his thoughts to England, where, it was believed, the pub¬ 
ic curiosity might in a little time benefit him sufficiently to 
enable him to live independent in so cheap a country as Po¬ 
land. He was furnished by very respectable friends with re¬ 
commendations to several of the most distinguished characters, 
in this kingdom, as the Duchess of Devonshire, Rutland, &c. 
whose kind patronage he was not backward to acknowledge. 
He was advised to let himself be seen as a curiosity, and the 
price of admission was fixed at a guinea. The number of his 
visitors, of course, was not very great. After a pretty long 
stay in London, he went to Bath and Bristol; visited Dublin, 
and some other parts of Ireland ; whence he returned by way 
of Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham, to London. He 
also visited Edinburgh, and some other towns in Scotland. 
In every place he acquired a number of friends. In reality, 
the ease and politeness of his manners and address pleased no 
less than the diminutive yet elegant proportions of his figure, 
astonished those who visited him. His person was pleasing and 
graceful, and his look manly and noble. He spoke French 
fluently, and English tolerably. He was remarkably lively 
and cheerful, though fitted for the most serious and rational 
conversation. Such was this wonderful little man—an object 
of curiosity really worthy the attention of the philosopher, 
the man of taste, and the anatomist. His life has been pub¬ 
lished, written by himself. 


THE KIMOS. 


43 


The following account of a singular nation of dwarfs, is 
taken from the Monthly Review for 1792, being Vol. 7, of the 
new series. The subject is a review of “A Voyage to Ma¬ 
dagascar; by the Abbe Rochon. ,, They are called The 
Kimos. 

The Kimos are a nation of pigmies, said to inhabit the 
mountains in the interior part of the island of Madagascar, of 
whom tradition has long encouraged the belief:—but Flacourt, 
in the last century, treated the stories then in circulation with 
great contempt. The Abbe Rochon, however, has revived 
them; and has not only given them the sanction of his own 
belief, but that of M. Commerson , and of M. de Modave , the 
late Governor of Fort Dauphin. As their opinions are of 
weight, and as the subject is curious, we shall present our 
readers with an epitome of the memoirs which these gentle¬ 
men drew up concerning the Kimos , and which our author 
has inserted entire in the body of his work. 

** Lovers of the marvellous, (says M. Commerson,) who would 
be sorry to have the pretended size of the Patagonian giants 
reduced to six feet, will perhaps be made some amends by a 
race of pigmies, who are wonderful in the contrary extreme. 
I mean those half men, who inhabit the interior part of the 
great island of Madagascar, and form a distinct nation, called, 
in the language of the country, Kimos. These little men are 
of a paler colour than the rest of the natives, who are in ge¬ 
neral black. Their arms are so long, that when stretched 
out, they reach to the knees, without stooping. The women 
have scarcely breasts sufficient to mark their sex, except at 
the time of lying-in; and even then they are obliged to have 
recourse to cow’s milk, to feed their children. 

“The intellectual faculties of this diminutive race are equal 
to those of the other inhabitants of the island, who are by no 
means deficient in understanding, though extremely indolent. 
Indeed, the Kimos are said to be much more active and war¬ 
like, so that their courage being in a duplicate ratio of their 
size, they have never suffered themselves to be oppressed and 
subdued by their neighbours, who have often attempted it. 
It is astonishing, that all we know of this nation is from the 
neighbouring people; and that neither the governors of the 
Isle of France, of Bourbon, nor the commanders of our forts 
on the coast of Madagascar, have ever endeavoured to pene¬ 
trate into this country. It has indeed been lately attempted, 
but without success. 

“ I shall however attest, as an eye-witness, that in a voyage 
which I made in 1770 to Fort Dauphin, M. de Modave, the 
last governor, gratified my curiosity, by shewing me, amo:ig 
his slaves, a female of the Kimos tribe, about thirty years of 
age, and three feet seven inches high. She was of a much 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 


44 

paler colour than any other natives of Madagascar that 1 .lad 
seen, was well made, and did not appear misshapen, nor 
stinted in her growth, as accidental dwarfs usually are. Her 
arms were indeed too long, in proportion to her height, and 
her hair was short and woolly: but her countenance was 
good, and rather resembled that of an European than an 
African. She had a natural habitual smile on her face, was 
good-humoured, and seemed, by her behaviour, to possess a 
good understanding. No appearance of breasts was observ¬ 
able, except nipples: but this single instance is not sufficient 
to establish an exception so contrary to the general law of 
nature. A little before our departure from Madagascar, the 
desire of recovering her liberty, joined to the fear of being 
carried into France, stimulated this little slave to run away 
into the woods. 

“ On the whole, I conclude, in firmly believing the existence 
of this diminutive race of human beings, who have a character- 
and manners peculiar to themselves. The Laplanders seem 
to be the medium between men of the common size and these 
dwarfs. Both inhabit the coldest countries and the highest 
mountains upon the earth. These of Madagascar, on which 
the Kimos reside, are sixteen or seventeen hundred toises, or 
fathoms, above the level of the sea. The plants and vegetables 
which grow on these heights, are naturally dwarfs.” 

M. de Modave says,—“When I arrived at Fort Dauphin, in 
1768, 1 had a memoir put into my hands, which was ill drawn 
up, giving an account of a pigmy race of people, called Kimos, 
who inhabit the middle region of Madagascar, in latitude 22°. 

I tried to verify the fact, by preparing for an expedition into 
the country which is said to be thus inhabited: but by the 
infidelity and cowardice of the guides, my scheme failed. 
Yet 1 had such indisputable information of this extraordinary 
fact, that l have not the least doubt of the existence of such 
a nation. The common size of the men is three feet five 
inches. They wear long round beards. The women are some 
inches shorter than the men, who are thick and stout. Their 
colour is less black and swarthy than that of the natives; 
their hair is short and cottony. They forge iron and steel, of 
which they make their lances and darts; the only weapons 
that they us*e. The situation of their country is about sixty 
leagues to the north-west of Fort Dauphin. I procured a 
female of this nation, but she was said to be much taller than 
usual among the Kimos, for she was three feet seven inches 
in height. She was very thin, and had no more appearance 
of breasts than the leanest man.” 

To these relations, the Abbe Rodion says, he might add that 
of an officer who had procured a Kimos man, and would have 
brought him to Europe, but M. de Surville, who commanded 


ABDERITES-HOUSES BUILT IN TREES. 


45 


the vessel in which he was to embark, refused to grant his 
permission. 

Respectable historians have presented us with the fol¬ 
lowing; curious account of the Abderites, or Inhabitants 
of Abdera. 

It is reported, that in the reign of Cassander, king of Ma- 
cedon, they were so pestered with frogs and rats, that they 
were obliged to desert their city for some time: and Lucian 
tells us, that in the reign of Lysimachus, they were for some 
months afflicted with a fever of a most extraordinary nature, 
whose crisis was always on the seventh day,* and then it left 
them; but it so distracted their imaginations, that they fancied 
themselves players. After this, they were ever repeating 
verses from some tragedy, and particularly out of the Andro¬ 
meda of Euripides, as if they had been upon the stage; so 
that many of these pale, meagre actors, were pouring forth 
tragic exclamations in every street. This delirium continued 
till the winter following; which was a very cold one, and 
therefore fitter to remove it. Lucian, who has described this 
disease, endeavours to account for it in this w r ayArchelaus, 
an excellent player, acted the Andromeda of Euripides before 
the Abderites, in the height of a very hot summer. Several 
had a fever at their coming; out of the theatre, and as their 
imaginations were full of the tragedy, the delirium, which the 
fever raised, perpetually represented Andromeda, Perseus, 
Medusa, 8cc. and the several dramatic incidents, and called 
up the ideas of those objects, and the pleasure of the repre¬ 
sentation, so strongly, that they could not forbear imitating 
Archelaus , action and declamation: and from these the fever 
spread to others by infection. 

A most respectable writer (Madame De Genlis) has given 
us the following curious account of a Country, the In 

HABITANTS OF WHICH RESIDE IN TREES. 

A young Spanish adventurer, of the name of Vasco Nugnez, 
whom a handsome figure, united to a natural wit and courage, 
advanced to the highest eminence of glory and fortune ; pur¬ 
suing his researches over the Darien, a region abounding in 
lakes and marshes, arrived in a country where the houses 
were of a very singular contrivance, being built in the largest 
trees, the branches of which enveloped the sides, and formed 
the roof. They contained chambers and closets of a tolerable 
construction. Each family was separately lodged. Every 
house had two ladders, one of which reached from the foot to 
the middle of the tree, and the other from thence to the en¬ 
trance of the highest chamber: they were composed of cane, 
^md so light as to be easily lifted up, which was done every 


46 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 


night, and formed a security from the attacks of tigers and 
other wild beasts, with which this province abounds. The 
chief of the country was in his palace, that is to say—his tree, 
when the Castilians came among them. On seeing the 
strangers, he hastened to draw up his ladders, while the 
Spaniards called to him aloud to descend without fear. He 
replied, that being unconscious of having offended any one, 
and having no concern with strangers, he begged he might 
be suffered to remain undisturbed in his habitation. On this 
they threatened to cut down or set fire to his tree, and at 
length obliged him to descend with his two sons. To their 
inquiries, 4 if he' had any gold/ he replied, that he had none 
there, because it was of no use to him; but, if they would 
suffer him to go, he would fetch them some from a neighbour¬ 
ing mountain. The Castilians the more readily believed the 
promise, as he consented to leave with them his wife and 
children. But after having waited some days for his return, 
they discovered that this pretence was only a stratagem to 
withdraw himself from their hands; that their hostages like¬ 
wise, during the night, had found an opportunity of escaping 
by means of their ladders, and that the inhabitants of every 
neighbouring tree had, in the same manner, fled. 




CHAP. III. 


curiosities respecting man.— (Continued.) 

Astonishing Acquisitions made by Blind Persons— Wonderful 
Perfo nuances oj a Female , blind almost from Infancy—W on- 
derful Instances of Adroitness of Persons born defective in 
their Limbs—Curious Account of Incapacity of distinguish¬ 
ing Colours — Ventriloquism — Sword-swallowing. 

Astonishing Acquisitions made by Blind Persons. 


We find various recompenses for blindness, or substitutes 
for the use of the eyes, in the wonderful sagacity of many 
blind persons, recited by Zahnius, in his * Oculus Artificialis/ 
and others. In some, the defect has been supplied by a most 
excellent gift of remembering what they had seen; in others, 
by a delicate nose, or the sense of smelling; in others, by an. 
exquisite touch, or a sense of feeling, which they have had in 
such perfection, that, as it has been said of some, they learned 
to hear with their eyes, so it may be said of these, that they 
taught themselves to see with their hands. Some have been 
enabled to perform all sorts of curious and subtle works in 


ACQUISITIONS MADE BY BLIND PERSONS. 4? 

'.lie nicest and most dexterous manner.—Aldrovanus speaks 
o a sculptor who became blind at twenty years of age, and 
v v ten years after, made a perfect marble statue of Cosmo II. 

!. Medicis; and another of clay, like Urban VIII. Bartholin 
ts us of a blind sculptor in Denmark, who distinguished 
t'ectlv well, by mere touch, not only all kinds of wood 
all the colours ; and F. Grimaldi gives an instance of the 
!ixe kind; besides the blind organist, living in Paris, who is 
aid to have done the same. The most extraordinary of all 
is a blind guide, who, according to the report of good writers, 
used to conduct the merchants through the sands and deserts 
of Arabia. 

James Bernouilli contrived a method of teaching blind 
persons to write. An instance, no less extraordinary, is men¬ 
tioned by Dr. Bew, in the “ Transactions of the Manchester 
Society.” It is that of a person, whose name is John Met¬ 
calf, a native of the neighbourhood of Manchester, who be¬ 
came blind at so early an age as to be altogether unconscious 
of light, and its various effects. His employment in the 
ounger period of his life was that of a waggoner, and oc¬ 
casionally as a guide in intricate roads during the night, or 
/ hen the common tracks were covered with snow. After- 
ards he became a projector and surveyor of highways in 
{. ficult and mountainous parts; and, in this capacity, with 
1 ■* assistance merely of a long staff, he traverses the roads, 
ascends precipices, explores valleys, and investigates their 
several extents, forms, and situations, so as to answer his pur¬ 
pose in the best manner. His plans are designed, and his 
estimates formed, with such ability and accuracy, that he has 
been employed in altering most of the roads over the Peak in 
Derbyshire, particularly those in the vicinity of Buxton ; and 
in constructing a new one between Wilmslow and Congleton, 
oO as to form a communication between the great London 
i ad, without being obliged to pass over the mountain. 

Although blind persons have occasion, in a variety of re¬ 
spects, to deplore their infelicity, their misery is in a con- 
. erable degree alleviated by advantages peculiar to them- 
ives. They are capable of a more fixed and steady atten- 
!,- n to the objects of their mental contemplation, than those 
> o are distracted by the view of a variety of external scenes, 
eir want of sight naturally leads them to avail themselves- 
their other organs of corporeal sensation, and with this- 
view to cultivate and improve them as much as possible. Ac- 
rdingly, they derive relief and assistance from the quick¬ 
ness of their hearing, the acuteness of their smell, and the 
sensibility of their touch, which persons who see are apt to 
disregard. 

Many contrivances have also been devised by the ingenious#. 


48 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 


for supplying the want of sight, and for facilitating those 
analytical or mechanical operations, which would otherwise 
perplex the most vigorous mind, and the most retentive me¬ 
mory. By means of these, they have become eminent pro~ 
ficients in various departments of science. Indeed, there are 
few sciences in which, with or without mechanical helps, the 
blind have not distinguished themselves. The case of Pro¬ 
fessor Saunderson at Cambridge, is well known. His attain¬ 
ments and performances in the languages, and also as a 
learner and teacher in the abstract mathematics, in philo¬ 
sophy, and in music, have been truly astonishing; and the 
account of them appears to be almost incredible, if it were 
not amply attested and confirmed by many other instances of 
a similar kind, both in ancient and modern times. 

Cicero mentions it as a fact scarcely credible, with respect 
to his master in philosophy, Diodotus, that “ he exercised 
himself in it with greater assiduity after he became blind ; 
and, which he thought next to impossible to be performed 
without sight, that he professed geometry, and described his 
diagrams so accurately to his scholars, as to enable them to 
draw every line in its proper direction.” 

Jerome relates a more remarkable instance of Didymus in 
Alexandria, who “ though blind from his infancy, and there¬ 
fore ignorant of the letters, appeared so great a miracle to the 
world, as not only to learn logic, but geometry also to per¬ 
fection; which seems (he adds) the most of any thing to re¬ 
quire the help of sight.” 

Professor Saunderson, who was deprived of his sight by 
the small-pox when he was only twelve months old, seems to 
have acquired most of his ideas by the sense of feeling; and 
though he could not distinguish colours by that sense, which, 
alter repeated trials, he said was pretending to impossibilities, 
yet he was able, with the greatest exactness, to discriminate 
the minutest difference between rough and smooth on a sur¬ 
face, or the least defect of polish. In a set of Roman medals, 
he could distinguish the genuine from the false, though they 
had been counterfeited in such a manner as to deceive a 
•connoisseur, who judged of them by the eye. His sense of 
feeling w as so acute, that he could perceive the least variation 
in the state of the air; and, it is said, that in a garden where 
observations were made on the sun, he took notice of every 
cloud that interrupted the observation, almost as justly as 
those who could see it. He could tell when any thing was 
held near his face, or when he passed by a tree at no great 
distance, provided the air was calm, and there was little or 
no wind; this he did by the different pulse of air upon his 
face, lie possessed a sensibility of hearing to such a degree, 
that he could distinguish even the fifth part of a note; and, 


ACQUISITIONS MADE BY BLIND PERSONS 


ttf 

by the quickness of this sense, he not only discriminated 
ersons with whom he had once conversed so long as to fix in 
is memory the sound of their voice, but he could judge of 
the size of a room into which he was introduced, and of his 
distance from the wall; and if he had ever walked over a 
pavement in courts, piazzas, &c. which reflected a sound, and 
was afterwards conducted thither again, he could exactly tell 
in what part of the walk he was placed, merely by the note 
which it sounded. 

Sculpture and painting are arts which, one would imagine, 
are of very difficult and almost impracticable attainment to 
blind persons ; and yet instances occur, which shew, that they 
are not excluded from the pleasing, creative, "and extensive 
regions of fancy. 

De Piles mentions a blind sculptor, who thus took the 
likeness of the Duke de Bracciano in a dark cellar, and made 
a marble statue of King Charles I. with great justness and 
elegance. However unaccountable it may appear to the ab¬ 
stract philosopher, yet nothing is more certain in fact, than 
that a blind man may, by the inspiration of the Muses, or 
rather by the efforts cf a cultivated genius, exhibit in poetry 
the most natural images and animated descriptions even of 
visible objects, without deservedly incurring the charge of 
plagiarism. We need not recur to Homer and Milton for 
attestations to this fact; they had probably been long ac¬ 
quainted with the visible world before they had lost their 
sight, and their descriptions might be animated with all the 
rapture and enthusiasm which originally fired their bosoms, 
when the grand and delightful objects delineated by them 
were immediately beheld. We are furnished with instances 
in which a similar energy and transport of description, at 
least in a very considerable degree, have been exhibited by 
those on whose minds visible objects w r ere never impressed,, 
or have been entirely obliterated. 

Dr. Blacklock affords a surprising instance of this kind; 
who, though he had lost his sight before he w r as six months 
old, not only made himself master of various languages, 
Greek, Latin, Italian, and French; but acquired the reputa¬ 
tion of an excellent poet, whose performances abound with 
appropriate images and animated descriptions. 

Dr. Nicholas Bacon, a blind gentleman, descended from 
the same family with the celebrated Lord Verulam, w-as, in 
the city of Brussels, with high approbation created LL. D. 
He was deprived of sight at nine years of age by an arrow 
from a cross-bow, w'hilst he was attempting to shoot it. 
When he had recovered his health, which had suffered by 
the shock, he pursued the 
he had been engaged; and 

2 . 


same plan of education in which 
having heard that one Nicasiu& 
G 


50 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN 

de Vourde, bom blind, who lived towards the end of the 
fifteenth century, after having distinguished himself by his 
studies in the university of Louvain, took his degree as D. D. 
in that of Cologne, he resolved to make the same attempt 
After continuing his studies in learning philosophy and law 
a sufficient time, he took his degree, commenced pleading a 
counsellor or advocate in the council of Brabant, and has had 
the pleasure of terminating almost every suit in which he has 
been engaged to the satisfaction of his clients. 

Another instance, which deserves being recorded, is that of 
Dr. Henry Moyes, in our own country; who, though blind 
from his infancy, by the ardour and assiduity of his applica 
tion, and by the energy of native genius, not only made in¬ 
credible advances in mechanical operations, in music, and in 
the languages ; but acquired an extensive acquaintance with 
geometry, optics, algebra, astronomy, chemistry, and all other 
branches of natural philosophy. 

From the account of Dr. Moyes, who occasionally read 
lectures on philosophical chemistry at Manchester, delivered 
to the Manchester Society by Dr. Bew, it appears, that me 
chanical exercises were the favourite employment of his in 
fant years : and that at a very early age he was so well ac 
quainted with the use of edge-tools, as to be able to construe'., 
little windmills, and even a loom. By the sound, and t e 
different voices of the persons that were present, he was di 
rected in his judgment of the dimensions of the room in whicl 
they were assembled ; and in this respect he determined wit 
such a degree of accuracy, as seldom to be mistaken. Hie 
memory was singularly retentive ; so that he was capable c.' 
recognizing a person on his first speaking, though he had not 
been in company with him for two years. He determined 
with surprising exactness the stature of those with whom he. 
conversed, by the direction of their voices; and he made 
tolerable conjectures concerning their dispositions, by the 
manner in which they conducted their conversation. His 
eyes, though he never recollected having seen, were not 
totally insensible to intense light: but the rays refracted 
through a prism, when sufficiently vivid, produced distinguish¬ 
able effects upon them. The red produced a disagreeable 
sensation, which he compared to the touch of a saw. As the 
colours declined in violence, the harshness lessened, until tl - 
green afforded a sensation that was highly pleasing to him, 
and which he described as conveying an idea similar to that 
which he gained by running his hand over smooth polished 
surfaces. Such surfaces, meandering streams, and gentle de 
clivities, were the figures by which he expressed his ideas of 
beauty; rugged rocks, irregular points, and boisterous ele¬ 
ments, furnished him with expressions for terror and disgust. 


ACQUISITIONS MADE BY BLIND PERSONS. 51 

He excelled in the charms of conversation; was happy in his 
allusions to visual objects, and discoursed on the nature, 
composition, and beauty of colours, with pertinence and pre¬ 
cision. 

This instance, and some others which have occurred, seem 
to furnish a presumption, f1 ^t the feeling or touch of blind 
persons may be so improved as to enable them to perceive 
that texture and disposition of coloured surfaces by which 
some rays of light are reflected, and others absorbed; and in 
this manner to distinguish colours 

In music, there are at present living instances of how far 
the blind may proceed. In former periods we shall find illus¬ 
trious examples, how amply nature has capacitated the blind 
to excel, both in the scientific and practical departments of 
music. 

In the sixteenth century, when the progress of improve 
ment both in melody and harmony was rapid and conspicuous, 
Francis Salinas was eminently distinguished. He was 
born A. D. 1513, at Burgos in Spain; and was son to the 
treasurer of that city. Though afflicted with incurable blind¬ 
ness, he was profoundly skilled both in the theory and prac¬ 
tice of music. As a performer, he is celebrated by his con¬ 
temporaries with the highest encomiums. As a theorist. Sir 
John Hawkins says, his book is equal in value to any now 
extant in any language. Though he was deprived of sight in 
his earliest infancy, he did not content himself to delineate 
the various phenomena in music, but the principles from 
whence they result, the relations of sound, the nature of 
arithmetical, geometrical, and harmonical ratios, which were 
t'hen esteemed essential to the theory of music, with a degree 
of intelligence which would have deserved admiration, though 
he had been in full possession of every sense requisite for 
these disquisitions. He was taken to Rome in the retinue of 
Petrus Sarmentus, archbishop of Compostella, and having 
passed twenty years in Italy, he returned to Salamanca, where 
he obtained the professorship of music, an office at that time 
equally respectable and lucrative. Having discharged it with 
reputation and success for some time, he died at the venerable 
age of seventy-seven. 

In the same period flourished Caspar Crumbhom, blind 
from the third year of his age; yet he composed several 
pieces in many parts with so much success, and performed 
both upon the flute and violin so exquisitely, that he was dis¬ 
tinguished by Augustus, elector of Saxony. But preferring 
his native country, Silesia, to every other, he returned to it, 
and was appoirted organist of the church of St. Peter and 
Pam in Lignitz, where he had often the direction of the mu- 
«ical college, and died June 11, 1621. 


62 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

To these might be added Martin Pesenti of Venice., ft 
composer of vocal and instrumental music almost of all kinds, 
though blind from his nativity; with other examples equally 
worthy of public attention. But if vulgar prejudice is capable 
of blushing at its own contemptible character, or of yielding 
to conviction, those already quoted are more than sufficient 
to shew the musical jugglers of our time that their art is no 
monopoly, with which those alone who see are invested, by 
the irrevocable decree of heaven. 

In the Annual Register for 1762, the following narrative of 
the surprising acquisitions of a blind lady is inserted. “A 
young gentlewoman of a good family in France, now in her 
eighteenth year, lost her sight when only two years old, her 
mother having been advised to lay some pigeon’s blood on 
her eyes, to preserve them in the small-pox; whereas, so far 
from answering the end, it eat into them. Nature, however, 
may be said to have compensated for the unhappy mistake* 
by beauty of person, sweetness of temper, vivacity of genius, 
quickness of conception, and many talents which certainly 
much alleviate her misfortune. She plays at cards with the 
same readiness as others of the party. She first prepares the 
pack allotted to her, by pricking them in several parts; yet 
so imperceptibly, that the closest inspection can scarce dis¬ 
cern her indexes: she sorts the suits, and arranges the cards 
in their proper sequence, with the same precision, and nearly 
the same facility, as they who have their sight. All she re¬ 
quires of those who play with her, is to name every card as it 
is played ; and these she retains so exactly, that she frequently 
performs some notable strokes, such as shew a great combina¬ 
tion and strong memory. The most wonderful circumstance 
is, that she should have learned to read and write ; but even 
(his is readily believed on knowing her method. In writing 
to her, no ink is used, but the letters are pricked down on 
the paper, and by the delicacy of her touch, feeling each letter, 
she follows them successively, and reads every word with hei 
finger ends. She herself in writing makes use of a pencil, as 
she could not know when her pen was dry; her guide on the 
paper is a small thin ruler, and of the breadth of the writing. 
On finishing a letter, she wets it, so as to fix the traces of her 
pencil, that they are not obscured or effaced; then proceed*, 
to told and seal it, and write the direction ; all by her own 
address, and without the assistance of any other person. Her 
writing is very straight, well cut, and the spelling nc less 
correct. To reach this singular mechanism, the indefatigable 
cares of he\ affectionate mother were long employed, who ac¬ 
customed her daughter to feel letters cut in cards of paste¬ 
board, brought her to distinguish an A from a B, and thus 
the whole alphabet, and afterwards to spell words; then, by 


PERFORMANCES OF A BLIND FEMALE. 55 

the remembrance of the shape of the letters, to delineate them 
on paper; and, lastly, to arrange them so as to form words 
and sentences. She has learned to play on the guitar, and 
has even contrived a way of pricking down the tunes, as an 
assistance to her memory. So delicate are her organs, that 
in singing a tune, though new to her, she is able to name the 
notes. In figured dances she acquits herself extremely well, 
and in a minuet, with inimitable ease and gracefulness. As 
for the works of her sex, she has a masterly hand; she 
sews and hems perfectly well; and in all her works she 
threads her needles for herself, however small. By the 
watch her touch never fails telling her exactly the hour and 
minute. 

Diderot gives a very curious account of a blind lady. It 
is so remarkable, that we shall distinguish it by the separate 
title of Wonderful Performances of a Female, Blind 

ALMOST FROM INFANCY. 

The name of this remarkable person was. Mademoiselle 
Melanie de Salignac, a young lady, who had been blind al¬ 
most from her birth. Her feeling, hearing, and smell, were 
exquisite. She could distinguish, by the impression of the 
air, whether it was fine or cloudy, whether she was in an 
open place or a street, and whether the street was open at 
the end;—also, whether she was in a room or not, and of what 
size it was. Having once gone over a house, she became so 
well acquainted with the different parts, as to be able to warn 
others of any danger they were exposed to, by the existence 
of a step, or the lowness of a door. She could thread the 
smallest needle, with the greatest dexterity; and could ex¬ 
ecute every sort of needle-work. She played very well at 
many games at cards, which she distinguished by some little 
mark, known to herself by the touch, but imperceptible to 
the sight of any other person. She had learnt., and under¬ 
stood very well, music, geography, geometry, and dancing. 
She was, indeed, extremely clever; what made her more in¬ 
teresting, she was modest, mild, cheerful, and affectionate. 
She wrote with a pin, by pricking a sheet of paper, stretched 
on a frame, and read what she had written, by feeling the pin- 
marks on the other side of the paper. She could read a 
book, printed on one side only; some were printed expressly 
f>r her, in this manner. In a piece of twelve or fifteen lines, 
if the number of letters in each word, together with the letter 
which it began with, was given her, she could tell every word, 
however oddly composed. “ This fact,” says Diderot, “ was 
attestsd by every one of her family, by myself, and twenty 
other persons, still alive. She died at the age of twenty-two. 
She was the daughter of Madame de Blacy, a woman distin- 


54 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 


guished tor the eminence cf her moral qualities/" and moving 
in a respectable spheie of life.—See Grimn’s Memoirs. 

We now proceed to detail the following Wonderful In¬ 
stances of Adroitness of Persons born defective in 
their Limbs. 

Several instances of such births have occurred, and the 
wonderful acquirements of persons thus maimed by nature 
have often been the subject of public astonishment, and 
proved a source of gain to themselves or their relations. 

Giraldus Cambriensis speaks of a young woman born with¬ 
out arms, whom he saw at Chester, in the reign of Henry II. 
He mentions her working very dexterously with her needle. 

Stowe gives an account of a Dutchman born without arms, 
who in 1581, exhibited surprising feats of activity in London; 
such as flourishing with a rapier, shooting an arrow near a 
mark, See. 

Buiwer, in his Artificial Changeling, speaks of John 
Simons, a native of Berkshire, born without arms or hands, 
who could write with his mouth; thread a needle ; tie a knot; 
shuffle, cut, and deal a pack of cards. Sec. He was shewn in 
public m 1653. 

John Sear, a Spaniard, born without arms, was shewn in 
London in King William’s reign, who could comb and shave 
himself, fill a glass, thread a needle, embroider, write six 
sorts of hands, and play on several instruments of music. 

Matthew Buckinger, a German, born without arms or legs, 
who came to England, wrote a good hand, (many specimens 
of which are extant,) and performed several wonderful fca,ts 
He died in 1722, aged forty-eight. 

Thomas Pinnington, a native of Liverpool, born without 
legs or arms, performed much the same feats as Sear, in 1744, 
and several years ensuing; since which, a Miss Hawtin, from 
Coventry, born without arms, and others whose names have 
not been mentioned, have exhibited themselves at Bartho¬ 
lomew Fair and other places. 

Thomas Inglefield, born without arms or legs, at Hook, in 
Hampshire, (anno 1769) died a few years ago in London. He 
was not publicly shewn, but got his bread by writing and 
drawing. There are two portraits of him, one of which was 
etched by himself. 

There was, a short time since, a farmer living at Ditch-heat 
in Somersetshire, born without arms,—William Kingston, of 
whom frequent mention has been made in the pi blic papers. 
He surpasses, according to accounts which seem very well 
attested, all that have been yet spoken of. 

The following account was given a few years since, in the 
papers, by a person who visited him. “ In order to give the 



ADROITNESS OF PERSONS BORN LAME. 55 

public a satisfactory account of William Kingston,” says the 
writer, “ I went to Ditcheat, and the next morning got him to 
breakfast with me at Mrs. Goodfellow’s, and had ocular proof 
of his dexterity. He highly entertained us at breakfast, by 
putting his half-naked feet upon the table as he sat, and car- 
ry'.ng his tea and toast between his great and second toe to 
his mouth, with as much facility as if his foot had been a hand, 
and his toes fingers. I put half a sheet of paper upon the 
floor, with a pen and ink-horn. He threw off his shoes as he 
sat, took the ink-horn in the toes of his left foot, and held the 
pen in those of his right. He then wrote three lines as well 
as most ordinary writers, and as swiftly. He writes all his 
own bills and other accounts. He then shewed me how he 
shaves himself with the razor in his toes; and he can comb 
his own hair. He can dress and undress himself, except but¬ 
toning his clothes. He feeds himself, and can bring both his 
meat or his broth to his mouth, by holding the fork or spoon 
in his toes. He cleans his own shoes, lights the fire, and 
does almost any domestic business as well as any other man. 
He can make hen-coops. He is a farmer by occupation. 
He can milk his cows with his toes, and cuts his own hay, 
binds it up in bundles, and carries it about the field for his 
cattle. Last winter he had eight heifers constantly to fodder. 
The last summer he made all his hay-ricks. He can do all the 
business of the hay-field (except mowing) as fast and as well 
with his feet as others can with rakes and forks. He goes tc 
the field, and catches his horse. He saddles and bridles him 
with his teeth and toes. If he has a sheep among his flock 
that ails any thing, he can separate it from the rest, and drive 
it into a corner when nobody else can: he then examines it, 
and applies a remedy to it. He is so strong in his teeth, that 
he can lift ten pecks of beans with them. He can throw a 
great sledge-hammer as far with his feet, as other men can 
with their hands. In a word, he can nearly do as much with¬ 
out as others can with their arms. 

“ He began the world with a hen and chickens. With tiie 
profit on these he procured a ewe The sale of these pro¬ 
cured a ragged colt (as he termed it) and a sheep, and he 
now occupies a small farm.” 

" Necessity is the mother of invention.” This proverb was 
never more fully exemplified than in the cases above men¬ 
tioned Habit, early acquired and long practised, may render 
the toes almost as useful as the fingers: the lips are also en¬ 
dued with acute feeling and great flexibility, and may become 
powerful assistants where the hands are wanting. One lesson, 
at least, may be taught by this maimed tribe :—that few 
things are so difficult, that they cannot be acquired by per¬ 
severance and application. 


56 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 


While some persons are noted for their extrao. dinary and 
wonderful faculties, others are remarkable for defects in na¬ 
tural capacities. The reader will feel interested in the follow¬ 
ing Curious Account of Incapacity of Distinguishing 
Colours. 

Of this extraordinary defect in vision, we have the following 
instances in the Philosophical Transactions for 1777. One of 
the persons lived at Maryport in Cumberland. The account 
was communicated by Mr. Huddart to Dr. Priestly; and is 
as follows:—“ His name was Harris; by trade a shoe-maker. 
I had often heard from others that he could discern the form 
and magnitude of all objects very distinctly, but could not 
distinguish colours. This report had excited my curiosity; I 
conversed with him frequently on the subject. The account 
he gave was this : That he had reason to believe other persons 
saw something in objects which he could not see; that their 
language seemed to mark qualities with precision and con¬ 
fidence, which he could only guess at with hesitation, and fre¬ 
quently with error. His first suspicion of this arose when 
he was abour four years old. Having by accident found in 
the street a child’s stocking, he carried it to a neighbouring 
house to inquire for the owner; he observed the people called 
it a red stocking, though he did not understand why they gave 
it that denomination, as he himself thought it completely 
described by being called a stocking. This circumstance, 
however, remained in his memory, and together with subse¬ 
quent observations, led him to the knowledge of this defect. 
He also observed, that when young, other children could dis¬ 
cern cherries on a tree by some pretended difference of colour, 
though he could only distinguish them from the leaves, by the 
difference of their size and shape. He observed also, that by 
means of this difference of colour they could see the cherries 
at a greater distance than he could, though he could see other 
objects at as great a distance as they, that is, where the sight 
was not assisted by the colour. Large objects he could see 
as well as other persons; and even the smaller ones, if they 
were not enveloped in other things, as in the case of cherries 
among the leaves. I believe he could never do more than 
guess the name of any colour; yet he could distinguish white 
from black, or black from any light or bright colour. Dove 
or straw colour he called white, and different colours he fre¬ 
quently called by the same name; yet he could discern a dif¬ 
ference between them when placed together. In general, 
colours of an equal degree of brightness, however they might 
otherwise differ, he confounded together. Yet a striped rib¬ 
bon he could distinguish from a plain one; but he could 
not tell what the colours were with any tolerable exactness. 
Dark colours, in general, he often mistook for black; but 


INCAPACITY OF DISTINGUISHING COLCURS. 


57 


never imagined white to be a dark colour, nor dark to be a 
white colour. He was an intelligent man, and very desirous 
of understanding the nature of light and colours, for which 
end he had attended a course of lectures in natural philosophy. 
He had two brothers in the same circumstances as to sight; 
and two others (brothers and sisters) who, as well as their 
parents, had nothing of this defect. One of the first men- 
tioned brothers, who is now living, I met with at Dublin, and 
wished to try his capacity to distinguish the colours in a 
prism; but not having one by me, I asked him, whether he 
had ever seen a rainbow? he replied, he had often; and could 
distinguish the different colours; meaning only, that it was 
composed of different colours, for he could not tell what they 
were. I then procured, and shewed him a piece of ribbon; 
he immediately, and without any difficulty, pronounced it a 
striped, and not a plain, ribbon. He then attempted to name 
the different stripes : the several stripes of white he uniformly, 
and without hesitation, called white : the four black stripes 
he was deceived in; for three of them he thought brown, 
though they were exactly of the same shade with the other, 
which he properly called black. He spoke, however, with 
diffidence, as to all those stripes; and it must be owned, that 
the black was not very distinct: the light green he called 
/■ellow; but he was not very positive: he said, “ I think this 
what you call yellow.” The middle stripe, which had a slight 
tinge of red, he called a sort of blue. But he was most of all 
deceived by the orange colour: of this he spoke very con¬ 
fidently, saying, “ This is the colour of grass, this is green.” 
I also shewed him a great variety of ribbons, the colour of 
which he sometimes named rightly, and sometimes as dif¬ 
ferently as possible from the true colour. I asked him, whe¬ 
ther he imagined it possible for all the various colours he saw 
to be mere difference of light and shade; and that all colours 
could be composed of these two mixtures only? With some 
hesitation he replied. No, he did imagine there was some 
other difference. It is proper to add, that the experiment of 
the striped ribbon was made in the day-time, and in a good 
light.” 

Incredible as the above phenomena may appear, we can 
add the following fact in confirmation of them, from personal 
knowledge. There is a gentleman now living in Edinburgh, 
whose optical nerves have laboured under a defect perfectly 
similar, since his infancy; but whose powers of vision are in 
other respects so much superior to those of most other people, 
that he draws the most striking likenessrs, being a limner by 
profession, and requires for this purpose >nly once to see the 
person whose portrait is intended to be drawn, scarcely de¬ 
siring a single sitting, much less repeated visiting. And what 
3. H 


68 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN > 

is still more extraordinary, he can, from such a momenta** 
glance, retain the idea of the features, and even the gait an 
manner of the person, for years afterwards, so exactly as to 
be able to finish either a miniature head, or full portrait, at 
that distant period, as well as if the person were present. 
His friends, incredulous of this phenomenon, have, by placing 
his colours out of the order in which he keeps them, some¬ 
times made him give a gentleman a green beard , and paint a 
beautiful young lady with a pair of blue cheeks. 

We now proceed to the consideration of a very remarkable 
acquirement of man, called Ventriloquism. 

This is an art of speaking, by means of which the human 
voice and other sounds are rendered audible, as if they pro¬ 
ceeded from several different places; though the utterer doe& 
not change his place, and in many instances does not appeal 
to speak. It has been supposed to be a natural peculiarity ' r 
because few, if any persons, have learned it by being taught, 
and we have had no rules laid down for acquiring it. It 
seems to have been in consequence of this notion, that the 
name * Ventriloquism’ has been applied to it, from a suppo¬ 
sition that the voice proceeds from the thorax or chest. It 
has seldom been practised but by persons of the lower classes 
of society; and as it does not seem to present any advantages 
beyond that of causing surprise and entertainment, and can¬ 
not be exhibited on an extended theatre, the probability is, 
that it will continue amongst them. 

Mr. Gough, in his Manchester Memoirs, and in various 
parts of Nicholson’s Journal, has entertained the opinion that 
the voice of ventriloquists is made to proceed, in appearance, 
from different parts of a room, by the management of an echo. 
But the facts themselves do not support this hypothesis, as a 
great and sudden variety and change of echoes would be 
required; and his own judicious remarks, in the same work, 
on the facility with which we are deceived as to the direction 
of sound, are adverse to his theory. From numerous atten¬ 
tive observations, it appears manifest that the art is not pecu¬ 
liar to certain individuals, but may with facility be acquired 
by any person of accurate observation. It consists merely in 
an imitation of sounds, as they occur in nature, accompanied 
with appropriate action, of such a description as may best 
concur in leading the minds of the observers to favour the 
deception. 

Any one who shall try, will be a little surprised to find how 
easy it is to imitate the noise made by a saw, or by a snuff¬ 
box when opened and shut, or by a large hand-bell, or cork- 
cutter’s knife, a watch whiH going, and numberless other 
inanimate objects; or the voices of animals, in their varioua 


VENTRILOQUISM 


5 u 


situations and necessities, such as a cat, a dog, or an hen 
enraged, intimidated, confined, 8cc.; or to vary the character 
of the human voice by shrillness or depth of tone, rapidity oi 
drawling of execution, and distinctness or imperfection of 
articulation, which may be instantly changed by holding the 
mouth a little more opened Dr more closed than usual, altering 
the position of the jaw, keeping the tongue in any determinate 
situation, &c. And every one of the imitations of the ven¬ 
triloquist will be rendered more perfect by practising them at 
the very time the sounds are heard, instead of depending on 
the memory. The leading condition of performance is, that 
the voices and sounds of the dramatic dialogue to be ex¬ 
hibited, should succeed each other so rapidly that the audience 
should lose sight of the probability that one actor gives 
effect to the whole, and that where the business is simple, 
the aid of scenery or local circumstance should be called in. 

We have seen an eminent philosopher of our own time, 
who had no previous practice of this art, but when speaking 
on the subject in a mixed company, took up a hat, and folding 
the flaps together, said, by way of example, “ Suppose I had 
a small monkey in this hat;” and then cautiously putting his 
hand in, as if to catch it, he imitated the chatter of the sup¬ 
posed struggling animal, at the same time that his own efforts 
to secure it had a momentary impression on the spectators, 
which left no time to question whether there was a monkey in 
it or not: this impression was completed when, the instant 
afterwards, he pulled out his hand as if hurt, and exclaimed, 
" He has bit me !” It was not till then that the impression of 
the reality gave way to the diversion arising from the mimic 
art; and one of the company, even then, cried out, “ Is there 
really a monkey in the hat?” 

In this manner it was that, at the beginning of the last cen¬ 
tury, the famous Tom King, who is said to have been the 
first man who delivered public lectures on experimental phi¬ 
losophy in the country, was attended by the whole fashion¬ 
able world, for a succession of many nights, to hear him 
“ kill a calf.” This performance was done in a separated 
part of the place of exhibition, into which the exhibitor re¬ 
tired alone; and the imagination of his polite hearers was 
taxed to supply the calf and three butchers, besides a dog 
who sometimes raised his voice, and was checked for his un¬ 
necessary exertions. It appears, from traditional narrative, 
that the calf was heard to be dragged in, not without some 
efforts and conversation on the part of the butchers, and 
noisy resistance from the calf; that they conversed on the 
qualities of the animal, and the profits to be expected from 
the veal; and that, as they proceeded, all the noises of knife 
and steel, of suspending the creatire, and of the last fatal 


60 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 


catastrophe, were heard in rapid succession, to the never- 
failing satisfaction of the attendants; who, upon the rise of 
the curtain, saw that all these imaginary personages had van¬ 
ished, and Tom King alone remained to claim the applause. 

A similar fact may be quoted in the person of that facetious 
gentleman, who has assumed and given celebrity to the name 
of Peter Pindar. This great poet, laughing at the proverbial 
poverty of his profession, is sometimes pleased to entertain 
his friends with singular effusions of the art we speak of. 
One of these is managed by a messenger announcing to the 
Doctor (in the midst of company) that a person wants to 
speak with him: he accordingly goes out, leaving the door 
a-jar, and immediately a female voice is heard, which, from 
the nature of the subject, appears to be that of the Poet’s 
laundress, who complains of her pressing wants, disappointed 
claims, and of broken promises no longer to be borne with 
patience. It is more easy to imagine than describe the 
mixed emotions of the audience. The scene, however, goes 
on by the Doctor’s reply; who remonstrates, promises, and is 
rather angry at the time and place of this unwelcome visit. 
His antagonist unfortunately is neither mollified nor disposed 
to quit her ground. Passion increases on both sides, and the 
Doctor forgets himself so far as to threaten the irritated 
female ; she defies him, and this last promise, very unlike the 
former ones, is followed by payment; a severe smack on the 
face is heard; the poor woman falls down stairs, with horrid 
outcries; the company, of course, rises in alarm, and the 
Doctor is found in a state of perfect tranquillity, apparently a 
stranger to the whole transaction. 

A very able ventriloquist, Fitz-James, performed in public, 
in Soho-square, about four years ago. He personated various 
characters by appropriate dresses ; and by a command of the 
muscles of his face he could very much alter his appearance. 
He imitated many inanimate noises, and among others, a re¬ 
petition of noises of the water machine at Marli. He con¬ 
versed with some statues, which replied to him; and also with 
some persons supposed to be in the room above, and on the 
landing-place ; gave the watchman’s cry, gradually approach¬ 
ing, and when he seemed opposite the window, Fitz-James 
opened it and asked what the time was, received the answer, 
and during his proceeding with his cry, Fitz-James shut the 
window, immediately upon which the sound became weaker, 
and at last insensible. In the whole of his performance, it 
was clear that the notions of the audience were governed by 
the auxiliary circumstances, as to direction, &c. This mimic 
had at least, six different habitual modes of speaking, which 
he could instantly adapt one after the other, and with so 
much rapidity, that when in a small closet, parted off in the 


VENTRILOQUISM. 61 

room, he gave a long, confused, and impassioned debate of 
democrats (in French, as almost the whole of his performance 
was;) it seemed to proceed from a multitude of speakers: 
and an inaccurate observer might have thought that several 
were speaking at once. A ludicrous scene of drawing a tooth 
was performed in the same manner. 

These examples, and many more which might be added, 
are sufficient, in proof that ventriloquism is the art of mi¬ 
micry, an imitation applied to sounds of every description, 
and attended with circumstances which produce an entertain¬ 
ing deception, and lead the hearers to imagine that the voice 
proceeds from different situations. When distant low voices 
are to be imitated, the articulation may be given with suffi¬ 
cient distinctness, without moving the lips, or altering the 
countenance. It was by a supposed supernatural voice of 
this kind, from a ventriloquist, that the famous musical small- 
coal man, Thomas Britton, received a warning of his death, 
which so greatly affected him, that he did not survive the 
affright. 

The following quotation from Richerand’s Physiology will 
be sufficient to give the reader a further idea of the mechanism 
of this singular art. “ At first,” says Richerand, “ I had con 
iectured that a great portion of the air driven out by expiration 
did not pass out by the mouth and nostrils, but was swallow¬ 
ed and’carried into the stomach, reflected in some part of the 
digestive canal, and gave rise to a real echo ; but after hav¬ 
ing attentively observed this curious phenomenon, in Mr. 
Fitz-James, who represents it in its greatest perfection, 1 
was enabled to convince myself that the name ventriloquism 
is by no means applicable, since the whole of its mechanism 
consists in a slow gradual expiration, drawn in such a w r 
that the artist either makes use of the influence exerted Ly 
volition over the muscles or parietis of the thorax, or that he 
keeps the epiglottis down by the base of the tongue, the apex 
of which is not carried beyond the dental arches. 

“ He always makes a strong inspiration just before this long 
expiration, and thus conveys a considerable mass of air into 
the lungs, the exit of which he afterwards manages with such 
address. Therefore, repletion of the stomach greatly incom¬ 
modes the talent of Mr. Fitz-James, by preventing the dia- 
phiagm from descending sufficiently to admit of a dilatation 
of the thorax, in proportion to the quantity of air that the 
lungs should receive. By accelerating or retarding the exit 
of the air, he can imitate different voices, and induce his au¬ 
ditors to a belief that the interlocutors of a dialogue, which 
is kept up by himself alone, are placed at different distances; 
and this illusion is the more complete in proportion tc the 
perfsction of his peculiar talent. No man possesses, to stich 


62 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

a degree as Mr. Fitz-James, the art of deceiving persons who 
are least liable to delusion, he can carry his execution to five 
or six different tones, pass rapidly from one to another, as he 
does when representing an animated dispute in the midst of a 
popular assembly.” 

Some persons are of opinion that the witch of Endor was a 
ventriloquist, and that she practised this art before King 
Saul, and deceived him in the resurrection of Samuel; the 
present writer, however, does not vouch for this opinion. 

Another very extraordinary acquirement, and which the pre¬ 
sent writer has been witness to, is. Sword-swallowing. 

This surprising act is performed by the Indian Jugglers; 
the following account of which, is extracted from Forbes’s 
Oriental Memoirs. 

“ I have elsewhere mentioned some feats of the Indian Jug¬ 
glers : at Zinore I saw one which surpassed every thing of the 
kind I had before witnessed, I mean the swallowing a sword 
up to the hilt. Had I not afterwards met with the same set 
on the island of Salsette, exhibiting before the English chief at 
Tannah, I should have doubted the evidence of my senses. I 
witnessed the fact more than once, and am convinced there 
was no deception. Finding my tale generally disbelieved in 
Europe, I suppressed it; but having since read a clear and 
satisfactory account of this extraordinary transaction, drawn 
up by Mr. Johnson, surgeon in the navy, who, in the year 
1804, was an eye-witness of this performance, and having de¬ 
scribed it as a professional man, I shall transcribe the ac¬ 
count from his memoir ;— 

“ ‘Having been visited by one of these conjurers, I resol red 
to see clearly his mode of performing this operation ; and for 
that purpose ordered him to seat himself on the floor of the 
veranda. The sword he intended to use has some resem¬ 
blance to a common spit in shape, except at the handle, 
which is merely a part of the blade itself, rounded and elon¬ 
gated into a little rod. It is from twenty-two to twenty-six 
inches in length, about an inch in breadth, and about one- 
fifth of an inch in thickness ; the edges and point are blunt, 
being rounded, and of the same thickness as the rest of the 
blade; it is of iron or steel, smooth, and a little bright. 
Having satisfied himself with respect to the sword, by at¬ 
tempting bend it; and by striking it against a stone, I 
firmly grasped it by the handle, and ordered him to proceed. 
He first took a small phial of oil, and with one of his fingers 
rubbed a little of it over the surface of the instrument; then, 
stretching up his neck as much as possible, and bending 
himself a little backwards, he introduced the point of it into 
his mouth, and pushed it gently down his throat, until my 


SWORD-SWA LLOW1 N G. 


63 

hand, which was on the handle, came in contact with his 
lips. He then made a sign to me with one of his hands, to 
feel the point of the instrument between his breast and navel: 
which I could do, by bending him a little more backwards, 
and pressing my fingers on his stomach, he being a very thin 
and lean fellow. On letting go the handle of the sword, he 
instantly fixed on it a little machine that spun round, and dis¬ 
engaged a small fire-work, which encircling his head with a 
blue flame, gave him, as he then sat, a truly diabolical ap¬ 
pearance. On withdrawing the instrument, several parts of its 
surface were covered with blood, which shewed that he was 
still obliged to use a degree of violence in the introduction. 

“‘I was at first a good deal surprised at this transaction 
altogether; but when I came to reflect a little upon it, there 
appeared nothing at all improbable, much less impossible, in 
the business. He told me, on giving him a trifle, that he had 
been accustomed, from his early years, to introduce at first 
small elastic instruments down his throat, and into his sto¬ 
mach ; that by degrees he had used larger ones, until at 
length he was able to use the present iron sword.’ ” Oriental 
Memoirs, vol. ii. pp. 515—517. 

Two of these jugglers have lately visited England, and per¬ 
formed the above exploit, with many others, almost equally 
surprising, to the satisfaction of crowded audiences. ’ 

We may learn from various instances in this chapter the 
value of perseverance; this will overcome difficulties, which 
at first appear insuperable ; and it is amazing to consider, 
how great and numerous obstacles may be removed by a con¬ 
tinual attention to any particular point. By such attention 
and perseverance, what may not man effect! Any man, unless 
he be an absolute idiot, may by these means raise himself to 
excellence in some branch or other ; and what is best of all, 
by divine assistance, and by unwearied and keen application, 
he may resist temptation, conquer the evil principle, rise 
superior to all the difficulties and trials of life, excel in wis¬ 
dom and goodness, and thus be fitted for a better country 
when death summons him away from the present world. 

-Man must soar. 

An obstinate activity within. 

An insuppressive spring, will toss him up, 

In spite of fortune's load. Not kings alone, 

Each villager has his ambition too; 

No sultan prouder than his fetter’d slave. 

Slaves build their little Babylons of straw, 

Echo the proud Assyrian, in their hearts, 

And cry—“ Behold the wonders of my might!” 

And why? Because immortal as their lord; 

And souls immortal must for ever heave 
At something great; the glitter, or the gold ; 

The praise of mortals, or the praise of heav’n. Young* 




64 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN 


Indian Jugglers; (see pages 62 and 63.)—The Indian 
jugglers, who exhibited in London from 1810 to 1815, per¬ 
formed such astonishing feats, that it would appear to require 
a long life, spent in incessant practice, to acquire facility in 
any one of them; such proficiency is so common, however, 
in India, that it probably excites no extraordinary interest 
there. The following is a description of their performances, 
which were witnessed by the editor of this work. 

The exhibition takes place upon a raised platform, on 
which, having performed his salaam, or eastern obeisance, 
the chief performer takes his seat; and behind him sits the 
second juggler, and an attendant boy, whose occupation is to 
beat together two metallic plates, somewhat resembling cym¬ 
bals, which emit an unremitting sound, like the clucking of 
a hen. 

The first tricks are performed with cups and balls. These 
are similar in their mode to the deceptions of our own conju¬ 
rers, and only remarkable for the superiority of their evolu¬ 
tions in the hands of this celebrated Asiatic. The cups 
seem enchanted ; the balls fly ; they increase in number; they 
diminish; now one, now two, now none under the cup; and 
now the serpent, the cobra de capella , usurps the place of a 
small globule of cork, and winds its snaky folds as if from 
under the puny vessel. The facility with which this dexterous 
feat is accomplished, gives life and animation to the sable 
countenance of the artist, whose arm is bared to the elbow, 
to shew that the whole is done by sleight of hand. During 
his performances, the juggler keeps up an unremitting noise, 
striking his tongue against his teeth, like the clack of ma¬ 
chinery, and uttering sounds, as if he were repeating, with 
inconceivable rapidity, the words “ Crickery-tick , crickery - 
tick, crickery-tick, a-tow, geret-tow, crickery-tick, a-tow , &c.” 

The next feat is that of breaking a cotton thread into the 
consistency of scraped lint, as used by surgeons, and repro¬ 
ducing it continued and entire ; after which he lays upon the 
palm of his hand a small quantity of common sand ; this he 
rubs with the fingers of his other hand, and it changes its 
hue—the colourless grains become yellow; he rubs them 
again, they are white ; again, and they are black. 

A series of evolutions then succeeds, with four hollow brass 
balls, about the size of oranges. His power over these is al¬ 
most miraculous. He causes them to describe every possible 
circle—horizontally, perpendicularly, obliquely, transversely, 
round his legs, under his arms, about his head, in small and 
in large circumferences—with wondrous rapidity, and keeping 
the whole number in motion at the same time. This being 
the sole fruit of effort, activity, quickness of eye, and rapi¬ 
dity of action, no one who has not witnessed it can form an 
idea of its excellence. He then exhibits his astonishing power 



BLACK BUFFALO. 




































KXTRAORD1NARY FASTING 


65 


of balancing. He places on his two great toes (over which 
he seems to have the same command that less favoured whites 
enjoy over their fingers only) a couple of thin rings, of about 
four inches in diameter; a pair of similar rings he places on 
his fore fingers, and then he sets the whole into rotation, and 
round they all whirl, and continue describing their orbits 
without cessation, as if set to work by machinery, endowed 
with the principle of perpetual motion. 

CHAP. IY. 

Extraordinary Fasting — Wonders of Abstinence — Sleep - 
walking—Sleeping Woman of Dunninald—Instances of Ex¬ 
traordinary Dreams — Poetical , Grammatical , and Scientific 
Deaths — Anthropophagi , or Men-Eaters — Wild Man . 

Extraordinary Instances of Fasting. 

A full account of a very uncommon case is given in the 
Phil. Trans, vol. lxvii. part I. Janet M‘Leod, an inhabitant 
in the parish of Kincardine, in Ross-shire, continued healthy 
till she was fifteen years of age, when she had a pretty severe 
epileptic fit; after this she had an interval of health for four 
years, and then another epileptic fit, which continued a 
whole day and a night. A few days afterwards she was seized 
with a fever, which continued with violence several weeks, 
and from which she did not perfectly recover for some 
months. At this time she lost the use of her eyelids ; so that 
she was under the necessity of keeping them open with the 
fingers of one hand, whenever she wanted to look about her. 
In other respects she continued in pretty good health ; only 
she periodically spit up blood in pretty large quantities, and 
at the same time it flowed from the nose. This discharge 
continued several years ; but at last it ceased; and soon after 
she had a third epileptic fit, and after that a fever, from 
which she recovered slowly. Six weeks after the crisis, she 
stole out of the house unknown to her parents, who were 
busied in their harvest work, and bound the sheaves of a 
ridge before she was observed. In the evening she took to 
her bed, complaining much of her heart (probably meaning 
her stomach) and her head. From that time she never rose 
for five years, but was occasionally lifted out of bed. She 
seldom spoke a word, and took so little food, that it seemed 
scarcely sufficient to support a sucking infant. Even this 
small quantity was taken by compulsion; and at last, about 
Whitsunday, 1763, she totally refused every kind of food or 
drink. Her jaws now became so fast locked, that it was with 
the greatest difficulty her father was able to open her teeth a 
little, in order to admit a small quantity of gruel or whey; 
but of this so much generally run out at the corners of her 
mouth, that they could not be sensible any had been swal- 
3 I 


66 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING IV AN. 

fowed. About this time they got some water from a noted 
medical spring in Brae-Mar, some of which they attempted to 
make her swallow, but without effect. They continued their 
trials, however, for three mornings; rubbing her throat with 
the water which ran out at the corners of her mouth. On the 
third morning, during the operation, she cried out, “ Give 
me more water; and swallowed with ease all that remained 
in the bottle. She spoke no more intelligibly for a year, 
though she continued to mutter some words, for 14 days, 
which her parents only understood. She continued to reject 
all kinds or food and drink till July, 1765. At this time her 
sister thought, by some signs she made, that she wanted her 
jaws opened ; and this being done, not without violence, she 
called intelligibly for some liquid, and drank with ease about 
an English pint of water. Her father then asked why she 
would not make some signs when she wanted to drink? To 
which she answered,—why should she, when she had no desire?' 
It was now supposed that she had regained the faculty of 
speech; and her jaws were kept open for about three weeks, 
by means of a wedge. But in four or five days she became 
totally silent, and the wedge was removed, because it made 
her lips sore. She still, however, continued sensible; and 
when her eyelids were opened, knew every body. This 
could be guessed from the signs she made. By continuing 
their attempts to force open her jaws, two of the under fore 
teeth were driven out; and of this opening her parents endea¬ 
voured to avail themselves, by putting some thin nourishing 
drink into her mouth, but without effect, as it always returned 
by the corners. Sometimes they thought of thrusting a little 
dough of oatmeal through this gap of the teeth, which she 
would retain a few seconds, and then return with something 
like a straining to vomit, without one particle going down. 
Nor were the family sensible of any thing like swallowing for 
four years, excepting the small draught of Brae-Mar water, 
and an English pint of common water. For the last three 
years she had no natural discharge, except that once or twice 
a week she passed a few drops of water. 

In this situation she was visited by Dr. Mackenzie, who 
communicated the account to the Royal Society. He found 
her not at all emaciated ; her knees were bent, and tlie ham¬ 
strings tight, so that her heels were drawn up behind her 
body. She slept much, and was very quiet; but when awake, 
kept a constant whimpering like a new-born weakly infant. 
She never could remain a moment on her back, but always 
fell to one side or another; and her chin was drawn close to 
her breast, nor could it by any force be moved backwards. 
The Doctor paid his first visit in October, 1767 ; and five 
years afterwards, viz, in October, 1772, was induced to pay 


WONDERS OF AUSTIN E > JE. 


67 

her a second visit, by hearing that she was recovering, ana 
had begun to eat and drink. The account given him was most 
extraordinary. 

Her parents one day returning from then country labours, 
(having left their daughter fixed to her bed as usual,) were 
greatly surprised to find her sitting upon her hams, in a part 
of the house opposite to her bed-place, spinning with hei 
mother’s distaff’. All the food she took at that time was only 
to crumble a little oat or barley cake in the palm of her hand, 
as if to feed a chicken. She put little crumbs of this into the 
gap of her teeth ; rolled them about for some time in her 
mouth ; and then sucked out of the pnlm of her hand a little 
water, whey, or milk ; and this only once or twice a day, 
and even that by compulsion. She never attempted to speak; 
her jaws were fast locked, and her eyes shut. On opening 
her eyelids, the balls were found to be turned up under the 
edge of the os frontis; her countenance was ghastly, her 
complexion pale, and her whole person emaciated. She 
seemed sensible and tractable, except in taking food. This 
she did with the utmost reluctance, and even cried before she 
yielded. The great change of her looks. Dr. Mackenzie attri¬ 
buted to her spinning flax on the distaff, which exhausted too 
much of the saliva; and therefore he recommended to her 
parents to confine her totally to the spinning of wool. In 
1775, she was visited again, and found to be greatly improved 
m her looks as well as strength ; her food was also consider¬ 
ably increased in quantity; though even then she did not 
take more than would be sufficient to sustain an infant of two 
years of age. 

In the Gentleman's Magazine, for 1789, p. 1211, is recorded 
the death of one Caleb Elliot, a visionary enthusiast, who 
meant to have fasted 40 days, and actually survived 16 with¬ 
out food, having obstinately refused sustenance of every 
kind. 

At the same time that we should guard against supersti¬ 
tious fasting, we should be cautious not to transgress the 
bounds of temperance. Occasional abstinence is useful and 
praiseworthy, and we shall now give some instances of The 
Wonders of Abstinence. 

Many wonders are related of the effects of abstinence, in 
the cure of several disorders, and in protracting the term of 
life. The noble Venetian, Cornaro, after all imaginable 
means had proved vain, so that his life was despaired of at 
40, recovered, and lived to near 100, by mere dint of absti¬ 
nence ; as he himself gives account. It is indeed surprising 
to what a great age the primitive Christians of the East, who 
retired from the persecutions into the deserts of Arabia and 


68 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 


Egypt, lii 2(1, healthful and cheerful, on a very little food. 
Cassian assures us, that the common rate for 24 hours was 12 
ounces of bread, and mere water ; with this, St. Anthony lived 
105 years; James the hermit, 104; Arsenius, tutor of the 
Emperor Arcadius, 123; S. Epiphanius, 115; Simeon, the 
Stylite, 112; and Romauld, 130. Indeed, we can match 
these instances of longevity at home. Buchanan writes, that 
one Lawrence preserved himself to 140, by force of tempe 
ranee and labour ; and Spottiswood mentions one Kentigern, 
afterwards called St. Mongah, or Mungo, who lived to 185, 
by the same means. Abstinence, however, is to be recom¬ 
mended only as it means a proper regimen; for in general 
it must have bad consequences, when observed without a due 
regard to constitution, age, strength, 8cc. 

According to Dr. Cheyne, most of the chronical diseases, 
the infirmities of old age, and the short lives of Englishmen, 
are owing to repletion; and may be either cured, prevented, 
or remedied, by abstinence : but then the kinds of abstinence 
which ought to obtain, either in sickness or health, are to be 
deduced from the laws of diet and regimen. Amono- the 
brute ci eation, we see extraordinary instances of long absti¬ 
nence. The serpent kind, in particular, bear abstinence to 
a wonderful degree. Rattlesnakes are reported to have sub¬ 
sisted many months without any food, yet still retained their 
vigour and fierceness. Dr. Shaw speaks of a couple of ceras¬ 
tes, (a sort of Egyptian serpents,) which had been kept five 
years in a bottle close corked, without any sort of food, un¬ 
less a small quantity of sand, wherein they coiled themselves 
up in the bottom of the vessel, may be reckoned as such : 
yet when he saw them, they had newly cast their skins, and 
were as brisk and lively as if just taken. 

But it is even natural for divers species of creatures to pass 
four, five, or six months* every year, without either eating or 
drinking. Accordingly, the tortoise, bear, dormouse, ser¬ 
pent, 8 lc. are observed regularly to retire, at those seasons, 
to their respective cells, and hide themselves,—some in the 
caverns of rocks or ruins; others dig holes under ground, 
others get intc woods, and lay themselves up in clefts of 
trees ; others bury themselves under water, Stc. And yet 
these animals are found as fat and Heshy after some months* 
abstinence as before.—A gentlemah {Phil. Trans. No. 194.) 
weighed his tortoise several years successively, at its going 
to earth in October, and coming out again in March ; and 
found that, of four pounds four ounces, it only used to lose 
abuut one o unce.— Indeed, we have instances of men passing 
several months as strictly abstinent as other creatures. In 
particular, the records of the Tower mention a Scotchman 
imprisoned for felony, and strictly watched in that fortress 


sleep-walking. 


69 

for six weeks; in all which time he took not the least suste 
nance; for which he had his pardon. Numberless instances 
of extraordinary abstinence, particularly from morbid causes, 
are to be found in the different periodical Memoirs, Transac¬ 
tions, Ephemerides, See. It is to be added, that, in most 
instances of extraordinary human abstinence related by natu¬ 
ralists, there were said to have been apparent marks of a 
texture of blood and humour, much like that of the animals 
above mentioned ; though it is not an improbable opinion 
that the air itself may furnish something for nutrition. It is 
certain, there are substances of all kinds, animal, vegetable, 
&c. floating in the atmosphere, which must be continually 
taken in by respiration. And that an animal body may be 
nourished thereby, is evident from the instance of vipers, 
which, if taken when first brought forth, and kept from every 
thing but air, will yet grow very considerably in a few days 
The eo-o's of lizards, also, are observed to increase in bulk 
after they are produced, though there be nothing to furnish 
the increment but air alone, in like manner as the eggs or 
spawn of fish grow and are nourished by the water. And 
hence, say some, it is, that cooks, turnspit dogs, Sec. though 
they eat but little, yet are usually fat. 

We shall next offer the reader a few remarks on Sleep- 
Walking. 

Many instances are related of persons w ? ho were addicted 
to this practice. A very remarkable one has been published 
from a report made to the Physical Society of Lausanne, by 
a committee of gentlemen appointed to examine a young man 
who was accustomed to walk in his sleep. 

The disposition to sleep-walking seems, in the opinion of 
this committee, to depend on a particular affection of the 
nerves, which both seizes and quits the patient during sleep. 
Under the influence of this affection, the imagination repre¬ 
sents to him the objects that struck him while awake, with as 
much force as if they really affected his senses ; but it does 
not make him perceive any of those that are actually pre¬ 
sented to his senses, except in so far as they are connected 
with the dreams which engross him at the time. If, during 
this state, the imagination has no determined purpose, he 
receives the impression of objects as if he were awake ; only, 
however, when the imagination is excited to bend its atten¬ 
tion towards them. The perceptions obtained in this state 
are very accurate, and, when once received, the imagination 
renews them occasionally with as much force as if they w r ere 
again acquired by means of the senses. Lastly, these acade¬ 
micians suppose, that the impressions received during this 
state the senses, disappear entirely when the person 


70 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN 


awakes, and do not return till the recurrence of the same dis¬ 
position in the nervous system. 

Our next article is, A Curious Account of the Sleep¬ 
ing Woman of Dunninald, near Montrose. 

The following narrative was communicated to the Royal 
Society of Edinburgh, by Dr. Brewster. 

Margaret Lyall, aged 21, daughter of John Lyall, labourei 
at Dunninald, was first seized with a sleeping fit on the 27th 
of June, 1815, which continued to the 30th of June; next 
morning she was again found in a deep sleep : in this state 
she remained for seven days, without motion, food, or the use 
of any animal function. But at the end of this time, by the 
moving of her left hand, and by plucking at the coverlet of the 
bed and pointing to her mouth, a wish for food being under¬ 
stood, it was given her. This she took ; but still remained 
in her lethargic state till Tuesday the 8th of August, being 
six weeks from the time she was seized with the lethargy, 
without appearing to be awake, except on the afternoon of 
Friday the 30th of June. During the first two weeks, her 
pulse was generally about 50, the third week about 60, and 
previous to her recovery, at 70 to 72. Though extremely 
feeble for some days after her recovery, she gained strength 
so rapidly, that before the end of August, she began to work 
at the harvest, on the lands of Mr. Arkley, and continued 
without inconvenience to perform her labour. 

The account is drawn up by the clergyman of the parish, 
and is accompanied with the medical report of the surgeons 
who attended ; to whose attestations are added those of Mr. 
Arkley, the proprietor of Dunninald, and Lyall, the father; 
and the statement is, in every respect, entitled to the fullest 
credit. 

We shall proceed to some Instances of Extraordinary 
Dreams. 

The following account is by no means intended either to 
restore the reign of superstition, or to induce the reader to 
put faith in the numberless ridiculous interpretations, given 
by some pretenders to divination, of the ordinary run of 
dreams. The absurdity of the many traditional rules, laid 
down by such persons ; such as, that dreaming of eggs prog¬ 
nosticates anger ; of the washing of linens, forebodes Jiitting; 
of green fields, sickness; of hanging, honour; of death, mar¬ 
riage; cf fish, children; and of raw flesh, death , &c. 8cc. can 
only be exceeded by the folly of those who put faith in sacn 
fooleries. But instances have occurred of particular persons, 
whose veracity cannot be doubted, having dreams of so sin¬ 
gular a nature, and so literally and exactly fulfilled, that it 


EXTRAORDINARY DREAMS. 


71 


may be we/1 to mention one or two of them, for the entertain¬ 
ment, at least*, of the reader, if they should not contribute to 
his improvement.— 

Mr. Richard Boyle, manufacturer, residing in Stirling, 
about 1781, dreamed that he saw a beautiful young woman, 
with a winding sheet over her arm, whose image made a deep 
impression on his mind. Upon telling his mother the dream, 
she said, you will probably marry that woman, and if you do, 
she will bury you. Going to Glasgow in 1783, he met with 
a young woman in a friend’s house, exactly resembling the 
person he had dreamed of; and notwithstanding the dis¬ 
heartening interpretation he had got, and the additional dis¬ 
couraging circumstance told him, that she was already en¬ 
gaged with another young man, was sure she was to be his 
wife, and did not give up his pursuit till he made her his own. 
The melancholy part of his dream was soon fulfilled. He 
lived only 15 months with her; a short, but happy period. 
His widow, during his life, dreamed with equal exactness of 
her second husband, whom she did not see till three years 
afterwards, when the sight of him, at church, in Montrose, 
disturbed her devotion so much, upon recollecting her dream, 
that she hardly knew a word the minister said afterwards. 
Within less than two months, they were introduced to each 
other; and within four, were married.—-Another young lady 
had dreamed so often, and so particularly, about the gentle¬ 
man who afterwards married her, that at their first meeting, 
she started back, as if she had seen a ghost.—The editors of 
the Encyclopedia Perthensis declare they knew the parties 
concerned in the foreo-oino; relations. But these instances of 
prophetic dreams, they observe, are trifling, compared to one 
narrated in the Weekly Mirror , printed at Edinburgh, in 
1781, and signed Verax ; and which, they say, they quote the 
more readily, as also, from personal acquaintance with the 
parties, they know the narrative to be true : 

“ In June, 1752, Mr. Robert Aikenhead, farmer, in Den- 
stratli, of Arnhall, in the Mearns, about 5 miles north of 
Brechin, and 7 from Montrose, went to a market called Tar- 
*cnty-fair , where he had a large sum of money to receive. 
His eldest son, Robert, a boy about 8 years of age, was sent 
to take care of the cattle, and, happening to lie down upon a 
grassy bank before sun-set, fell fast asleep. Although the 
boy had never been far from home, he was immediately car- 
ried in his imagination to Tarrenty market, where, he dreamed, 
that his father, after receiving the money, set out on his 
return home, and was followed all the way by two ill-looking 
fellows, who, when he had got to the western dykes of Ing- 
lis-Maul iy, (the seat of the then Lord Halkerton, afterwards 
Earl of Kintore,) and little more than a mile from home. 


72 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

attacked and attempted to rob him. Whereupon the boy 
thought he ran to his assistance, and, when he came within a 
gun-shot of the place, called out some people, who were just 
going to bed, who put the robbers to flight. He immediately 
awoke in a fright, and, without waiting to consider whether 
it was a vision or a reality, ran as fast as he could to the 
place he had dreamed of, and had no sooner reached it, than 
he saw his father in the very spot and situation he had seen 
in his dream, defending himself with his stick against the 
assassins. He therefore immediately realized his own part of 
the visionary scene, by roaring out. Murder! which soon 
brought out the people, who running up to Mr. Aikenhead’s 
assistance, found him victor over one of the villains, whom 
he had previously knocked down with a stone, after they had 
pulled him off his horse ; but almost overpowered by the 
other, who repeatedly attempted to stab him with a sword , 
against which he had no other defence than his stick and his 
hands, which were considerably mangled by grasping the 
blade. Upon sight of the ccntry people, the villain who 
had the sword ran off; but ti. other not being able, was 
apprehended and lodged in gaol. Meantime there was no 
small hue and cry after young Robert, whose mother missing 
him, and finding the cattle among the corn, was in the utmost 
anxiety, concluding that he had fallen into some water or 
peat moss. But her joy and surprise were equally great, 
when her husband returned with the boy, and told her how 
miraculously both his money and life had been preserved by 
his son’s dream; although she was at first startled at seeing 
her husband’s hands bloody. 

“To those who deny the existence of a God, (adds the 
writer,) or the superintendence of a divine providence, the 
above narrative will appear as fabulous as any story in Ovid. 
•To those who measure the greatness and littleness of events 
by the arbitrary rules of human pride and vanity, it will per¬ 
haps appear incredible that such a miracle should have been 
wrought for the preservation of the life of a country farmer. 
But all who found their opinions upon the unerring rule of 
right and truth, which assures us that a sparrow cannot fall 
to the ground without the permission of our heavenly Father, 
(and who know, that in the sight of Him, with whom there 
is no respect of persons or dignities, the life of the greatest 
monarch on earth, and that of the lowest of his subjects, are 
of equal value,) will laugh at such silly objections, when 
opposed to well-attested facts. That the above is one, could 
be attested upon oath, were it necessary, by Mr. and Mrs. 
Aikenhead, from whom I had all the particulars above nar¬ 
rated about 15 months ago.—Edinburgh, March 12, 1781.”- - 
Indeed, whoever can persuade himself that such facts as 


POETICAL DEATHS. 


73 

are stated above, can happen by chance, may easily adopt the 
system of those philosophers, who tell us that the universe was 
formed by the fortuitous concourse of atoms. 

The title of our next subject is curious.— Poetical, Gram¬ 
matical, and Scientific Deaths. 

The Emperor Adrian, dying, made that celebrated addresa 
to his soul, which is so happily translated by Pope, in the fol¬ 
lowing words: 

Vital spark of heav’nly flame, 

Quit, oh quit this mortal frame. 

Trembling, hoping, ling’ring, flying, 

Oh the pain, the bliss of dying! 

Cease, fond Nature, cease thy strife, 

And let me languish into life. 

Hark! they whisper; angels say. 

Sister spirit, come away. 

What is this absorbs me quite? 

Steals my senses, shuts my sight ? 

Drowns my spirits, draws my breath ? 

Tell me, my soul, can this be death? 

The world recedes ; it disappears ! 

Heav’n opens on my eyes ! my ears 
With sounds seraphic ring: 

Lend, lend your wings ! I mount! I fly ! 

O Grave ! where is thy victory ? 

O Death ! where is thy sting ? 

Lucan, when he had his veins opened by order of Nero, ex¬ 
pired reciting a passage from his Pharsalia, in which he has 
described the wound of a dying soldier. Petronius did the 
same thing on the same occasion. 

Patris, a poet of Caen, perceiving himself expiring, com¬ 
posed some verses which are justly admired. In this little 
poem he relates a dream, in which he appeared to be placed 
next to a beggar, when, having addressed him in the haughty 
strain he would probably have employed on this side of the 
grave, he received the following reprimand : 

“ Here all are equal; now thy lot is mine ! 

“ I on my dunghill, as thou art on thine/’ 

Des Barreaux, it is said, wrote, on his death-bed, that son¬ 
net which is well known, and which is translated in tl *, 
“ Spectator/’ 

Margaret of Austria, when she was nearly perishing in a 
storm at sea, composed for herself the following epitaph in 
verse : 

“ Beneath this tomb is high-born Margaret laid, 

“ Who had two husbands, and yet died a maid.” 

She was betrothed to Charles VIII. of France, who forsook 
her. Being next intended for the Spanish Infant, in her voyage 
t D Spain she wrote these lines in a storm. 

3. K 


74 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 


Roscommon, at the moment he expired, with an energy of 
voioe (says his biographer) that expressed the most fervent 
devotion, uttered two lines of his own version of “ Dies IraM” 

Waller, in his last moments, repeated some lines from Vir¬ 
gil: and Chaucer took his farewell of all human vanities by a 
moral ode, entitled, “ A ballad made by Geffrey Chauycer 
upon his dethe-bedde lying in his grete anguysse.” 

“ The muse that has attended my course (says the dying 
Gleim, in a letter to Klopstock*) still hovers round my steps 
to the very verge of the grave.” A collection of songs, com¬ 
posed by old Gleim on his death-bed, it is said, were intend¬ 
ed to be published. 

Chatellard, a French gentleman, beheaded in Scotland, for 
having loved the Queen, and even for having attempted hei 
honour, Brantome says, would not have any other viaticum 
than a poem of Ronsard. When he ascended the scaffold, he 
took the hymns of this poet, and for his consolation read that 
on death ; which, he says, is well adapted to conquer its fear. 
He preferred the poems of Ronsard to either a prayer-book or 
his confessor : such was his passion. 

The Marquis of Montrose, w T hen he was condemned by his 
judges to have his limbs nailed to the gates of four cities, the 
brave soldier said that, " he w r as sorry he had not limbs 
sufficient to be nailed to all the gates of the cities in Europe, 
as monuments of his loyalty. As he proceeded to his execu¬ 
tion, he put this thought into beautiful verse. 

Philip Strozzi, when imprisoned by Cosmo the First, great 
Duke of Tuscany, was apprehensive of the danger to which 
he might expose his friends, (w r ho had joined in his conspiracy 
against the duke,) from the confessions which the rack might 
extort from him. Having attempted every exertion for the li¬ 
berty of his country, he considered it no crime therefore to die. 
He resolved on suicide. With the point of the sword, with 
which he killed himself, he first engraved on the mantle-piece 
of the chimney, this verse of Virgil: 

Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ulioi. 

Rise, some avenger, from our blood! 

Such persons realize that beautiful fiction of the ancients, 
who represent the swans of Cayster singing at their death; and 
have been compared to the nightingale singing with a thorn 
on its breast. 

The following anecdotes are of a different complexion : they 
may perhaps excite a smile. We have given them the title of 
Gr AMMATICAL DEATHS. 

Pere Bouhours was a French grammarian, who had been 
justly accused of paying too scrupulous an attention to the 
* Klopstock’s Death in “ I/Allemagnevol. i. p. 252. 


SINGULAR DEATHS.-ANTHROPOPHAGI. 


75 


minutiae of letters. He was more solicitous of his words than 
his thoughts. It is said, that when he was dying, he called out 
to his friends (a correct grammarian to the last,) “ Je Vas, ou 
je Vais mourir; Vun ou Vautre se dit!” 

When Malherbe was dying, he reprimanded his nurse for 
making use of a solecism in her language ! And when his con¬ 
fessor represented to him the felicities of a future state in low 
expressions, the dying critic interrupted him: “ Hold your 
tongue,” he said, “ your wretched style only makes me out of 
conceit with them!” 

Several persons of science have died in a scientific manner. 
—Haller, the greatest of physicians, beheld his end approach 
with the utmost composure. He kept feeling his pulse to the 
last moment, and when he found that life was almost gone, 
he turned to his brother physician, and observed, “ My friend, 
the artery ceases to beat,”—and almost instantly expired. 

De Lagny, who was intended by his friends for the study ot 
the law, having fallen on an Euclid, found it so congenial to 
his disposition, that he devoted himself to mathematics. 
In his last moments, when he retained no farther recollection 
of the friends who surrounded his bed, one of them, perhaps 
to make a philosophical experiment, thought proper to ask 
him the square of 12 ; the dying mathematician instantly, and 
perhaps without knowing that he answered it, replied, “ 144.” 

The following lines, from the pen of Mrs. Barbauld, in an 
address to the Deity, express the desires and hopes of areal 
Christiari*in the contemplation of death : 

“ O when the last, the closing hour draws nigh, 

And earth recedes before my swimming eye; 

When trembling on the doubtful edge of fate, 

I stand, and stretch my view to either state ; 

Teach me to quit this transitory scene 
With decent triumph and a look serene ; 

Teach me to fix my ardent hopes on high. 

And, having liv’d to thee, in thee to die l” 

The following article is not of a pleasing description, but 
nevertheless proper to be inserted in “ The Book of Curiosi¬ 
ties.” Itis Anthropophagi, or Men-eaters : 

The Cyclops, the Lestrygons, and Scylla, are all represented 
in Homer as Anthropophagi, or man-eaters, and the female 
phantoms, Circe and the Syrens, first bewitched with a show 
of pleasure, and then destroyed. This, like the other parts of 
Homer’s poetry, had a foundation in the manners of the times 
preceding his own. It was still in many places the age spoken 
of by Orpheus, 

“ When men devour’d each other like the beasts. 

Gorging on human flesh.” 


76 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

History gives us divers instances of persons driven by ex¬ 
cess of hunger to eat their own relations. And also out of 
revenge and hatred, where soldiers, in the heat of battle, have 
been known to be carried to such an excess of rage, as to tear 
their enemies with their teeth. 

The violence of love has sometimes produced the same effect 
as the excess of hatred. 

Among the Essedonian Scythians, when a man’s father died, 
his neighbours brought him several beasts, which they killed, 
mixed up their flesh with that of the deceased, and made a 
feast. 

Among the Massageti, when any person grew old, they 
killed him, and ate his flesh ; but if the party died of sickness, 
they buried him, esteeming him unhappy. 

Idolatry and superstition have caused the eating more hu¬ 
man flesh, than both love and hatred put together. 

There are few nations but have offered human victims to 
their deities ; and it was an established custom to eat part of 
the sacrifices they offered. 

It appears pretty certain, from Dr. Hawkesworth’s account 
of the voyages to the South Seas, that the inhabitants of New 
Zealand ate the bodies of their enemies. Mr. Petit has a learn¬ 
ed dissertation on the nature and manners of the Anthropopha¬ 
gi. Among other things, he disputes whether or no the Anthro¬ 
pophagi act contrary to nature? The philosophers, Diogenes, 
Chrysippus, and Zeno, followed by the whole body of Stoics,, 
held it a very reasonable thing for men to eat each other. 

According to Sextus Empiricus, the first laws were those 
made to prevent men from eating each other, as had been done 
until that time. 

The Greek writers represent Anthropophagi as universal 
before Orpheus. 

Leonardus Floroventius informs us, that having fed a hog 
with hog’s flesh, and a dog with dog’s flesh, he found a repug¬ 
nance in nature to such food ; the former lost all his bristles; 
the latter its hair, and the whole body broke out in blotches. 

If even this horrid practice of eating human flesh originates 
from hunger, still it must be perpetuated from revenge : as 
. death must lose much of its horror among those who are ac¬ 
customed to eat the dead ; and where there is little horror at 
the sight of death, there must be less repugnance to murder. 

We shall conclude this chapter with An Account of a 
Wild Man, given by M. Le Roy. 

In 1774, a wild man was discovered in the neighbourhood 
of Yuary. This man, who inhabited the rocks near a forest, 
was very tall, covered with hair like a bear, very nimble, and 
of a gay humaur. He neither did, nor seemed to intend, harm 


•* 



J 



FEAR 






































































































































































































STRIKING INSTANCES OF IN’! EGRITY. 


77 


to any body. He often visited the cottages, without ever at¬ 
tempting to carry off any thing. He had no knowledge of bread, 
milk, or cheese. His greatest amusement was to see the sheep 
running, and to scatter them; and he testified his pleasure at 
this sight by loud fits of laughter, but never attempted to hurt 
them. When the shepherds (as was frequently the case) let 
loose their dogs at him, he fled with the swiftness of an arrow, 
and never allowed the dogs to come too near him. One morn¬ 
ing he came to the cottage of some workmen, and one of them 
endeavouring to catch him by the leg, he laughed heartily, 
and then made his escape. He seemed to be about thirty years 
of age. As the forest is very extensive, and had a commu 
nication with a vast w r ood that belongs to the Spanish terri¬ 
tories, it is natural to suppose that this solitary, but cheerful 
creature, had been lost in his infancy, and subsisted on herbs 


CHAP. V. 

curiosities respecting man. — (Continued.) 

Striking Instances of Integrity—Shocking Instances of Ingrati 
tude—Extraordinary Instances of Honour—Surprising Effect „ 
of Anger—Remarkable Effects of Fright, or Terror—Notable 
Instance of the Power of Conscience. 

Striking Instances of Integrity. 

A man of integrity will never listen to any reason, or give 
way to any measure, or be misled by any inducement, against 
conscience. The inhabitants of a great town offered Mar¬ 
shal de Turenne 100,000 crowns, upon condition he would 
take another road, and not march his troops their way. He 
answered them, “ As your town is not on the road I intend 
to march, I cannot accept the money you offer me.”—The 
Earl of Derby, in the reign of Edward III. making a descent 
in Guienne, carried by storm the town of Bergerac, and gave 
it up to be plundered.—A Welsh Knight happening to light 
upon the receiver’s office, found such a quantity of money, 
that he thought himself obliged to acquaint his general with 
it, imagining that so great a booty belonged to him. But 
he was agreeably surprised, when the Earl wished him joy of 
his good fortune, and said he did not make the keeping of 
his word depend on the great or little value of what he had 
promised.—In the siege of Falisci, by Camillus, General 
of the Romans, the schoolmaster of the town, wno had the 
children of the senators under his care, led them abroad, un¬ 
der the pretext of recreation, and carried them to the Roman 


78 CURIOSITIES respecting man. 

camp; saying to Camillus, that, by this artifice, he had de 
livered Falisci into his hands. Camillus, abhorring his 
treachery, said, “ That there were laws for war as well as for 
peace ; and that the Romans were taught to make war with 
integrity, not less than with courage.” He ordered the 
schoolmaster to be stripped, his hands to be bound behind 
his back, and to be delivered to the boys, to be lashed back 
into the town. The Falerians, hitherto obstinate in resist¬ 
ance, struck with an act of justice so illustrious, delivered 
themselves up to the Romans ; convinced that they would 
be far better to have the Romans for their allies, than their 
enemies. 

Shocking Instances of Ingratitude. —Herodotus in¬ 
forms us, that when Xerxes, king of Persia, was at Celene, a 
city of Phrygia, Pythius, a Lydian, who resided there, and, 
next to Xerxes, was the most opulent prince of those times, 
entertained him and his whole army with an incredible magni¬ 
ficence, and made him an offer of all his wealth towards de¬ 
fraying the expenses of his expedition. Xerxes, surprised at 
so generous an offer, inquired to what sum his riches amounted. 
Py thius answered, that having the design of offering them to 
his service, he had taken an exact account of them, and that 
the silver he had by him, amounted to 2000 talents, (about 
£255,000 sterling), and the gold to 3,993,000 darics (about 
£1,700,000 sterling). All this money he offered him, telling 
him, that his revenue was sufficient for the support of his 
household. Xerxes made him very hearty acknowledgments, 
and entered into a particular friendship with him, and declined 
accepting his present. Some time after this, Pythius having 
desired a favour of him, that out of his five sons, who served 
in his army, he would be pleased to leave him the eldest, to 
comfort him.in his old age; Xerxes was so enraged at the 
proposal, though so reasonable in itself, that he caused the 
eldest son to be killed before his father’s eyes, giving the lat¬ 
ter to understand, that it was a favour he spared him and the 
rest of his children. Yet, this is the same Xerxes who is so 
much admired for his humane reflection at the head of his 
numerous army.—The emperor Basilius I. exercised himself 
in hunting: a great stag running furiously against him, fasten¬ 
ed one of the branches of his horns in the emperor’s girdle, 
and, pulling him from his horse, dragged him a good distance, 
to the imminent danger of his life ; which a gentleman of his 
retinue perceiving, drew his sword, and cut the emperor’s gir¬ 
dle asunder, which disengaged him from the beast, with little 
or no hurt to his person. But, observe his reward! “ He was 
sentenced to lose his head for putting the sword so near the 
body of the emperor; and suffered death accordingly.” ( Zonor. 


V 


» 


SHOCKING INSTANCES OF 1NGRAT1TI PE 79 

Amial. tom. 3. p. 1 55.) —In a little work entitled Friendly Can - 
dions to Officers, the following atrocious instance is related. 
An opulent city, in the west of England, had a regiment sent 
to be quartered there : the principal inhabitants, glad to shew 
their hospitality and attachment to their sovereign, got ac¬ 
quainted with the officers, invited them to their houses, and 
shewed them every civility in their power. A merchant, ex¬ 
tremely easy in his circumstances, took so prodigious a liking 
to one officer in particular, that he gave him an apartment in 
his own house, and made him in a manner master of it, the 
officer's friends being always welcome to his table. The 
merchant was a widower, and had two favourite daughters : 
the officer cast his wanton eyes upon them, and too fatally 
ruined them both. Dreadful return to the merchant’s mis¬ 
placed friendship ! The consequence of this ungenerous action 
was, that all officers ever after were shunned as pests to society; 
nor have the inhabitants yet conquered their aversion to a red 
coat.—We read in Rapin’s History, that during Monmouth’s 
rebellion, in the reign of James II. a certain person, knowing 
the humane disposition of one Mrs. Gaunt, whose life was one 
continued exercise of beneficence, fled to her house, where he 
was concealed and maintained for some time. Hearing, how¬ 
ever, of the proclamation, which promised an indemnity and 
reward to those who discovered such as harboured the rebels, 
he betraved his benefactress: and such was the spirit of jus¬ 
tice and equity which prevailed among the ministry, that he 
was pardoned, and recompensed for his treachery, while she 
was burnt alive for her charity !—The following instance is also 
to be found in the same history. Humphrey Bannister and 
his father were both servants to, and raised by*, the Duke of 
Buckingham ; who being driven to abscond by an unfortunate 
accident befalling the army he had raised against the usurper 
Richard III. he retired to Bannister’s house near Shrewsbury, 
as to a place where he might be quite safe. Bannister, how¬ 
ever, upon the king’s proclamation promising 10001. reward to 
him that should apprehend the duke, betrayed his master to 
John Merton, high sheriff of Shropshire, who sent him under 
\ strong guard to Salisbury, where the king then was; and 
there, in the market-place, the duke was beheaded. But Di¬ 
vine vengeance pursued the traitor Bannister; for, demanding 
the 10001. that was the price of his master’s blood, Richard 
refused to pay it him, saying, “ He that would be false to so 
good a master, ought not to be encouraged.” He was after¬ 
wards hanged for manslaughter; his eldest son went mad, and 
died in a hog-sty; his second became deformed and lame ; and 
his third son was drowned in a small puddle of water; his 
eldest daughter became pregnant by one of his carters, and his 
second was seized with a leprosy whereof she died. Hist, oj 


/ 


80 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

Eng. i. p. 304. Let us guard against this odious vice, ingra¬ 
titude, being assured that sooner or later the bitter effects of 
this, as well as of all other sins, will find us out. 

Our following article consists of some Extraordinary 
Instances of Honour. 

The Spanish historians relate a memorable instance of invio¬ 
lable regard to the principles of honour and truth. A Spanish 
cavalier, in a sudden quarrel, slew a Moorish gentleman, and 
fled. His pursuers soon lost sight of him, for he had, unper¬ 
ceived, leaped over a garden wall. The owner, a Moor, hap¬ 
pening to be in his garden, was addressed by the Spaniard on 
his knees, who acquainted him with his case, and implored con¬ 
cealment. “ Eat this,” said the Moor (giving him half a peach), 
“ you now know that you may confide in my protection.” He 
then locked him up in his garden, telling him, as soon as it 
was night he would provide for his escape to a place of 
greater safety. The Moor then went into his house, where he 
had but just seated himself, when a great crowd, with loud 
lamentations, came to his gate, bringing the corpse of his son, 
who had just been killed by a Spaniard. When the first shock 
of surprise was a little over, he learned, from the description 
given, that the fatal deed was done by the very person then in 
his power. He mentioned this to no one; but, as soon as it 
was dark, retired to his garden, as if to grieve alone, giving 
orders that none should follow him. Then accosting the Spa¬ 
niard, he said, “ Christian, the person you have killed is my 
son, his body is now in my house. You ought to suffer; but 
you have eaten with me, and I have given you my faith, which 
must not be broken.” He then led the astonished Spaniard to 
his stables, mounted him on one of his fleetest horses, and 
said, “ Fly far while the night can cover you; you will be safe 
in the morning You are indeed guilty of my son’s blood ; but 
God is just and good ; and thank him, 1 am innocent of your’s, 
and that my faith given is preserved.” This point of honour 
is most religiously observed by the Arabs and Saracens, from 
whom it was adopted by the Moors of Africa, and by them 
was brought into Spain.—The following instance of Spanish 
honour may still be in the memory of many living, and de¬ 
serves to be handed down to the latest posterity. In 174(1, 
a hen Britain was at war with Spain, the Elizabeth of London, 
captain William Edwards, coming through the gulf from Ja¬ 
maica, richly laden, met with a most violent storm, in which 
the ship sprung a leak, that obliged them to run into the Ha- 
vaimah, a Spanish port, to save their lives. The captain went 
on shore, and directly waited on the governor, told the occa¬ 
sion of his putting in, and that he surrendered the ship as a 
prize, and himself and his men as prisoners of war, only re- 


EXTK AO R'.)l N A «Y INSTANCES OF HONOUR. 81 

questing good quarter. “No, Sir,” replied the Spanish go¬ 
vernor, “ if we had taken you in fair war at sea, or approach¬ 
ing our coast with hostile intentions, your ship would then 
have been a prize, and your people prisoners; but when, dis¬ 
tressed by a tempest, you come into our ports for the safety 
of your lives, we, though enemies,being men, are bound, as such, 
by the laws of humanity, to afford relief to distressed men 
who ask it of us. We cannot, even against our enemies, take 
advantage of an act of God. You have leave therefore to un¬ 
load your ship, if that be necessary, and to stop the leak; you 
may refit her here, and traffic so far as shall be necessary to 
pay the charges ; you may then depart, and I will give you a 
pass to be in force till you are beyond Bermuda : if after that 
you are taken, you will then be a lawful prize ; but now you 
are only a stranger, and have a stranger's right to safety and 
protection.” The ship accordingly departed, and arrived safe 
in London.—A remarkable instance of honour is also recorded 
of an African negro, in captain Snelgrave’s account of his 
voyage to Guinea. A New-England sloop, trading there in 
1752, left her second mate, William Murray, sick onshore, and 
sailed without him. Murray was at the house of a black, 
named Cudjoe, with whom he had contracted an acquaintance 
during their trade. He recovered ; and the sloop being gone, 
he continued with his black friend till some other opportunity 
should offer of his getting home. In the mean time a Dutch 
ship came into the road, and some of the blacks coming on 
board her, were treacherously seized and carried off as slaves. 
r I he relations and friends, transported with sudden rage, ran 
to the house of Cudjoe, to take revenge by killing Murray. 
Cudjoe stopped them at the door, and demanded what they 
wanted. “ Ihe w'hite men,” said thev, “ have carried away 
our brothers and sons, and we will kill all white men. Give 
us the white man you have in your house, for we will kill him.” 

Nay,” said Cudjoe, “ the white men that carried away your 
relations are bad men, kill them when you can take them ; but 
this white man is a good man, and you must not kill him.”— 
“ But he is a white man,” they cried, “ and the white men are 
all bad men, we will kill them all.”—“ Nay,” savs he, “ you 
must not kill a man that has done no harm, only for being 
white. This man is mv friend, my house is his post, I am his 
soldier, and must fight, for him ; you must kill me before you 
i an kill him. What good man will ever come again under my 
roof, if 1 let my floor be stained with a good man’s blood ?” 
Th e negroes, seeing his resolution, and being convinced b> 
his discourse that they were wrong, went away ashamed. In 
a few days Murray went abroad again with his friend Cudjoe. 
when several of them took him by the hand, and told him, 
* they were glad they had not killed him ; for, as he was a good 

L 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 


$2 

man, their god would have been very angry, and wou d have 
spoiled their fishing.” 

As it is our intention to record whatever we meet with, that 
is curious or wonderful, we hesitate not in inserting the fol¬ 
lowing Surprising Effects of Anger. 

Physicians and naturalists afford instances of very extraordi¬ 
nary effects of this passion. Borrichius cured a woman of an 
inveterate tertian ague, which had baffled the art of physic, by 
putting the patient in a furious fit of anger. Valeriola made use 
of the same means, with the like success, in a quartan ague. 
The same passion has been equally salutary to paralytic, gouty, 
and even dumb persons; to which last it has sometimes given 
the use of speech. Etmuller gives divers instances of very sin¬ 
gular cures wrought by anger; among others, he mentions a per¬ 
son laid up in the gout, who, being provoked by his physician, 
flew upon him, and was cured. It is true, the remedy is somewhat 
dangerous in the application, when a patient does not knowhow 
to use it with moderation. We meet with several instances of 
princes, to whom it has proved mortal; e. g. Valentinian I. 
Wenceslaus, Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary, and others. 
There are also instances wherein it has produced the epilepsy, 
jaundice, cholera morbus, diarrhoea, 8cc. In fact, this passion 
is of such a nature, that it quickly throws the whole nervous 
system into preternatural commotions, by a violent stricture 
of the nervous and muscular parts ; and surprisingly augments, 
not*only the systole of the heart, and its contiguous vessels, 
but also the tone of the fibrous parts in the whole body. It 
is also certain, that this passion, by the spasmodic stricture it 
produces in the parts, exerts its power principally on the sto¬ 
mach and intestines, which are highly nervous and membra¬ 
neous parts ; whence the symptoms are more dangerous, in 
proportion to the greater consent of the stomach and intes¬ 
tines with the other nervous parts, and almost with the whole 
body. The unhappy influence of anger likewise on the biliary 
and hepatic ducts, is very surprising; since, by an intense 
constriction of these, the liver is not only rendered scirrhous, 
but stones also are often generated in the gall-bladder and biliary 
ducts: these accidents have scarcely any other origin than an ob¬ 
struction of the free motion and efflux of the bile, by means of 
this violent stricture. Fromsuch a stricture, likewise, proceeds 
the jaundice, which, in process of time, lays a foundation for 
calculous concretions in the gall-bladder. By increasing the 
motion of the fluid, or the spasms of the fibrous parts, by means 
of anger, a large quantity of blood is forcibly propelled to cer 
tain parts; whence it happens, that they are too much dis¬ 
tended, and the orifices of the veins distributed there, opened. 
It is evident, from experience, that anger has a great tendency 


EFFECTS OF ANGER.-FRIGHT, OR TERROR 83 

to excite enormous hemorrhages, either from the nose, the 
aperture of the pulmonary artery, &c. The effects of this pas- 
«ion are well described by Armstrong in the following lines: 

“ But there's a passion, whose tempestuous sway 
Tears up each virtue planted in the heart, 

And shakes to ruin proud philosophy: 

For pale and trembling anger rushes in 

With falt’ring speech, and eyes that wildly stare, 

Fierce as the tiger, madder than the seas, 

Desp’rate, and arm'd with more than human strength ; 

But he whom anger stings, drops, if he dies, 

At once, and rushes apoplectic down ; 

Or a fierce fever hurries him to hell. * 

Now follows an account of some Remarkable Effects 
of Fright, or Terror. 

Out of many instances of the fatal effects of fear, the fol¬ 
lowing is selected as one of the most singular:—George Gro- 
chantzy, a Polander, who had enlisted as a soldier in the ser¬ 
vice of the king of Prussia, deserted during the last war. A 
small party was sent in pursuit of him, and, when he least 
expected it, surprised him singing and dancing among a 
company of peasants in an inn. This event, so sudden, and so 
dreadful in its consequences, struck him in such a manner, 
that, giving a great cry, he became altogether stupid and in¬ 
sensible, and was seized without the least resistance. They 
carried him away to Glocau, where he was brought before the 
council of war, and received sentence as a deserter. He 
suffered himself to be led and disposed of at the will of those 
about him, without uttering a word, or giving the least sign 
that he knew what had happened or would happen to him 
He remained immoveable as a statue wherever he was placed, 
and was wholly regardless of all that w as done to him or about 
him. During all the time that he w as in custody, he neither 
ate,, nor drank, nor slept, nor had any evacuation. Some ot 
his comrades w r ere sent to see him; after that, he w as visited 
by some officers of his corps, and by some priests ; but he 
still continued in the same state, without discovering the least 
signs of sensibility. Promises, entreaties, and threaten- 
ings, were equally ineffectual. It w'as at first suspected 
that these appearances were feigned; but such suspicions 
gave way, when it was known that he took no sustenance, 
and that the involuntary functions of nature w r ere in a great 
measure suspended. The physicians concluded that he 
was in a state of hopeless idiocy ; and after some time they 
knocked off his fetters, and left him at liberty to go where he 
would. He received his liberty with the same insensibility 
that he had shewrn on other occasions; he remained fixed and 
immoveable, his eyes turned wildly here and there, without 


S4 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN 

taking cognizance of any object, and the muscles of his face 
were fallen and fixed, like those of a dead body. He passed 
twenty days in this condition, without eating, drinking, or 
any evacuation, and died on the 20th day. He had been some¬ 
times heard to fetch deep sighs ; and once he rushed with 
gre»t violence on a soldier who had a mug of liquor in his 
hand, forced the mug from him, and having drank the liquor 
with great eagerness, let the mug drop to the ground.—Among 
the ludicrous effects of fear, the following instance, quoted 
from a French author, by Mr. Andrews, in his volume of Anec¬ 
dotes, shews upon what slight occasions this passion may be 
sometimes excited in a very high degree, and even in persons 
the most unlikely to entertain fear. “ Charles Custavus (suc¬ 
cessor to Christina, queen of Sweden,) was besieging Prague, 
when a boor of a most extraordinary visage desired admittance 
to his tent; and being allowed entrance, offered, by way of 
amusing the king, to devour a whole hog of 100 weight in his 
presence. The old general, Konigsmarc, who stood by the 
king’s side, and who, soldier as he was, had not got rid of the 
prejudices of his childhood, hinted to his royal master that the 
peasant ought to be burnt as a sorcerer. ‘ Sir,’ said the fel¬ 
low, irritated at the remark, ‘if your majesty will but make 
that old gentleman take off his sword and his spurs, I will eat 
him, before I begin the hog.’ Konigsmarc (who had, at tha 
head of a body of Swedes, performed wonders against the A us- 
trians, and who was looked upon as one of the bravest men of 
the age,) could not stand this proposal ; especially as it was 
accompanied by a most hideous and preternatural expansion of 
the frightful peasant’s jaws. Without uttering a word, the 
veteran turned round, ran out of the court, nor thought him¬ 
self safe until he had arrived at his quarters, where he re¬ 
mained above 24 hours locked up securely, before he had got 
rid of the panic which had so severely affected him.” Such 
is the influence of fright or terror. 

The following is a notable instance of The Power op 
Conscience. 

It is a saying, that no man ever offended his own con¬ 
science, but first or last it was revenged upon him. The power 
of conscience indeed has been remarked in all ages, and 
the examples of it upon recird are numerous and striking.— 
The following is related by Mr. Fordyce, in his Dialogue 5 
on Education , (vol. ii. p. 501.) as a real occurrence, which hap¬ 
pened in a neighbouring state not many years ago. A jewel¬ 
ler, a man of good character and considerable wealth, having 
occasion, in the way of his business, to travel to some distance 
from the place of his abode, took along with him a servant, 
in order to take care of his portmanteau. He had with him 


THE POWER OF CONSCIENCE. 


85 


some of his best jewels, and a large sum of money, to which 
his servant was likewise privy. The master having occasion 
to dismount on the road, the servant watching his opportu¬ 
nity, took a pistol from his master’s saddle, and shot him dead 
on the spot; then rifled him of his jewels and money, and, 
hanging a large stone to his neck, threw him into the 
nearest canal. With his booty he made off to a distant part 
of the country, where he had reason to believe that neither 
he nor his master were known. There he began to trade in a 
very low way at first, that his obscurity might screen him from 
observation, and in the course of a good many years seemed 
to rise, by the natural progress of business, into wealth and 
consideration; so that nis good fortune appeared at once the 
effect and reward of industry and virtue. Of these he coun¬ 
terfeited the appearance so well, that he grew into great cre¬ 
dit, married into a good family, and by laying out his sudden 
stores discreetly, as he saw occasion, and joining to all an 
universal affability, he was admitted to a share of the govern¬ 
ment of the town, and rose from one post to another, till at 
length he was chosen chief magistrate. In this office he 
maintained a fair character, and continued to fill it with no 
small applause, both as a governor and a judge; till one day, 
as he sat on the bench, with some of his brethren, a criminal 
was brought before him, who was accused of murdering his 
master. The evidence came out full, the jury brought in 
their verdict that the prisoner was guilty, and the whole as¬ 
sembly waited the sentence of the president of the court 
(which he happened to be that day) with great suspense. 
Meanwhile he appeared to be in unusual disorder and agita¬ 
tion of mind, and his colour changed often ; at length he rose 
from his seat, and coming down from the bench, placed him¬ 
self by the unfortunate man at the bar. “ You see before you 
(said he, addressing himself to those who had sat on the bench 
with him,) a striking instance of the just awards of heaven, 
which, this day, after 30 years’ concealment, presents to you a 
greater criminal than the man just now found guilty.” Then 
he made an ample confession of his guilt, and of all the ag¬ 
gravations : “Nor can l feel (continued he) any relief from 
the agonies of an awakened conscience, but by requiring that 
justice be forthwith done against me in the most public and 
solemn manner.” We may easily suppose the amazement of all 
the assembly, and especially of his fellow judges. However, 
they proceeded, upon this confession, to pass sentence upon 
him, and he died with all the symptoms of a penitent mind, 
Let it be our constant aim to keep a conscience void of offence 
towards God, and towards man; being assured that. 

One self-approving hour whole years outweighs 

Of stupid starers, and of loud huzzas. Pope . 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 




CHAP VI 

curiosities respecting man.— (Continued.) 

Remarkable Instance of Memory—Surprising Instance of SkJlin 
Numbers—Extraordinary Arithmetical Powers of a Child — 
Curious Instance of Mathematical Talent—Stone Eater — 
Poison Eater — Bletonism — Longevity. 

Remarkable Instance of Memory. 

Whence came the active and sagacious mind, 
Self-conscious, and with faculties endued 
Of understanding, will, and memory, 

And reason, to distinguish true from false ? 

-Whence, but through an infinite, 

Almighty God, supremely wise and just? Newler. 

Hortensius, one of the most celebrated orators of ancient 
Rome, had so happy a memory, that after studying a dis¬ 
course, though he had not written down a single word of it, 
he could repeat it exactly in the same manner in which he had 
composed it. His powers of mind in this respect were really 
astonishing; and we are told, that in consequence of a wager 
with one Sienna, he spent a whole day at an auction, and, 
when it was ended, recapitulated every article that had 
been sold, together with the prices, and the names of the 
purchasers, in their proper order, without erring in one point, 
as was proved by the clerk, who followed him with his 
book. 

The following is a very Surprising Instance of Skill, 
in Numbers. 

Jedidiah Buxton, was a prodigy, with respect to skill in 
numbers. His father, William Buxton, was schoolmaster of 
the parish where he was born, in 1704 : yet Jedediah’s educa¬ 
tion was so much neglected, that he was never taught to 
wTite; and with respect to any other knowledge but that of 
numbers, seemed always as ignorant as a boy of ten years of 
age. How he came first to know the relative proportions of 
numbers, and their progressive denominations, he did not 
remember ; but to this he applied the whole force of his mind, 
and upon this his attention was constantly fixed, so that he 
frequently took no cognizance of external objects, and, when 
he did it, it was only with respect to their numbers. If any 
space of time was mentioned, he would soon after say it was 
bo many minutes ; and if any distance of way, he would assign 



SURPRISING INSTANCE OF SKILL IN NUMBERS. 87 

the number of hair-breaclths, without any question being 
asked, or any calculation expected by the company. When 
he once understood a question, he began to work with amaz¬ 
ing facility, after his own method, without the use of a pen, 
pencil, or chalk, or even understanding the common rules of 
arithmetic, as taught in the schools. He would stride over a 
piece of land, or a field, and tell the contents of it almost as 
exactly as if one had measured it by the chain. In this manner 
he measured the whole lordship of Elmton, belonging to Sir 
John Rhodes, and brought him the contents, not only of some 
thousands in acres, roods, and perches, but even in square 
inches. After this, for his own amusement, he reduced them 
into square hair-breadths, computing 48 to each side of the 
inch. His memory was so great, that while resolving a ques¬ 
tion, he could leave off, and resume the operation again, where 
he left off, the next morning, or at a week, a month, or seve¬ 
ral months, and proceed regularly till it was completed. His 
memory would doubtless have been equally retentive with 
respect to other objects, if he had attended to them with 
equal diligence; but his perpetual application to figures 
prevented the smallest acquisition of any other knowledge. 
He was sometimes asked, on his return from church, whether 
he remembered the text, or any part of the sermon: but it 
never appeared that he brought away one sentence ; his mind, 
upon a closer examination, being found to have been busied, 
even during divine service, in his favourite operation, either 
dividing some time, or some space, into the smallest known 
parts, or resolving some question that had been given him as 
i test of his abilities. As this extraordinary person lived in 
laborious poverty, his life was uniform and obscure. Time, 
with respect to him, changed nothing but his age ; nor did 
the seasons vary his employment, except that in winter he 
used a flail, and in summer a ling-hook. In 1754, he came to 
London, where he was introduced to the Royal Society, who, 
in order to prove his abilities, asked him several questions in 
arithmetic; and he gave them such satisfaction, that they dis¬ 
missed him with a handsome gratuity. In this visit to the 
metropolis, the only object of his curiosity, except figures, 
was to see the king and royal family; but they being at Ken¬ 
sington, Jedidiah was disappointed. During his stay in Lon¬ 
don, he was taken to see King Richard III. performed at 
l)rury-Lane playhouse ; and it was expected, either that the 
novelty and the splendour of the show would have fixed him 
in astonishment, or kept his imagination in a continual hurry, 
or that his passions would, in some degree, have b^en touched 
by the power of action, though he did not perfectly understand 
the dialogue. But Jedidiah’s mind was employed in the play¬ 
house just as it was employed in every other place. During 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 


88 

the dance, he fixed his attention upon the number of steps ; 
he declared, after a fine piece of music, that the innumerable 
sounds produced by the instruments had perplexed him beyond 
measure; and he attended even to Mr. Garrick, only to 
count the words that he uttered, in which, he said, he perfectly 
succeeded. Jedidiah returned to the place of his birth, where, 
if his enjoyments were few, his wishes did not seem to be 
greater. He applied to his labour with cheerfulness; he re¬ 
gretted nothing that he left behind him in London ; and it 
continued to be his opinion, that a slice of rusty bacon afford¬ 
ed the most delicious repast. 

The following account of the Extraordinary Arithmetical 
Powers of a Child, is extracted from the Annual Register of 
1812. It is entitled. Some Particulars respecting the 
Arithmetical Powers of Zerah Colburn, a Child 
under Eight Years of Age. 

“ The attention of the philosophical world, (says the writer,) 
has been lately attracted by the most singular phenomenon in 
the history of the human mind, that perhaps ever existed. It 
is the case of a child, under eight years of age, who, without 
any previous knowledge of the common rules of arithmetic, or 
even of the use and power of the Arabic numerals, and with¬ 
out having given any particular attention to the subject, pos¬ 
sesses, as if by intuition, the singular faculty of solving a 
great variety of arithmetical questions by the mere operation 
of the mind, and without the usual assistance of any visible 
symbol or contrivance. 

“ The name of the child is Zerah Colburn, who was born at 
Cabut, (a town lying at the head of Onion river, in Vermont, 
in the United States of America,) on the 1st of September, 
1804. About two years ago (August, 1810,) although at that 
time not six years of age, he first began to shew those won¬ 
derful powers of calculation, which have since so much attract¬ 
ed the attention, and excited the astonishment, of every person 
who has witnessed his extraordinary abilities. The discovery 
was made by accident. His father, who had not given him 
any other instruction than such as was to be obtained at a 
small school established in that unfrequented and remote past 
of the country, (and which did not include either writing or 
ciphering,) was much surprised one day to hear him repeating 
the products of several numbers. Struck with amazement at 
the circumstance, he proposed a variety of arithmetical ques¬ 
tions to him, all of wdiich the child solved with remarkable 
facility and correctness. The news of this infant prodigy soon 
circulated through the neighbourhood; and many persons 
came from distant parts to witness so singular a circumstance. 
The father, encouraged by the unanimous opinion of all who 


SURPRISING INSTANCE OF SKII L IN NUMBERS. 


89 


came to see him, was induced to undertake, with this child* 
the tour of the United States. They were every where re¬ 
ceived with the most flattering expressions ; and in the several 
towns which they visited, various plans were suggested, to 
educate and bring up the child, free from all expense to his 
family. Yielding, however, to the pressing solicitations of 
his friends, and urged by the most respectable, and powerful 
recommendations, as well as by a view to his son’s more 
complete education, the father has brought the child to this 
country, where they arrived on the 12th of May last: and the 
inhabitants of this metroprolis have for these last three months 
had an opportunity of seeing and examining this wonderful 
phenomenon, and verifying the reports that have been circu¬ 
lated respecting him. Many persons of the first eminence for 
their knowledge in mathematics, and well known for their 
philosophical inquiries, have made a point of seeing and 
conversing with him; and they have all been struck with 
astonishment at his extraordinary powers. It is correctly true, 
as stated of him, that—* He will not only determine, with the 
greatest facility and despatch, the exact number of minutes 
or seconds in any given period of time ; but will also solve 
any other question of a similar kind. He will teil the exact 
product arising from the multiplication of any number, consisting 
of two, three, or four figures, by any other number, consisting of 
the like number of figures; or any number, consisting of six 
or seven places of figures, being proposed, he will determine, 
with equal expedition and ease, all the factors of which it is 
composed. This singular faculty consequently extends not 
only to the raising of powers, but also to the extraction of 
the square and cube roots of the number proposed ; and like¬ 
wise to the means of determining whether it be a prime num¬ 
ber (or a number incapable of division by any other number;) 
for which case there does not exist, at present, any general 
rule amongst mathematicians.’ All these, and a variety of 
other questions connected therewith, are answered by this 
child with such promptness and accuracy (and in the midst 
of his juvenile pursuits) as to astonish every person who has 
visited him. 

“ At a meeting of his friends, which was held for the purpose 
of concerting the best methods of promoting the views of the 
father, this child undertook, and completely succeeded in 
raising the number 8 progressively up to the sixteenth power!!! 
and, in naming the last result, viz. 281,474,976,710,656, he 
was right in every figure. He was then tried as to other num¬ 
bers, consisting of one figure ; all of which he raised (by 
a }tual multiplication, and not by memory) as high as the tenth 
power, with so much facility and despatch, that the person 
appointed to take down the results, was obliged to enjoin him 


90 


CURIOS ITI E J RESPECTING MAN. 


not to be so rapid! With respect to numbers consisting of 
two figures, he would raise some of them to the sixth, seventh, 
and eighth power; but not always with equal facility: for the 
larger the products became, the more difficult he found it to 
proceed. He was asked the square root of 106929 ; and before 
the number could be written down, he immediately answered 
327. He was then required to name the cube root q£ 
268,336,125; and with equal facility and promptness he re¬ 
plied, 645. Various other questions of a similar nature,, 
respecting the roots and powers of very high numbers, were 
proposed by several of the gentlemen present; to all of which 
he answered in a similar manner. One of the party re¬ 
quested him to name the factors which produced the number 
247,483 : this he immediately did, by mentioning the two 
numbers 941 and 263; which indeed are the only two num¬ 
bers that will produce it, viz. 5x34279, 7x24485, 59x2905, 
83x2065, 35x4897, 295x581, and 413x415. He was then 
asked to give the factors of 36083 : but he immediately re¬ 
plied that it had none; which, in fact, was the case, as 
36083 is a prime number. Other numbers were indiscri¬ 
minately proposed to him, and he always succeeded in giving 
the correct factors, except in the case of prime numbers, 
which he discovered almost as soon as proposed. One of 
the gentlemen asked him how many minutes there were in 
lorty-eight years : and before the question could be written 
down, he replied, 25,228,800 ; and instantly added, that the 
number of seconds in the same period was 1,513,728.000. 
Various questions of the like kind were put to him; and to 
all of them he answered with nearly equal facility and promp¬ 
titude, so as to astonish every one present, and to excite 
a desire that so extraordinary a faculty should (if possible) 
be rendered more extensive and useful. 

“ It was the wish of the gentlemen present, to obtain a 
knowledge of the method by which the child was enabled to 
answer, with so much facility and correctness, the questions 
thus put to him; but to all their inquiries upon this subject- 
(and he was closely examined upon this point) he was unable 
to give them any information. He positively declared (and 
every observation that was made seemed to justify the 
assertion) that he did not know how the answers came into 
his mind. In the act of multiplying two numbers together, 
and in the raising of powers, it was evident (not only from 
the motion of his lips, but also from some singular facts 
which will be hereafter-mentioned) that some operation was 
going forward in his mind; yet that operation could not, 
from the readiness with which the answers were furnished, 
be at all allied to the usual mode of proceeding with such 
subjects : and, moreover, he is entirely ignorant of the com* 


SURPRISING INSTANCE OF SKILL IN NUMBERS. 91 

mon rules of arithmetic, and cannot perform, upon paper, * 
simple sum in multiplication or division. But in the ex 
traction of roots, and in mentioning the factors of high num 
bers, it does not appear that any operation can take place, 
since he will give the answer immediately, or in a very few 
seconds, where it w r ould require, according to the ordinary 
method or solution, a very difficult and laborious calculation; 
and moreover, the knowledge of a prime number cannot be 
obtained by any known rule. 

“ it has been already observed, that it was evident, from 
some singular facts, that the child operated by certain rules 
known only to himself. This discovery was made in one 
or two instances, when he had been closely pressed upon 
that point. In one case he was asked to tell the square of 
4395 : he at first hesitated, fearful that he should not be able 
to answer it correctly; but w'hen he applied himself to it, 
he said, it was 19,316,025. On being questioned as to the 
cause of his hesitation; he replied, that he did not like to 
multiply four figures by four figures : but, said he, ‘ I found 
out another way ; I multiplied 293 by 293, and then multi¬ 
plied this product twice by the number 15, which produced 
the same result/ On another occasion, his highness the 
duke of Gloucester asked him the product of 21,734, multi¬ 
plied by 543: he immediately replied, 11,801,562; but, upon 
some remark being made on the subject, the child said that 
he had, in his own mind, multiplied 65202 by 181. Now, 
although, in the first instance, it must be evident to every 
mathematician, that 4395 is equal to 293x 15, and conse¬ 
quently that (4395) 2 =:(293) 2 x (15) 2 ; and, further, that in the 
second case, 543 is equal to 181x3, and consequently that 
21/34 x (181 x 3)=(21734 x 3) x 181 ; yet it is not the less- 
remarkable, that this combination should be immediately 
perceived by the child, and we cannot the less admire his 
ingenuity in thus seizing instantly the easiest method ol solv¬ 
ing the question proposed to him. 

“ It must be evident, from what has here been stated, that 
the singular faculty which this child possesses is not alto¬ 
gether dependent upon his memory. In the multiplication 
of numbers, and in the raising of powers, he is doubtless 
considerably assisted by that remarkable quality of the mind : 
and in this respect he might be considered as bearing some 
Tesemblance (if the difference of age did not prevent the 
justness of the comparison) to the celebrated Jedidiah Bux¬ 
ton, and other persons of similar note. But, in the extrac¬ 
tion of the roots of numbers, and in determining their factors, 
(if any,) it is clear, to all those who have witnessed the 
astonishii g quickness and accuracy of this child, that the 
memory »as little or nothing to do with the process. And 


\ 




92 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

in this particular point consists the remarkable difference 
between the present and all former instances of an apparently 
similar kind. 

“ It has been recorded as an astonishing effort of memory, 
that the celebrated Culer (who, in the science of analysis, 
might vie even with Newton himself,) could remember the 
first six powers of every number under 100. This, probably, 
must be taken with some restrictions: but, if true to the 
fullest extent, it is not more astonishing than the efforts of 
this child ; with this additional circumstance in favour of the 
latter, that he is capable of verifying, in a very few seconds, 
every figure which he may have occasion for. It has been 
further remarked, by the biographer of that eminent, ma¬ 
thematician, that ‘he perceived, almost at a single glance, 
the factors of which his formulae were composed; the parti¬ 
cular system of factors belonging to the question under con¬ 
sideration ; the various artifices by which that system may 
be simplified and reduced; and the relation of the several 
factors to the conditions of the hypothesis. His expertness 
in this particular probably resulted, in a great measure, from 
the ease with which he performed mathematical investiga¬ 
tions by head. He had always accustomed himself to that 
exercise; and, having practised it with assiduity, (even before 
the loss of sight, which afterwards rendered it a matter of 
necessity,) he is an instance to what an astonishing degree 
it may be acquired, and how much it improves the intel¬ 
lectual powers. No other discipline is so effectual in strength¬ 
ening the faculty of attention : it gives a facility of appre¬ 
hension, an accuracy and steadiness to the conceptions ; 
and (what is a still more valuable acquisition) it habituates 
the mind to arrangement in its reasonings and reflections/ 

“ It is not intended to draw a comparison between the 
humble, though astonishing, efforts of this infant prodigy, 
and the gigantic powers of that illustrious character, to whom 
a reference has just been made : yet we may be permitted 
to hope and expect that those wonderful talents, which are 
so conspicuous at this early age, may, by a suitable educa¬ 
tion, be considerably improved and extended; and that 
some new light will eventually be thrown upon those subjects, 
for the elucidation of which his mind appears to be peculi¬ 
arly formed by nature, since he enters the world with all 
those powers and faculties which are not even attainable by 
the "Most eminent, at a more advanced period of life. Every 
mathematician must be aware of the important advantages 
which have sometimes been derived from the most simple and 
trifling circumstance ; the full effect of which has not always 
been evident at first sight. To mention one singular instance 
of this kind:—The very simple improvement of expressing 


\ 


INSTANCE OF MATHEMATICAL TALENT. 93 

the powers and roots of quantities by means of indices, 
introduced a new and general arithir o *ic of exponents : and 
this algorithm of powers led the way to the invention of 
logarithms, by means of which all arithmetrcal computations 
are so much facilitated and abridged. Perhaps this child 
possesses a knowledge of some more important properties 
connected with this subject: although he is incapable at 
present of giving any satisfactory account of the state of his 
mind, or of communicating to others the knowledge which 
it is so evident he does possess ; yet there is every reason 
to believe, that, when his mind is more cultivated, and his 
ideas more expanded, he will be able not only to divulge 
the mode by which he at present operates, but also point out 
some new sources of information on this interesting subject. 

“ The case is certainly one of great novelty and importance ; 
and every literary character, and every friend to science, 
must be anxious to see the experiment fairly tried, as to the 
effect which a suitable education may produce on a mind 
constituted as his appears to be. With this view, a number 
of gentlemen have taken the child under their patronage, 
and have formed themselves into a committee for the purpose 
of superintending his education. Application has been made to 

gentleman of science, well known for his mathematical abili¬ 
ties, who has consented to take the child under his immediate 
tuition : the committee, therefore, propose to withdraw him 
for the present from public exhibition, in order that he may 
fullv devote himself to his studies. But whether they shall 
be able to accomplish the object they have in view, will 
depend upon the assistance which they may receive from 
the public. What further progress this child made under the 
patronage and tuition of his kind and benevolent friends, 
the editor is not, at present, able to ascertain.” 

We proceed co a Curious Instance of Mathematical 
Talent 

A singulai instance of early mathematical talent has been 
made known by Mr. Gough, in the PhilosophicalMagazine.—• 
Thomas Gasking, the son of a journeyman shoemaker of Pen¬ 
rith, was but nine years of age when the account was written : 
“he v -as, (says the writer), however, in consequence of the 
education given him by his father, (an acute and industrious 
man,) become well acquainted with the leading propositions of 
Euclid, reads and works algebra with facility, understands and 
uses logarithms, and has entered on the study of fluxions. 
On being examined, he demonstrated propositions from the 
fn st books of Euclid ; discovered the unknown side of a trian- 
gl !, from the two sides and the angle given ; and solved cases 
in spherical trigonometry. In algebra, he gave the solutions 


94 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

of a number of quadratic equations; answered questioni 
which contained two unknown quantities ; and applied algebra 
to geometry. He answered problems relating to the maxima 
of numbers and of geometrical magnitudes, with ease ; and, 
on many other mathematical points, gave very high promises 
of future excellence.” 

The following remarkable account of a Stone Eater, ib 
given as a fact in several respectable works. 

In 1760, was brought to Avignon, a true lithophagus, or 
stone-eater. He not only swallowed flints of an inch and a 
half long, a full inch broad, and half an inch thick ; but such 
stones as he could reduce to powder, such as marble, pebbles, 
&c. he made into paste, which was to him a most agreeable 
and wholesome food. I examined this man, says the writer, 
with all the attention I possibly could ; I found his gullet very 
large, his teeth exceedingly strong, his saliva very corrosive, 
and his stomach lower than ordinary, which I imputed to the 
vast number of flints he had swallowed, being about five-and- 
twenty, one day with another. Upon interrogating his keeper, 
he told me the following particulars: “This stone-eater,” says 
he, “ was found three years ago, in a northern uninhabited 
island, by some of the crew of a Dutch ship. Since I have 
had him, I make him eat raw flesh with the stones ; I could 
never get him to swallow bread. He will drink water, wine, 
and brandy, which last liquor gives him infinite pleasure. He 
sleeps at least twelve hours in a day, sitting on the ground, 
with one knee over the other, and his chin resting on his 
right knee. He smokes almost all the time he is not asleep, 
or is not eating. The flints he has swallowed, he voids some¬ 
what corroded, and diminished in weight; the rest of his ex¬ 
crements resembles mortar.” 

The following account of a Poison Eater is said to be an 
undoubted fact. 

A man, about 106 years of age, formerly living in Constan¬ 
tinople, was known all over that city by the name of So- 
lyman, the eater of corrosive sublimate. In the early part of 
his life, he accustomed himself, like other Turks, to the use 
of opium ; but not feeling the desired effect, he augmented 
his dose to a great quantity, without feeling any inconve¬ 
nience, and at length took a drachm of sixty grains daily. 
He went into the shop of a Jew apothecary, to whom he was 
unknown, asked for a drachm of sublimate, which he mixed 
in a glass of water, and drank directly. 

The apothecary was dreadfully alarmed, because he knew 
the consequence of being accused of poisoning a Turk : but 
what was his astonishment, when he saw the same man return 


BLETON1SM. 


96 

the next day for a dose of the same quantity. It is said that 
Lord Elgin, Mr. Smith, and other Englishmen, knew this man, 
and have heard him declare, that his enjoyment after having 
taken this active poison, is the greatest he ever felt from any 
cause whatever. 

We n 3w proceed to give an account of a very extraordi¬ 
nary faculty, entitled Bletonism. 

This is a faculty of perceiving and indicating subterraneous 
springs and currents by sensation. The term is modern, and 
derived from a Mr. Bleton, who excited universal attention 
by possessing this faculty, which seems to depend upon some 
peculiar organization. Concerning the reality of this extra¬ 
ordinary faculty, there occurred great doubts among the 
learned. But M. Thouvenel, a French pf :i gopher, seems 
to have put the matter beyond dispute, in two memoirs which 
he published upon the subject. He was charged by Louis XVI. 
with a commission to analyze the mineral and medicinal waters 
of France ; and, by repeated trials, he had been so fully con¬ 
vinced of the capacity of Bleton to assist him with efficacy in 
this important undertaking, that he solicited the ministry to 
join him in the commission upon advantageous terms. All 
this shews that the operations of Bleton have a more solid 
support than the tricks of imposture or the delusions of 
fancy. In fact, a great number of his discoveries are ascer¬ 
tained by respectable affidavits. The following is a strong in¬ 
stance in favour of Bletonism.—“For a long time the traces of 
several springs and their reservoirs in the lands of the Abbey 
de Verveins had been entirely lost. It appeared, nevertheless, 
bv ancient deeds and titles, that these springs and reservoirs 
had existed. A neighbouring abbey was supposed to have 
turned their waters for its benefit into other channels, and a 
lawsuit was commenced upon this supposition. M. Bleton 
was applied to : he discovered at once the new course of the 
waters in question ; his discovery was ascertained; and the 
lawsuit terminated.” M. Thouvenel assigns principles upon 
which the impressions made by subterraneous waters and 
mines may be accounted for. Having ascertained a general 
law, by which subterraneous electricity exerts an influence on 
the bodies of certain individuals, eminently susceptible of 
that influence, and shewn that this law is the same whether 
the electrical action arise from currents of warm or cold w’ater, 
from currents of humid air, from coal or metallic mines, from 
sulphur, and so on, he observes, that there is a diversity in 
the physical and organical impressions which are produced by 
this electrical action, according as it proceeds from different 
fossile bodies, which are more or less conductors of electrical 
emanations. There are also artificial processes, which concur 


06 


V/U KlOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

$ 

in leading us to distinguish the different conductors of miners? 
electricity ; and in these processes the use of electrometrical 
rods deserves the attention of philosophers, who might per¬ 
haps, in process of time, substitute in their place a more per¬ 
fect instrument. Their physical and spontaneous mobility, 
and its electrical causes, are demonstrated by indisputable ex¬ 
periments. On the other hand, M. Thouvenel proves, by verj 
plausible arguments, the influence of subterraneous electrical 
currents, compares them with the electrical currents of the 
atmosphere, points out the different impressions they produce, 
according to the number and quality of the bodies which act, 
and the diversity of those which are acted upon. The ordinary 
sources of cold water make impressions proportional to «,heir 
volume, the velocity of their currents, and other circumstances. 
Their stagnation destroys every species of electrical influence; 
at least, in this state they have none that is perceptible. Their 
depth is indicated by geometrical processes, founded upon 
the motion and divergence of the electrical rays. 

We shall conclude this chapter with some Extraordinary 
Instances of Longevity. 

In October, 1712, a prodigy is said to have appeared in 
France, in the person of one Nicholas Petours, who one day 
entered the town of Coutances. His appearance excited curio¬ 
sity, as it was observed that he had travelled on foot: he 
therefore gave the following account of himself, viz. That he 
was one hundred and eighteen years of age, being born at 
Granville, near the sea, in the year 1594 ; that he was by trade 
a shoemaker; and had walked from St. Malo’s to Coutances, 
which is twenty-four leagues distant, in two days. He seem¬ 
ed as active as a young man. He said, “ He came to attend 
the event of a lawsuit, and that he had had four wives ; with 
the first of whom he lived fifty years, the second only twenty 
months, and the third twenty-eight years and two months, and 
that to the fourth he had been married two years; that he 
had had children by the three former, and could boast a pos¬ 
terity which consisted of one hundred and nineteen persons, 
and extended to the seventh generation.” He further stated, 
“that his family had been as remarkable for longevity as him¬ 
self; that his mother lived until 1691 ; and that his father, in 
consequence of having been wounded, died at the age of one 
hundred and twenty-three, that his uncle and godfather, Ni¬ 
cholas Petours, curate of the parish of Balcine, and afterward 
canon and treasurer of the cathedral of Coutances, died 
there, aged above one hundred and thirty-seven years, having 
celebrated mass five days before his decease. Jacqueline Fau- 
vel, wife to the park-keeper of the bishop of Coutances, (he 
b&id,) died in consequence of a fright, in the village of St- 


COMBUSTION BY SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. 97 

Nicholas, aged one hundred and twenty-one years, and that 
she was able to spin eight days before her decease.” Among 
the refugees from this part of France, we have known and 
iieard of many instances of longevity, but certainly none 
«qual to these. 


CHAP. VII. 

curiosities respecting man. — (Continued.) 

Combustion of the Human Body , produced by the long immo¬ 
derate Use of Spirituous Liquors . From the Journal de 
Physique , Pluviose, Year 8 : written by Pierre Airne Lair. 

In natural as well as civil history, there are facts presented 
to the meditation of the observer, which, though confirmed 
by the most convincing testimony, seem, on the first view, 
to be destitute of probability. Of this kind is that of people 
consumed without coming into contact with common fire, 
and of bodies being thus reduced to ashes. How can we 
conceive that fire, in certain circumstances, can exercise 
so powerful an action on the human body as to produce this 
effect? One might be induced to give less faith to these 
instances of combustion, as they seem to be rare. 1 confess, 
that at first they appeared to me worthy of very little credit; 
but they are presented to the public as true, by men whose 
veracity seems unquestionable. Bianchini, Mossei, Rolii, 
Le Cat, Vicq. d’Azyr, and several men distinguished by their 
learning, have given certain testimony of the facts. Besides, 
is it more surprising to experience such incineration than 
to void saccharine urine, or to see the bones softened, or 
of the diabetes mellitus. This marbific disposition, there¬ 
fore, would be one more scourge to afflict humanity ; but in 
physics ; facts being always preferable to reasoning, 1 shall 
here collect those which appear to me to bear the impression 
of truth; and, lest I should alter the sense, I shall quote 
them just as they are given in the works from which I have 
extracted them. 

We read in the transactions of Copenhagen, that in 1692, 
a woman of the lower class, who for three years had used 
spirituous liquors to such excess that she would take no 
other nourishment, having sat down one evening on a straw 
chair to sleep, w^as consumed in the night-time, so that 
next morning no part of her was found, but the skull, and 
the extreme joints of the fingers; all the rest of her body, 
gays Jacobeus, was reduced to ashes. 


08 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 


The following extract of the memoir of Bianchini, is taken 
from the Annual Register for 1763:—The Countess Cornelia 
Bandi, of the town of Cesena, aged 62, enjoyed a gocd 
state of health. One evening, having experienced a sort, 
of drowsiness, she retired to bed, and her maid remained 
with her till she fell asleep. Next morning, when the girl 
entered to awaken her mistress, she found nothing but the 
remains of her mistress, in a most horrid condition. At the 
distance of four feet from the bed was a heap of ashes, in 
which could be distinguished the legs and arms untouched. 
Between the legs lay the head, the brain of which, together 
with half the posterior part of the cranium, and the whole 
chin, had been consumed; three fingers were found in the 
state of a coal; the rest of the body was reduced to ashes, and 
contained no oil ; the tallow of two candles w r as melted on 
a table, but the wicks still remained, and the feet of the 
candlesticks were covered with a certain moisture. The bed 
was not damaged; the bed-clothes and coverlid were raised 
up and thrown on one side, as is the case when a person gets 
up. The furniture and tapestry were covered with a moist 
kind of soot, of the colour of ashes, wdiich had penetrated 
the drawers and dirtied the linen. This soot having been 
conveyed to a neighbouring kitchen, adhered to the walls 
and the utensils. A piece of bread in the cupboard was 
covered with it, and no dog would touch it. The infectious 
odour had been communicated to other apartments. The 
Annual Register states, that the Countess Cesena was ac¬ 
customed to bathe all her body in camphorated spirits of 
wine. Bianchini caused the detail of this deplorable event 
to be published at the time when it took place, and no one 
contradicted it: it was also attested by Sapio Maffei, a 
learned contemporary of Bianchini, who was far from being 
credulous : and, in the last place, this surprising fact was 
confirmed to the Royal Society of London, by Paul Rolli. 
The Am uai Register mentions also tw T o other facts of the 
same kind, which occurred in England; one at Southampton, 
and the other at Coventry. 

An instance of the like kind is preserved in the same work, 
in a letter of Mr. Wilmer, surgeon :—“ Mary Clues, aged 50, 
was much addicted to intoxication. Her propensity to this 
vice had increased after the death of her husband, which 
happened a year and a half before : for about a year, scarcely 
a day had passed, in the course of which she did not drink 
at least h at a pint of rum or aniseed-water. Her health 
gradually ccclined, and about the beginning of February she 
was attacktd by the jaundice, and confined to her bed 
Though she was incapable of much action, and not in a con¬ 
dition to work, she still continued her old habit of drinking 


99 


COMJil STION BY SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS 

every day, and smoking a pipe of tobacco. The bed in which 
she lay, stood parallel to the chimney of the apartment, the 
distance from it about three feet. On Saturday morning, the 
1st of March, she fell on the floor ; and her extreme weak¬ 
ness having prevented her from getting up, she remained 
in that state till some one entered and put her to bed. The 
following night she wished to be left alone : a woman quitted 
her at half past eleven, and, according to custom, shut the 
door and locked it. She had put on the fire two large pieces 
of coal, and placed a light in a candlestick, on a chair, at 
the head of the bed. At half after five in the morning;, a 
smoke was seenissuingthrough the window; and the door being 
speedily broken open, some flames which were in the room 
were soon extinguished. Between the bed and the chimney 
were found the remains of the unfortunate Clues; one leg 
and a thigh were still entire, but there remained nothing 
of the skin, the muscles, or the viscera. The bones of 
the cranium, the breast, the spine, and the upper extremi¬ 
ties, were entirely calcined, and covered with a whitish 
efflorescence. The people were much surprised that the fur¬ 
niture had sustained so little injury. The side of the bed 
which was next to the chimney, had suffered the most; the 
wood of it was slightly burnt, but the feather-bed, the 
clothes, and covering, were safe. I entered the apartment 
about two hours after it had been opened, and observed that 
the walls and every thing in it were blackened; that it was 
filled with a very disagreeable vapour; but that nothing 
except the body exhibited any strong traces of fire.” 

This instance has great similarity to that related by Vicq. 
d’Azyr, in the Pucyclopedie Methodique, under the head of 
Pathologic Anatomy of Man. A woman, about 50 years of 
age, who indulged to excess in spirituous liquors, and got 
drunk every day before she went to bed, was found entirely 
t'urnt, and reduced to ashes. Some of the osseous parts only 
were left, but the furniture of the apartment had suffered 
very little damage. Vicq. d’Azyr, instead of disbelieving 
this phenomenon, adds, that there has been many other in¬ 
stances of the like nature. 

We find also a circumstance of this kind, in a work entitled, 
Acta Medica et Philosophica Hafniensia , and in the work of 
Henry Bohanser, entitled, Le Nouveau Phosphore Pujiamme .— 
A woman at Paris, who had been accustomed, for three years, 
to drink spirit of wine to such a degree that she used no other 
liquor, was one day found entirely reduced to ashes, except 
the skull and the extremities of the fingers. 

The Transactions of the Royal Society of London present 
also an instance of human combustion, no less extraordinary. 
It was mentioned at the time it happened, in all the journals: 


100 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 


it was then attested by a great number of evp-witnesses, and 
became the subject of many learned discussions. Three ac¬ 
counts of this event, by different authors, all nearly coincide. 
The fact is related as follows:—" Grace Pitt, the wife of a fish¬ 
monger, of the parish of St. Clement, Ipswich, aged about 60, 
had contracted a habit, which she continued for several years, 
of coming down every night from her bed-room, half-dressed, 
to smoke a pipe. On the night of the 9th of April, 1744 she 
got up from her bed as usual. Her daughter, who slept with 
her, did not perceive she was absent till next morning when 
she awoke, soon after which she put on her clothes, and, going 
down into the kitchen, found her mother stretched out on the 
right side, with her head near the grate, the body extended on 
the hearth, with the legs on the floor, which was of deal, 
having the appearance of a log of wood, consumed by a fire 
without apparent flames. On beholding this spectacle, the 
girl ran in great haste, and poured over her mother’s body 
some water, contained in two large vessels, in order to extin¬ 
guish the fire; while the fetid odour and smoke which exhaled 
from the body, almost suffocated some of the neighbours who 
had hastened to the girl’s assistance. The trunk was in some 
measure incinerated, and resembled a heap of coals, covered 
with white ashes. The head, the arms, the legs, and the thighs, 
had also participated in the burning. This woman, it is said, 
had drunk a large quantity of spirituous liquor, in conse¬ 
quence of being overjoyed to hear that one of her daughters 
had returned from Gibraltar. There was no fire in the grate, 
and the candle had burnt entirely out in the socket of the 
candlestick, which was close to her. Besides, there were 
found near the consumed body, the clothes of a child, and a 
paper screen, which had sustained no injury by the fire. The 
dress of this woman consisted of a-' cotton gown.” 

Le Cat, in a memoir on spontaneous burning, mentions se 
veral other instances of combustion of the human body.— 
“ Having (says he) spent several months at Rheims in the 
year 1724 and 1725,1 lodged with Sieur Millet, whose wife got 
intoxicated every day. The domestic economy of the family 
was managed by a pretty young girl ; which I must not omit 
to remark, in order that the circumstances which accompanied 
the fact I am about to relate, may be better understood.— 
This woman was found consumed on the 20th of February, 
1725, at the distance of a foot and a half from the hearth in 
her kitchen. A part of the head only, with a portion of the 
lower extremities, and a few of the vertebrae, had escaped com¬ 
bustion. A foot and a half of the flooring under the body had 
been consumed, but a kneading-trough and a powdering-tub, 
which weie near the body, sustained no injury. M. Criteen, 
a surgeon examined the remains of the body with every judi- 


COMBUSTION BY SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS \0l 

cial formality. Jean Millet, the husband, being interrogated 
by the judges who instituted the inquiry into the affair, de¬ 
clared, that about eight in the evening on the 19th February, 
he had retired to rest with his wife, who not being able to 
sleep, had gone into the kitchen, where he thought she was 
warming herself; that, hav : ng fallen asleep, he was awakened 
about two o’clock w r ith a disagreeable odour, and that, having 
run to the kitchen, he found the remains of his wife in the 
state described in the report of the physicians and surgeons. 
The judges having no suspicion of the real cause of this event, 
prosecuted the affair with the utmost diligence. It was very 
unfortunate for Millet that he had a handsome servant-maid, 
for neither his probity nor innocence was able to save him from 
the suspicion of having got rid of his wife by a concerted plot, 
and of having arranged the rest of the circumstances in such 
a manner as to give it the appearance of an accident. He ex¬ 
perienced, therefore, the whole severity of the law; and though, 
by an appeal to a superior and very enlightened court, which 
discovered the cause of the combustion, he came off victori¬ 
ous, he suffered so much from uneasiness of mind, that he was 
obliged to pass the remainder of his melancholy days in a 
hospital ” 

Le Cat relates another instance, which has a most perfect 
resemblance to the preceding: “ M. Boinnean, cure of Pler- 
quer, near Dol, (says he,) wrote to me the following letter 
dated February 22, 1749:—‘Allow me to communicate to you 
a fact which took place here about a fortnight ago. Madame 
de Boiseon, 80 years of age, exceedingly meagre, who had 
chunk nothing but spirits for several years, was sitting in her 
elbow chair before the fire, while her waiting-maid went out 
of the room for a few moments. On her return, seeing her 
mistress on fire, she immediately gave an alarm; and some 
people having come to h£r assistance, one of them endeavour¬ 
ed to extinguish the flames with his hand, but they adhered to 
it as if it had been dipped in brandy or oil on fire. Water 
was brought, and thrown on the lady in abundance, yet the fire 
appeared more violent, and was not extinguished until the 
whole flesh had been consumed. Her skeleton, exceedingly 
black, remained entire in the chair, which was only a liiile 
scorched ; one leg only, and the two hands, detached them¬ 
selves from the rest of the bones. It is not known whethei 
her clothes had caught fire by approaching the grate. The 
lady was in the same place in which she sat every day; there 
was no extraordinary fire, and she had not fallen. What makes 
me suppose that the use of spirits might have produced this 
effect is, my having been assured, that at the gate of Dinan 
an accident of the like kind happened to another woman, un¬ 
der similar circumstances.’ ” 


102 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

To these instances, which I have multiplied to strengthen 
the evidence, I shall add two other facts of the same kind, 
published in the Journal de Medicine. The first took place 
at Aix, in Provence, and is thus related by Muraire, a sur¬ 
geon :—“ In the month of February, 1779, Mary Jauffret 
widow of Nicholas Gravier, shoemaker, of a small si'p 
exceedingly corpulent, and addicted to drinking, having- 
been burnt in her apartment, M. Rocas, my colleague, who 
was commissioned to make a report respecting her body, 
found only a mass of ashes, and a few bones, calcined in 
such a manner, that on the least pressure they were reduced 
to dust. The bones of the cranium, one hand, and a foot, 
had in part escaped the action of the fire. Near these remains 
stood a table untouched, and under the table a small wooden 
stove, the grating of which, having been long burnt, afforded 
an aperture, through which, it is probable, the fire that oc¬ 
casioned the melancholy accident had been communicated : 
one chair, which stood too near the flames, had the seat and 
fore feet burnt. In other respects, there was no appearance 
of fire, either in the chimney or in the apartments; so that, 
except the fore part of the chair, it appears to me, that no 
other combustible matter contributed to this speedy incine¬ 
ration, which was effected in the space of seven or eight 
hours.” 

The other instance mentioned in the Journal de Medicine , 
took place at Caen, and is thus related by Merille, a surgeon 
of that city, still alive : “ Being requested, on the 3d of June, 
1782, by the king's officers, to draw up a report of the state 
in which I found Mademoiselle Thuars, who was said to have 
been burnt, I made the following observations :—The body 
lay wdth the crown of the head resting against one of the 
hand-irons, at the distance of eighteen inches from the fire, 
the remainder of the body was placed obliquely before the 
chimney, the whole being nothing but a mass of ashes- 
Even the most solid bones had lost their form and consist¬ 
ence; none of them could be distinguished except the coro¬ 
nal, the two parietal bones, the two lumbar vertebrae, a por¬ 
tion of the tibia, and a part of the omoplate ; and even these 
were so calcined, that they became dust by the least pressure- 
The right foot was found entire, and scorched at its uppei 
junction, the left was more burnt. The day was cold, but 
there was nothing in the grate, except two or three bits about 
an inch diameter, burnt in the middle. None of the fur¬ 
niture in the apartment was damaged. The chair on which 
Mademoiselle Thuars had been sitting, was found at the 
distance of a foot from her, ana absolutely untouched. I 
must here observe, that this lady was exceedingly corpulent, 
that she was about sixty years of age, and much addicte! 




( OMBUSTJON BV SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS. I U J 

to spirituous liquors; that the day of her death she had 
drunk three bottles of wine, and about a bottle of brandy; 
and that the consumption of the body had taken place in less 
than seven hours, though, according to appearance, nothing 
around the body was burnt but the clothes.” 

The towi of Caen affords several other instances of the 
same kind. I have been told by many people, and particu¬ 
larly a physician of Argentan, named Bouffet, author of an 
Essay on Intermittent Fevers, that a woman of the lower 
class, who lived at Place Villars, and who was known to be 
much addicted to strong liquors, had been found in her house 
burnt. The extremities of her body only were spared, but 
the furniture was very little damaged. 

The town of Caen records the history of another old wo¬ 
man, addicted to drinking. I was assured, by those who told 
me the fact, that the flames which proceeded from the body, 
could not be extinguished by water: but I think it needless 
to relate this, and the particulars of another event which 
took place in the same town, because they were not attested 
by a proces verbal , and not having been communicated by 
professional men, they do not inspire the same degree of 
confidence. 

This collection of instances is supported, therefore, by 
all those authentic proofs, which can be required to form 
human testimony ; for while we admit the prudent doubt of 
Descartes, we ought to reject the universal doubt of the 
Pyrrhonists. The multiplicity and uniformity even of these 
facts, which occurred in different places, and were attested 
by so many enlightened men, carry with them conviction; 
they have such a relation to each other, that we are inclined 
to ascribe them to the same cause. 

Difficulties would, no doubt, be offered from reasoning 
against these facts ; but the writer remarks, that human tes¬ 
timony is not to be rejected, unless the probability that the 
facts must be impossible, shall be greater than that arising 
from the concurrence of evidence: and he adds, that the 
narratives, though varying so widely as to time and place, 
do very remarkably agree in their tenor. The circumstances 
are, that, \1) The combustion has usually destroyed the person 
by reducing the body to a mass of pulverulent fatty matter, 
esembling ashes. (2) There were no signs of combustion in 
urrounding bodies, by which it could be occasioned, as these 
were little, if at all, injured; though, (3) The combustion did 
not seem to be so perfectly spontaneous, but that some slight 
cause, such as the fire of a pipe, or a taper, or a candle, 
seems to have begun it. (4) The persons were generally much 
addicted to the use of spirituous liquors; were very fat; in 
most instances women, and old. (5) The extremities, such 


104 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

as the legs, hands, or cranium, escaped the fire. (6) Water, 
instead of extinguishing the fire, gave it more activity, as 
happens when fat is burned. (7) The residue was oily and 
fetid ashes, with a greasy soot, of a very penetrating and dis¬ 
agreeable smell. 

The theory of the author may be considered as hypothe¬ 
tical, until maturer observations shall throw more light on the 
subject. The principal fact is, that charcoal and oil, or fat, 
are known in some instances to take fire spontaneously, and 
he supposes the carbon of the alcohol to be deposited in the 
fat parts of the human system, and to produce this effect. 


CHAP. VIII. 

curiosities respecting man. — (Continued.) 

BIOGRAPHICAL. 

John Elwes—Daniel Dancer — Henri/ Wolby—John Henley— 
Simon Brown , and his Curious Dedication to Queen Caroline 
—Edward Wortley Montague—Blaise Pascal—Old Parr — 
George PSalmanazar—John Case—John Lewis Cardiac — John 
Smeaton—George Morland—Henry Christian Heinecken — 
Thomas Topham — Zeuxis. 

John Elwes. —The family name of this extraordinary miser 
was Meggot, which he altered in pursuance of the will of Sir 
Harvey Elwes, his uncle, who left him at least £250,000, and 
he was possessed of nearly as much of his own. At this time 
he attended the most noted gaming houses, and after sitting 
up a whole night at play for thousands, he would proceed to 
Smithfield to meet his cattle, which were coming to market 
from his seat in Essex, and there would he stand disputing 
with a cattle-butcher for a shilling. If the cattle did not ar¬ 
rive, he would walk on to meet them ; and more than once he 
has gone the whole way to his farm without stopping, which 
was seventeen miles from London. He would walk in the rain 
in London sooner than pay a shilling for a coach ; sit in wet 
clothes, to save the expense of a fire ; eat his provisions in the 
last stage of putrefaction ; and he wore a wig for a fortnight, 
which he picked up in a lane. In 1774 he was chosen knight 
of the shire for Berkshire, and his conduct in parliament 
was perfectly independent. He died in 1789, aged about 77, 
leaving a fortune of £500,000, besides entailed estates. 

Another extraordinary miser w r as Daniel Dancer. He 
was born in 1716, near Harrow, in Middlesex. In 1736 he 



‘exm*~ 



DANIEL DANCER. 


% 



OLD PARR. 


t 
















DANIEL DANCER.-HENRY WQLBY. 105 

succeeded to his family estate, which was considerable; but 
his fathers before him were too great lovers of money to lay out 
• any in improvements : Daniel followed their example, and the 
farm went worse and worse. He led the life of a hermit for 
above half a century ; his only dealing with mankind arose 
from the sale of his hay; and he was seldom seen, except when 
he was out gathering logs of wood from the common, or old 
iron, or sheep’s dung under the hedges. He was frequently 
robbed; to prevent which, he fastened his door up, and got 
into his house through the upper window, to ascend which he 
made use of a ladder, which he drew up after him. His sister, 
who lived with him many years, left him at her death a consider¬ 
able increase to his wealth; on which he bought a second-hand 
pair of black stockings, to put himself in decent mourning. 
This was an article of luxury, for at other times Daniel wore 
hay-bands on his legs. He died in 1794, and left his estates 
to Lady Tempest, who had been very charitable to the poor 
man and his sister. 

Another extraordinary character was HenryW o lb y. Esq.— 
He was a native of Lincolnshire, and inherited a clear estate 
of more than 10001. a year. He was regularly bred at the 
university, studied for some time in one of the inns of court, 
and in the course of his travels had spent several years abroad. 
On his return, this very accomplished gentleman settled on 
his paternal estate, lived with great hospitality, matched to 
his liking, and had a beautiful and virtuous daughter, who 
was married, with his entire approbation, to a Sir Christopher 
Hilliard, in Yorkshire. 

He had now lived to the age of forty, respected by the rich, 
prayed for by the poor, honoured and beloved by all; when, 
one day, a youngster, with whom he had some difference in 
opinion, meeting him in the field, snapped a pistol at him, 
which happily flashed in the pan. Thinking that this was 
done only to frighten him, he coolly disarmed the ruffian, and, 
putting the weapon carelessly in his pocket, thoughtfully re¬ 
turned home ; but, after examination, the discovery of bul¬ 
lets in the pistol had such an effect on his mind, that he in 
stantly conceived an extraordinary resolution of retiring en¬ 
tirely from the world, in which he persisted to the end of his 
life. He took a very fair house in the lower end of Grub-street, 
near Cripplegate, London, and contracting a numerous retinue 
into a small family, having the house prepared for his purpose, 
he selected three chambers for himself; the one for his diet, 
the other for his lodging, the other for his study. As they 
were one within another,—while his diet was set on the table by 
an old maid, he retired into his lodging room; and when his bed 
was making v into his study ; still doing so till all was clear. 
Out of these chambers, from the time of his entry into them, 

O 


106 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

he nevei issued, till he was carried thence, 44 years after, on 
men’s shoulders; neither, in all that time, did his son-in-law, 
daughter, or grand-child, brother, sister, or kinsman, young • 
or old, rich or poor, of what degree or condition soever, look 
upon his face, save the ancient maid, whose name was Eli¬ 
zabeth. She only made his fire, prepared his bed, provided 
his diet, and dressed his chambers. She saw him but seldom, 
never but in cases of extraordinary necessity, and died not 
six days before him. 

In all the time of his retirement, he never tasted fish 01 
flesh; his chief food was oatmeal gruel; now and then, in 
summer, he had a salad of some choice cool herbs; and for 
dainties, when he would feast himself upon a high day, he 
would eat the yoke of a hen’s egg, but no part of the white; 
what bread he did eat, he cut out of the middle of the loaf, 
but the crust he never tasted; his constant drink was four- 
shilling beer, and no other, for he never tasted wine or strong 
drink. Now and then, when his stomach served, he would 
eat some kind of sackers, and he sometimes drank red cow’s 
milk, which was fetched hot from the cow. Nevertheless, 
he kept a bountiful table for his servant, and sufficient enter¬ 
tainment for any stranger or tenant, who had occasion of 
business at his house. Every book that was printed was 
bought for him, and conveyed to him ; but such as related 
to controversy he always laid aside, and never read. 

In Christmas holidays, at Easter, and other festivals, he 
was provided with all dishes in season, served into his owr 
chamber, with stores of wine, which his maid brought in 
Then, after thanks to God for his good benefits, he would pir 
a clean napkin before him, and putting on a pair of clean 
holland sleeves, which reached to his elbows, cutting up dish 
after dish in order, he would send one to a poor neighbour, 
the next to another, whether it were brawn, beef, capon, 
goose, &c. till he had left the whole table empty ; when, 
giving thanks again, he laid by his linen, and caused the dishes 
to be taken away: and this he would do, at dinner and supper, 
upon these days, without tasting of any thing whatsoever. 
When any clamoured impudently at his gate, they were not, 
therefore, immediately relieved ; but when, from his private 
Ghamber, he espied any sick, weak, or lame, he would pre¬ 
sently send after them, to comfort, cherish, and strengthen 
them, and not a trifle to serve them for the present, but so 
much as weald relieve them many days after. He would 
moreover Inquire which of his neighbours were industrious 
in their callings, and who had great charge of children; and 
withal, if their labour and industry could not sufficiently 
supply their families : to such he would liberally send, and 
relieve them according to their necessities. 




JOHN EL WES. 


/ 





























JOHN HENLEY. 


107 

He died at his house in Grub-street, after an anchoretical 
confinement of fortv-four years, October 29, 1636, aged 84. 
At his death, his hair ana beard was so overgrown, that he 
appeared rather like a hermit of the wilderness, than the 
inhabitant of one of the first cities in the world. 

A very singular character was John Henley, M A. com 
monly called Orator Henley. He was born at Melton-i low- 
bray, Leicestershire, in 1691. His father, the Rev. Simo 
Henley, and his maternal grandfather, John Dowel, M. A 
were both vicars of that parish. Having passed his exercises 
at Cambridge, and obtained the degree of B. A. he returnee 
to his native place, where he was desired by the trustees to 
take the direction of the school, which he soon raised to a 
flourishing condition. Here he began his Universal Grammar: 
finished ten languages, with dissertations prefixed ; and wrote 
his poem on Esther, which was well received. He was 
ordained a deacon by Dr. Wake, then Bishop of Lincoln; and 
having taken his degree of M. A. was admitted to priest’s 
orders by Dr. Gibson. After preaching many occasional 
sermons, he went to London, recommended by above thirty 
letters from the most considerable men in the country, both 
of the clergy and laity. He there published Translations 
of Pliny’s Epistles, of several works of Abbe Yertot, of Mont- 
faucon’s Italian Travels, in folio, and many original lucu^ 
brations. His most generous patron was the Earl of Maccles 
field, who gave him a benefice in the country, the value of 
which, to a resident, would have been above £80 a year; he 
had likewise a lecture in the city; sermons about town; was 
more numerously followed, and raised more for the poor 
children, than any other preacher, except the celebrated 
George Whitfield. But when he pressed his promise from 
a great man, of being fixed in town, it was negatived. He 
then gave up his benefice and lecture, believing the public 
would be a more hospitable protector of learning and science, 
than some of the higher ranks in his own order. He preached 
on Sundays on theological matters, and on Wednesdays upon 
all other sciences. He declaimed several years against the 
greatest persons, and occasionally, says Warburton, did Pope 
that honour. That great poet, however, retaliated in the fol¬ 
lowing satirical lines : 

u Imbrown’d with native bronze, lo, Uemcy stands, 

Tuning his voice, and balancing: his hands. 

How fluent nonsense trickles from his tongue ! 

How sweet the periods, neither said nor sung! 

Still break the benches. Henley, with thy strain, 

While Rennet. Hare, and Gibson, preach in vain, 

O great restorer of the good old age, 

Preacher at once, and zany of thy age V* 


108 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

Instead of tickets, this extraordinary person struck medals, 
which he dispersed among his subscribers: A star rising to 
the meridian, with this motto, “Ad Summa and below ,**lnve - 
niam viam, aut faciam” “ Each auditor paid us.” He was 

author of a weekly paper, called “ The Hyp Doctor,” for which 
he had £100 a year In his advertisements and lectures, he 
often introduced latirical and humorous remarks on the 
public transactions of the times. He once collected an audi¬ 
ence of a great number of shoemakers, by announcing that he 
could teach them a speedy mode of operation in their busi¬ 
ness ; which proved only to be, the making of shoes from ready¬ 
made boots. He died on the 14th of October, 1756, in his 
65th year. 

The next character we introduce is Simon Browne, with 
his Curious Dedication to Queen Caroline . 

Simon Browne was a most extraordinary dissenting minis¬ 
ter, and began to preach before he was twenty, at Portsmouth, 
but afterwards became the pastor at Old Jewry. In 1723, he 
lost his wife and son, which so affected him, that he quitted 
his office, and would not even attend public worship, al¬ 
leging, “ that he had fallen under the displeasure of God, 
who had caused his rational soul to perish, and left him only 
an animal life, common with brutes; that though he might 
appear rational to others, he knew no more what he said than 
a parrot; that it was in vain for him to pray;” and as such, 
he no longer accounted himself a moral agent. Yet he 
frequently amused himself with translating the ancient Latin 
and Greek poets. At the same time, he wrote two very able 
works in defence of Christianity against Woolston and Tindal. 
He dedicated one of these works to the Queen, but the Dedi¬ 
cation was suppressed by h ; s friends. Being a curiosity of 
its kind, we shall annex it. 

“ To the Queen.—Madam: Of all the extraordinary 
things that have been tendered to your royal hands, since 
your first happy arrival in Britain, it may be boldly said, 
what now bespeaks your majesty’s acceptance is the chief. 
Not in itself indeed ; it is a trifle unworthy your exalted rank, 
and what will hardly prove an entertaining amusement to 
one of your majesty’s deep penetration, exact judgment, and 
fine taste; but on account of the author, who is the first 
being of the kind, and yet without a name. 

“ He was once a man, and of some little name ; but of no 
worth, as his present unparalleled case makes but too mani¬ 
fest : for, by the immediate hand of an avenging God, his 
very thinking substance has for more than seven years been 
continually wasting away, till it is wholly perished out of 
him, if it be not utterly come to nothing. None, no, not the 
least remembrance of its very ruins, remain; not .the shadow 


9 -*» 


SIMON BROWN. 



I 



» 



BLAISE PASCAL. 










SIMON BROWNE. 


109 


of an idea is left, nor any sense, so much as one single one, 
perfect or imperfect, whole or diminished, ever did appear to 
a mind within him, or was perceived by it. 

“ Such a present, from such a thing, however worthless in 
itself, may not be wholly unacceptable to your majesty, the 
author being such as history cannot parallel; and if the fact, 
which is real, and no fiction, or wrong conceit, obtains credit, 
it must be recorded as the most memorable, and indeed, 
astonishing event, in the reign of George II. that a tract com¬ 
posed by such a thing, was presented to the illustrious Caro¬ 
line ;—his royal consort need not be added ; fame, if I am not 
misinformed, will tell that with pleasure to all succeeding 
times. He has been informed, that your majesty’s piety is 
genuine and eminent, as your excellent qualities are great 
and conspicuous. This can, indeed, be truly known to the 
great searcher of hearts only. He alone, who can look into 
them, can discern if they are sincere, and the main intention 
corresponds with the appearance ; and your majesty cannot 
take it amiss, if such an author hints, that his secret appro¬ 
bation is of infinitely greater value than the commendation ot 
men, who may be easily mistaken, and are too apt to flatter 
their superiors. But, if he has been told the truth, such a case 
as his will certainly strike your majesty with astonishment; and 
may raise that commiseration in your royal breast, which he 
has in vain endeavoured to excite in those of his friends; 
who, by the most unreasonable and ill-founded conceit in the 
world, have imagined that a thinking being could not, for 
seven years together, live a stranger to its own powers, exer 
cises, operations, and state ; and to what the great God has 
been doing in it, and to it. If your majesty, in your most 
retired address to the King of kings, should think of so sin¬ 
gular a case, you may perhaps make it your devout request, 
that the reign of your beloved sovereign and consort may be 
renowned to all posterity, by the recovery of a soul now in 
the utmost ruin, the restoration of one utterly lost at present 
amongst men ; and should this case affect your royal breast, 
you will commend it to the piety and prayers of all the truly 
devout, who have the honour to be known to your majesty : 
many such doubtless there are; though courts are not usually 
the places where the devout resort, or where devotion reigns 
And it is not improbable, that multitudes of the pious through¬ 
out the land may take a case to heart, that, under your 
majesty’s patronage comes thus recommended. 

“ Could such a favour as this restoration be obtained from 
heaven, by the prayers of your majesty, with what transport 
of grititude would the recovered being throw himself at your 
majesty’s feet, and, adoring the divine power and grace, 
fess himself. I am, &c. Simon Browne.” 


110 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 


The next curious character we shall exhibit is Edward 
Wortley Montague. 

He was son of the celebrated Lady Mary Wortley Montague. 
He passed through such various scenes, that he is well enti¬ 
tled to a place in this collection of curiosities. From West¬ 
minster school, where he was placed for education, he ran 
away thrice. He exchanged clothes with a chimney-sweeper, 
and followed for some time that sooty occupation. He next 
joined a fisherman, and cried flounders in Rotherhithe. He 
then sailed as a cabin-boy for Spain; where he had no sooner 
arrived, than he ran away from the vessel, and hired himself 
to a driver of mules. After thus vagabondizing it for some 
time, he was discovered by the consul, who returned him to 
his friends in England. They received him with joy, and a 
private tutor w T as employed to recover those rudiments of 
learning which a life of dissipation, blackguardism, and vul¬ 
garity, might have obliterated. Wortley was sent to the West 
Indies, where he remained some time; then returned to Eng¬ 
land, acted according to the dignity of his birth, was chosen 
a member, and served in two successive parliaments. His 
expenses exceeding his income, he became involved in debt, 
quitted his native country, and commenced that wandering 
traveller he continued to the time of his death. Having visit¬ 
ed most of the eastern countries, he contracted a partiality 
for their manners He drank little wine, but a great deal of 
coffee ; wore a long beard; smoked much ; and even whilst at 
Venice, was habited in the eastern style. He sat cross-legged 
in the Turkish fashion, from choice. With the Hebrew, the 
Arabic, the Chaldaic, and the Persian languages, he was as 
well acquainted as with his native tongue. He published seve¬ 
ral pieces: one on the Rise and Fall of theRoman Empire; an¬ 
other on the Causes of Earthquakes. He had seraglios of wives; 
but the lady whom he married in England was a washerwo¬ 
man, with whom he did not cohabit. When she died without 
leaving issue to him, being unwilling that his estate should 
go to the Bute family, he set out for England, to marry a young 
woman already pregnant, whom a friend had provided for him; 
but he died on his journey. 

The next character that comes before us is Blaise Pascal. 
He was one of the sublimest geniuses the world ever produced; 
was born at Clermont, in Auvergne, in 1623. He never had 
any preceptor but his father. So great a turn had he for the 
mathematics, that he learned, or rather invented, geometry r 
when but twelve years old ; for his father was unwilling to in¬ 
itiate him in that science early, for fear of its diverting him 
from the study of the languages. At sixteen, he composed a 
curious mathematical piece. About nineteen, he invented his 
machine of arithmetic, which has been much admired by the 




GEORGE PSALMANAZAR. 

























































































OLD PARR 


111 


learned. He afterwards employed himself assiduously in 
making experiments according to the new philosophy, and 
particularly improved upon those of Toricellius. At the age 
of twenty-four his mind took a different turn ; for, all at once, 
he became as great a devotee as any age has ever produced, 
and gave himself up entirely to prayer and mortification. 

The next is a character famous for longevity.— Thomas, or 
Old Parr, a remarkable Englishman, who lived in the reign 
of ten kings and queens. He was the son of John Parr, a 
husbandman, of Winnington, in the parish of Alderbury, Salop 
Following the profession of his father, he laboured hard, and 
lived on coarse fare. Being taken up to London by the Earl 
of Arundel, the journey proved fatal to him. Owing to the 
alteration of his diet, to the change of the air and his general 
mode of life, he lived but a very short time ; though one Ro¬ 
bert Samber says, in his work entitled Long Livers, that Parr 
lived 16 years after his presentation to Charles II. He was 
buried in Westminster Abbey. After his death his body was 
opened, and an account was drawn up by the celebrated Dr. 
Harvey, of which the following is an extract: “ He had a 
large breast, not fungous, but sticking to his ribs, and dis¬ 
tended with blood ; a lividness in his face, as he had a diffi¬ 
culty of breathing a little before his death; and a long lasting 
warmth in his arm-pits and breast after it; which sign, toge¬ 
ther with others, were so evident in his body as they use to be 
on those who die by suffocation. His heart was great, thick, 
fibrous, and fat; the blood in the heart, blackish and diluted ; 
the cartilages of the sternum not more bony than in others, 
but flexile and soft. His viscera were sound and strong, espe¬ 
cially the stomach ; and he used to eat often, by night and day, 
though contented with old cheese, milk, coarse bread, small 
beer, and whey ; and, which is more remarkable, he ate at 
midnight a little before he died. His kidneys were covered 
with fat, and pretty sound ; only on the interior surface were 
found some aqueous or serous abscesses, whereof one was 
near the bigness of a hen’s egg, with a yellowish water in it, 
having made a roundish cavity, impressed on that kidney; 
whence some thought it came, that, a little before his death, a 
suppression of urine had befallen him ; though others were 
of opinion, that his urine was suppressed upon the regurgita¬ 
tion of all the serosity into his lungs. There was not the 
least appearance of any stony matter, either in the kidneys or 
bladder. His bowels were also sound, a little whitish with¬ 
out. His spleen very little, hardly equal to the bigness of 
one kidney. In short, all his inward parts appeared so healthy, 
that if he had not changed his diet and air, he might, per¬ 
haps, have lived a good while longer. The cause of his death 
was imputed chiefly to the change of food and air; forasmuch 





112 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 


as coming out of a clear, thin, and free air, he came into the 
thick air of London ; and, after a constant, plain, and homely 
country diet, he was taken into a splendid family, where he fed 
high, and drank plentifully of the best wines, whereupon the na¬ 
tural functions of the parts of his body were overcharged, his 
lungs obstructed, and the habit of the whole body quite dis¬ 
ordered ; upon which there could not but ensue a dissolution. 
His brain was sound, entire, and firm; and though he had 
not the use of his eyes, nor much of his memory, several years 
before he died, yet he had his hearing and apprehension very 
well; and was able, even to the 130th year of his age, to do 
any husbandman’s work, even threshing of corn.”—The fol¬ 
lowing summary of his life is from Oldy’s MS. Notes on Ful¬ 
ler’s Worthies : 

“ Old Parr was born 1483; lived at home until 1500, aged 17, 
when he went out to service. 1518, aged 35, returned home 
from his master. 1522, aged 39, spent four years on the re¬ 
mainder of his father’s lease. 1543, aged 60, ended the first 
lease he renewed of Mr. Lewis Porter. 1563, aged 80, mar¬ 
ried Jane, daughter of John Taylor, a maiden; by whom he 
had a son and a daughter, who both died very young. 1564, 
aged 81, ended the second lease which he renewed of Mr. John 
Porter. 1585, aged 102, ended the third lease he had renewed 
of Mr. Hugh Porter. 1588, aged 105, did penance in Alder- 
bury church, for having a criminal connection with Katherine 
Milton, by which she proved with child. 1595, aged 112, he 
buried his wife Jane, after they had lived 32 years together. 
1605, aged 122, having lived ten years a widower, he married 
Jane, widow of Anthony Adda, daughter of John Lloyd, of 
Gilsells, in Montgomeryshire, who survived him. 1635, aged 
152 and 9 months, he died, after they had lived together 30 
years, and after 50 years’ possession of his last lease.”—Length 
of years are of no use, unless they be spent in the practice of 
virtue. 

The next character is a noted impostor, under the assumed 
name of George Psalmanazar. He was a very extraordi¬ 
nary genius, born in France, and educated in a Jesuit’s college; 
upon leaving which, he fell into a mean, rambling way of life 
At Liege, he entered into the Dutch service, and afterwards 
into that of Cologne. Having stolen the habit and staff of a 
pilgrim out of a church, he begged through several countries, 
in elegant Latin, and, accosting only gentlemen and clergymen, 
received liberal supplies, which he spent as freely. In Ger¬ 
many, he passed for a native of Formosa, a convert to Christi¬ 
anity, and a sufferer for it. At Rotterdam he lived upon raw 
flesh, roots, and vegetables. At Sluys he fell in with Briga¬ 
dier Lauder, a Scots colonel, who introduced him to the 
chaplain; who, to recommend himself to the bishop of Lon- 



JOHN LEWIS CARDIAC. 




i_ 



JOHN SMEATON. 











































J 






























ir*k •*. ' 














































' 
























CASE.-CAN D1 A C.-SMEATON. 113 

don, took him over to that city. The bishop patronised him 
with credulous humanity, and a large circle of his great 
friends considered him as a prodigy. He published a History 
of Formosa, and, what was most extraordinary, invented a cha¬ 
racter and language for that island, and translated the Church 
Catechism in to it,which was examined by learned critics, and 
approved. Some of the learned, however, doubted him, 
particularly Drs. Halley, Mead, and Woodward. He was al¬ 
lowed the use of the Oxford Library, and employed in com¬ 
piling The Universal History. Some errors in his history 
first led him to be suspected as an impostor. He died in 
1753 ; and in his last will confessed the imposture. 

The next subject is a celebrated Quack Doctor, named John 
Case. He was a native of Lyme Regis, in Dorsetshire, was 
a noted empyric and astrologer, and looked upon as the suc¬ 
cessor of the famous Lilly, whose magical utensils he pos¬ 
sessed. He is said to have got more by this distich over his 
door, than Dryden, by all his poetry: 

“ Within this place 
Lives Doctor Case.” 

And he was, doubtless, well paid for composing that which he 
affixed to his pill boxes: 

“ Here’s fourteen pills for thirteen pence. 

Enough in any man’s own conscience.” 

There is a story told of him and Dr.RadclifF: being together 
at a tavern, Radcliff said, “ Here, brother Case; I drink to all 
the fools your patients .”—“ Thank ye,” quoth Case ; “ let me 
have all the fools, and you are welcome to the rest.” He 
wrote a nonsensical rhapsody, called the Angelical Guide, 
shewing men and women their lot and chance in this elemen- 
tary life. 

Our next character is famous for prematurity of genius, and 
named John Lewis Candiac. He was born at Candiac, in 
the diocese of Nismes, in France, in 1719. In the cradle he 
distinguished his letters ; at thirteen months he knew them 
perfectly; at three years of age he read Latin, either printed 
or in manuscript; at four, he translated from that tongue ; at 
six, he read Greek and Hebrew, was master of the principles 
of arithmetic, history, geography, heraldry, and the science 
of medals ; and had read the best authors on almost every 
branch of literature. He died of a complication of disorders, 
at Paris, in 1726. 

The next character deserves to be recorded as one that was 
eminently useful in his day and generation. John Smea- 
ton, born near Leeds, in 1724, was an eminent civil engineer. 
The strength of his understanding, and the originality of his 
genius, appeared at an early age: his playthings were not the 
4. P 


114 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN 

playthings of children, but the tools whicli men employ: and 
he appeared to have greater entertainment in seeing the men 
in the neighbourhood work, and in asking them questions, 
than in any thing else. One day he was seen (to the distress 
of his friends) on the top of his father’s barn, fixing up some¬ 
thing like a windmill: another time he attended some men 
fixing a pump, at a neighbouring village, and observing them 
cut off a piece of bored pipe, he was so lucky as to procure 
it, and he actually made with it a working pump that raised 
water. This happened while he was in petticoats, and most 
likely before he had attained his sixth year. 

While we admire the ingenuity of the next character, we 
must lament that his conduct was licentious. It is the well- 
known George Morland, an ingenious, dissipated, and 
unfortunate painter. As he had no other education than what 
was connected with the pencil and pallet, he shunned the society 
of the well-informed and well-bred; and his pictures accordingly 
are taken, for the most part, from low life, and from the most 
humble, if not the most shocking, situations in which man¬ 
kind consort. The following anecdote will give a sufficient 
view of Morland’s character, upon which it would give us 
pain to dwell at greater length. “ He was found (says his 
biographer) at one time in a lodging in Somer’s-Town, in the 
following extraordinary circumstances : his infant child, that 
had been aead nearly three weeks' lay in its coffin in one 
corner of the room ; an ass and foal stood munching barley 
straw out of the cradle; a sow and pigs were solacing them¬ 
selves in the recess of an old cupboard ; and himself whistling 
over a beautiful picture that he was finishing at his easel, with 
a bottle of gin hung upon the side, and a live mouse sitting (or 
if you please, kicking) for its portrait.” His constitution, 
exhausted by dissipation, rapidly gave way, and he died before 
he had reached his fortieth year. 

The next character was indeed a prodigy, that shone like a 
meteor, and soon vanished away. We shall introduce him 
under the name of Christian Henry Heinecken. 

He was born at Lubeck, February 6, 1721, and died there, 
June 27, 1725, after having displayed the most amazing 
proofs of intellectual powers. He could talk at ten months 
old, and had scarcely completed his first year, when he 
already knew and recited the principal facts contained in the 
five books of Moses, with a number of verses on the crea¬ 
tion : at thirteen months, he knew the history of the Old 
Testament; and the New, at fourteen; in his thirtieth month, 
the history of the nations of antiquity, geography, anatomy, 
the use of maps, and nearly 5000 Latin words. Before the 
end of his third year, he was well acquainted with the history 
of Denmark, and the genealogy of the crowned heads of 






THOMAS TOPHAM. 

















































































































. I- 


















C. H HEINECKEN.-THOMAS TOPHAM 115 

Europe; in his fourth year he had learned the doctrines of 
divinity, with their proofs from the Bible; ecclesiastical 
history; the institutes; 200 hymns, with their tunes; 80 
psalms; entire chapters of the Old and New Testaments; 
1500 verses and sentences from ancient Latin classics; almost 
the whole Orbis Pictus of Comenius, whence he had derived all 
his knowledge of the Latin language ; arithmetic; the history 
of the European empires and kingdoms ; could point out, in the 
maps, whatever place he was asked for, or passed by in his 
journeys ; and recited all the ancient and modern historical 
anecdotes relating to it. His stupendous memory caught and 
retained every word he was told: his ever active imagination 
used, whatever he saw or heard, instantly to apply some 
example or sentence from the Bible, geography, profane or 
ecclesiastical history, the Orbis Pictus, or from ancient clas¬ 
sics. At the court of Denmark, he delivered twelve speeches 
without once faltering ; and underwent public examination 
on a variety of subjects, especially the history of Denmark. 
He spoke German, Latin, French, and low Dutch, and was 
exceedingly good-natured, and well-behaved, but of a most 
tender and delicate bodily constitution; never ate any solid 
food, but chiefly subsisted on nurse’s milk, not being weaned 
till within a very few months of his death, at which time he 
was not quite four years old. There is a dissertation on this^ 
published by M. Martini, at Lubeck, 1730, where the author 
attempts to assign the natural causes for the astonishing 
capacity of this great man in embryo, who was just shewn to 
the world, and snatched away. 

The next character is of a different description, being fa¬ 
mous for strength of body; he is named Thomas Topham. 

This person was remarkable for muscular strength. He 
kept a public-house at Islington, and used to perform sur¬ 
prising feats, such as breaking a broomstick of the first mag¬ 
nitude, by striking it against his bare arm ; lifting two 
hogsheads ol water ; heaving his horse over the turnpike-gate; 
carrying the beam of a house as a soldier would his firelock, 
&c. He also could roll up a pewter dish of seven pounds, as 
a man rolls up a sheet of paper; squeeze a pewter quart toge¬ 
ther at arms’ length ; and lift two hundred weight with his 
little finger, over his head. At Derby, he broke a rope fast¬ 
ened to the floor, that would sustain twenty hundred weight; 
and lifted an oak table, six feet long, with his teeth, though 
half a hundred weight was hung at the extremity. He took 
Mr. Chambers, vicar of All Saints, who weighed twenty-seven 
stone, and raised him with one hand. He stabbed himself, 
after quarrelling with, and wounding his wife, 1749.—Extraor¬ 
dinary strength of body is of little value, if strength of virtue 
be wanting 






116 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN 

We shall conclude this chapter with a celebrated Painter 
uf Antiquity, named Zeuxis. 

This celebrated painter flourished about 400 years B. C. 
He was born at Heraclea; but as there have been many cities 
of that name, it cannot be certainly determined which of them 
had the honour of his birth. Some conjecture, that it was 
Heraclea, near Crotona, in Italy. He carried painting to a 
much higher degree of perfection than Apollodorus had left 
it; discovered the art of properly disposing of lights and 
shades, and particularly excelled in colouring. He amassed 
immense riches; and then resolved to sell no more of his 
pictures, but gave them away; saying, “ That he could not 
set a price on them equal to their value. ,, Pliny observes, 
that this admirable painter, disputing for the prize of painting 
with Parrhasius, painted some grapes so naturally, that the 
birds flew down to peck them: Parrhasius, on the other hand, 
painted a curtain so very artfully, that Zeuxis, mistaking it for 
a real one, that hid his rival’s work, ordered the curtain to be 
drawn aside, to shew what Parrhasius had done; but having 
found his mistake, he ingenuously confessed himself van¬ 
quished, since he had only imposed upon birds, while Parr¬ 
hasius had deceived even a master of the art. Another time 
he painted a boy loaded with grapes; when the birds also 
flew to this picture,—at which he was vexed, and confessed 
that his work was not sufficiently finished, since, had he 
painted the boy as perfectly as the grapes, the birds would 
have been afraid of him. Archelaus, king of Macedon, made 
use of Zeuxis’s pencil for the embellishment of his palace. 
One of this painter’s finest pieces was a Hercules strangling 
two Serpents in his Cradle, in the presence of his affrighted 
Mother; but he himself chiefly esteemed his Athleta, or Cham¬ 
pion, under which he placed a Creek verse, that afterwards 
became very famous, and in which he says, “ That it was 
easier to criticize than to imitate the picture.” He made a 
present of his Alcmena to the Agrigentines. Zeuxis did not 
value himself on speedily finishing his pictures; but knowing 
that Agatharcus gloried in his being able to paint with ease 
and in a little time, he said, “ That for his part, he, on the 
contrary, gloried in his slowness ; and if he was long in paint¬ 
ing it was because he painted for eternity.” 





NICHOLAS PESCE 

























NICHOLAS PESCE. 


117 


CHAP. IX. 

curiosities respecting man.— (Continued.) 

BIOGRAPHICAL. 

Nicholas Pesce—Paul Scarron—Maria Gaetana Agnesi — Anna 
Maria Schurman—Samuel Bisset, the noted Animal Instruc¬ 
tor — John Philip Baratier — Buonaparte. 

Ni cholas Pesce, the first extraordinary character we shall 
introduce, was a famous diver, of whom F. Kircher gives the fol¬ 
lowing account. “ In the time of Frederick king of Sicily, (says 
Kircher,) lived Nicholas, who, from his amazing skill in swim¬ 
ming, and his perseverance under water, was surnamed the 
Fish. This man had from his infancy been used to the sea; 
and earned his scanty subsistence by diving for coral and oys¬ 
ters, which he sold to villagers on shore, llis long acquaint¬ 
ance with the sea, at last brought it to be almost his natural 
element. He was frequently known to spend five days in the 
midst of the waves, without any other provisions than the fish 
which he caught there, and ate raw. He often swam over from 
Sicily to Calabria, a tempestuous and dangerous passage, car¬ 
rying letters from the king. He was frequently known to swim 
among the gulfs of the Lipari islands, no way apprehensive of 
danger. Some mariners out at sea, one day observed some¬ 
thing at some distance from them, which they regarded as a 
sea-monster; but, upon its approach, it was known to be Ni¬ 
cholas, whom they took into their ship. When they asked 
him whither he was going in so strong and rough a sea, and at 
such a distance from land; he shewed them a packet of letters, 
which he was carrying to one of the towns of Italy, exactly 
done up in a leather bag, in such a manner that they could 
not be wetted by the sea. He kept them thus company for 
some time in their voyage, conversing and asking questions ; 
and after eating a hearty meal with them, he took his leave, 
and, jumping into the sea, pursued his voyage alone. 

“ In order to aid his powers of enduring in the deep, na¬ 
ture seemed to have assisted him in a very extraordinary man¬ 
ner : for the spaces between his fingers and toes were webbed, 
as in a goose ; and his chest became so very capacious, that he 
could take in at one inspiration as much breath as would serve 
him for several hours. The account of so extraordinary a per¬ 
son did not fail to reach the king himself; who commanded 
Nicholas to be brought before him. It was no easy matter to 
find Nicholas, who generally spent his time in the solitudes of 
the deep; but, at last, after much searching, he was was found, 


118 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

and brought before his majesty. The curiosity of this mo¬ 
narch had been long excited by the accounts he had heard of 
the bottom of the gulf of Charybdis. He now, therefore, con¬ 
ceived that it would be a proper opportunity to have more cer¬ 
tain information. Accordingly, he commanded our poor diver 
to examine the bottom of this dreadful whirlpool; and as an 
incitement to his obedience, he ordered a golden cup to be 
flung into it. Nicholas was not insensible of the danger to 
which he was exposed : dangers best known only to himself; 
and therefore he presumed to remonstrate; but the hopes of 
the reward, the desire of pleasing the king, and the pleasure 
of shewing his skill, at last prevailed. He instantly jumped 
into the gulf, and was as instantly swallowed up in its bosom. 
He continued for three-quarters of an hour below, during which 
time the kins: and his attendants remained on shore, anxious 
for his fate; but he at last appeared, holding the cup in 
triumph in one hand, and making his way good among the 
waves with the other. It may be supposed he was received 
with applause when he came on shore ; the cup was made the 
reward of his adventure ; the king ordered him to be taken 
proper care of; and, as he was somewhat fatigued and debili¬ 
tated by his labour, after a hearty meal, he was put to bed, 
and permitted to refresh himself by sleeping. When his spi¬ 
rits were thus restored, he was again brought, to satisfy the 
king’s curiosity with a narrative of the wonders he had seen, 
and his account was to the following effect. 

“ He would never, he said, have obeyed the king’s com¬ 
mands, had he been apprised of half the dangers that were 
before him. These were four things, he said, which rendered 
the gulf dreadful, not only to men, but to fishes themselves : 
1. The great force of the water bursting up from the bottom, 
which required great strength to resist. 2. The abruptness of 
the rocks, that on every side threatened destruction. 3. The 
force of the whirlpool dashing against those rocks. And, 4. 
The number and magnitude of the polypous fish, some of which 
appeared as large as a man ; and which, every where sticking 
against the rocks., projected their long and fibrous arms to 
entangle him. Being asked how he was able so readily to find 
the cup that had been thrown in, he replied, that it happened 
to be flung by the waves into the cavity of a rock, against 
which he himself was urged in his descent. 

“ This account, however, did not satisfy the king’s curiosity. 
Being requested to venture once more into the gulf for further 
discoveries, he at first refused ; but the king, desirous of hav¬ 
ing the most exact information possible of all things to be 
found in the gulf, repeated his solicitations ; and, to give them 
still greater weight, produced a larger cup than the former, 
and added also a purse of gold. Upon these considerations. 



SAMUEL BISSET. 






































PAUL SCARRON 


119 

the unfortunate diver once again plunged into the whirlpool* 
and was never heard of more.” 

Paul Scarron. —This famous French burlesque writer, 
was the son of a counsellor in parliament, and was born at 
Paris, about the end of 1610, or beginning of 1611. His father 
marrying a second wife, he was compelled to assume the ec¬ 
clesiastical profession. At the age of 24, he visited Italy, 
and freely indulged in licentious pleasures. After his return 
to Paris, he persisted in a life of dissipation, till a long and 
painful disease convinced him that his constitution was almost 
worn out. At length, when engaged in a party of pleasure, at 
the age of 27, he lost the use of those legs which had danced 
so gracefully, and of those hands which once could paint, and 
play on the lute, with so much elegance. 

This happened in the following manner: In 1638 he was 
attending the carnival at Ment 2 , of which he was canon. Hav¬ 
ing dressed himself one day as a savage, his singular appear¬ 
ance excited the curiosity of the children of the town. They 
followed him in multitudes, and he was obliged to take shel¬ 
ter in a marsh. This wet and cold situation produced a numb¬ 
ness which totally deprived him of the use of his limbs; yet 
he continued gay and cheerful. He took up his residence in 
Paris, and by his pleasant humour soon attracted to his 
house all the men of wit about the city. The loss of his health 
was followed by the loss of his fortune. On the death of his 
father he entered into a process with his step-mother; and 
pleaded his own cause in a ludicrous manner, though his 
whole fortune depended on the decision. He was unsuccess¬ 
ful, and was ruined. Mademoiselle de Hautefort, compas¬ 
sionating his misfortunes, procured for him an audience of the 
queen. The poet requested to have the title of Valetudinarian 
to her majesty : the queen smiled, and Scarron considered the 
smile as a commission to his new office. Cardinal Mazarine 
gave him a pension of 500 crowns; but that minister having 
received disdainfully the dedication of his Typhon, the poet 
immediately wrote a Mazarinade, and the pension was with¬ 
drawn. He then attached himself to the prince of Conde, and 
celebrated his victories. He at length formed the extraordi¬ 
nary resolution of marrying, and was accordingly, in 1651, 
married to Madame d’Aubigne, afterwards celebrated by the 
name of Maintenon. 

At this time (says Voltaire) it was considered as a great ac¬ 
quisition for her to gain for a husband, a man who was disfi¬ 
gured by nature, impotent, and very little enriched by fortune. 
She restrained by her modesty his indecent buffooneries ; and 
the good company which had formerly resorted to his house, 
again frequented it. Scarron now became more decent in his 
manners and conversation; and his gaiety was thus more 


120 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

agreeable. But he lived with so little economy, that his 
income was soon reduced to a small annuity, and his marquis- 
ate of Quinet, i. e. the profits of his publications, which were 
printed by one Quinet. He was accustomed to talk to his 
superiors with great freedom in his jocular style, as appears 
from the dedication of his Don Japhet dCArmenie to the king 
Though Scarron wrote comedies, he had not patience to study 
the rules of dramatic poetry. Aristotle and Horace, Plautus 
and Terence, would have frightened him. He saw an open 
path before him, and he followed it. It was the fashion of 
the times to pillage the Spanish writers. Scarron was ac¬ 
quainted with that language, and he found it easier to use 
materials already prepared, than to rack his brain by inventing 
subjects. As he borrowed liberally from them, a dramatic 
piece cost him little labour. The great success of his Jodelet 
Maitre was a vast allurement to him. The comedians who 
acted it, requested more of his productions. They were writ¬ 
ten with little toil, and they procured him large sums. They 
also served to amuse him. He dedicated his books to his 
sister’s greyhound bitch. Fouquet gave him a pension of 
1600 livres. Christiana, queen of Sweden, having come to 
Paris, was anxious to see Scarron, “ I permit you (said she 
to Scarron) to fall in love with me. The queen of France has 
made you her Valetudinarian, and I create you my Roland.” 
Scarron did not long enjoy that title ; he was seized with a 
violent hiccough. He retained his gaiety to his last moment. 
He died on the 14th of October, 1660, aged 51. His woiks 
have been collected, and published by Bruzen de la Martiniere, 
in 10 vols. 12mo. 1737. His Comic Romance, in prose, 
merits attention. It is written with much humour and purity 
of style, and contributed to the improvement of the French 
language. It had a prodigious run; it was the only one 
of his works that Boileau could submit to read. Scarron can 
raise a laugh on the most serious subjects; but his sallies are 
rather those of a buffoon, than the effusions of ingenuity and 
taste. He is continually falling into the mean and the ob¬ 
scene. Sterne seems to have imitated Scarron in his Tristram 
Shandy. 

We shall now introduce two female characters of note. The 
first is Maria Gaetana Agnesi, a lady of extraordinary 
genius, and most extensive acquirements, who was born at 
Milan, on the 16th of May, 1718. Her father, Pietro Agnesi, 
of Milan, was royal feudatory of Monteveglia, and its depen¬ 
dencies ; and being a man of some rank and consequence, he 
was disposed, from paternal affection, to provide suitably for 
the education of his infant daughter, who gave the most strik 
ing indications of talent. From her tenderest years, she dis 


MARIA GAETNA AGNESI. 


121 

discovered a wonderful aptness, and a vehement desire, for 
acquiring languages. Under the direction of proper masters, 
she studied at the very same time the Latin and Greek, the 
French and German; and while the rapidity of her progress 
excited astonishment, such were the prodigious powers of her 
memory, that she could easily pursue those diversified objects 
without feeling the smallest degree of confusion. M hen yet 
scarcely nine years old, this surprising child delivered a Latin 
oration, to prove that the cultivation of letters is not incon¬ 
sistent with the female character,—before an assembly of 
learned persons, invited to her father’s house. 

At the age of eleven, the young Agnesi could not only read 
Greek, and translate it instantly into Latin, but could even 
speak that refined language with the same apparent ease 
and fluency as if it had been her native tongue. Nor did 
these acquisitions absorb her whole attention; a nobler field 
was opened to the exercise of her mental faculties. She now 
began to read Euclid’s Elements, and proceeded in algebra 
as far as quadratic equations. Thus prepared, she advanced 
with ardour to the study of natural philosophy; but not 
content with the sober proofs there unfolded, she soared to the 
height of metaphysics, and engaged in the most abtruse and 
intricate disquisitions of that contentious science. After this 
young lady had attained the age of 14, her father, anxious to 
forward her ardour for improvement, and willing to gratify 
her ambition for literary distinction, invited occasionally to 
his house a number of persons, the most respectable in Milan 
for their rank and learning. In the midst of this grave audi¬ 
tory, Donna Agnesi made her appearance; and, without 
resigning the native delicacy of her sex, she maintained a 
succession of new theses on various difficult parts of philoso¬ 
phy, and handled the arguments with such dexterity and 
commanding eloquence, as singly to vanquish every opponent 
that entered the field of controversy. These disputations 
were all of them carried on in the Latin language, which she 
spoke with the utmost ease, purity, and copious elegance. 
Every thing conspired to heighten the impression produced 
on the admiring spectators. In the full bloom of youth, her 
person agreeable, her manner graceful, an air of gentleness 
and modesty gave irresistible charms to her whole demeanour. 
Such, for several years, was the great theatre of her glory. 
But having nearly completed the circle of philosophy, and 
exhausted the chief topics of discussion, she resolved at 
length to close that career with a solemnity suitable to the 
occasion. 

In the year 1738, Agnesi made her last brilliant display, 
before an august assembly, composed of the most learned and 
illustrious of the Milanese nobility, the senators, and foreign 

Q 


/22 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

ministers, with the most distinguished professors in all the 
branches of science and literature. "I he substance of these 
philosophical conferences was afterwards published in a quarto 
volume, entitled, “ Propositiones Philosophica, quas, crebris 
Disputationibus domi habitis, coram clarissimis viris , explicabat 
extempore , et ab objectis vindicabat Maria Cajetana de Agnesi 
Medio lane n sis.” Agnesi now bent her whole attention to the 
culture of mathematics; and, without guide or assistance, she 
composed a very useful commentary on L’Hospital’s Conic 
Sections, which is said to exist still in manuscript. In the 
sublimer departments of that science, her studies were directed 
by the matured experience of Rampinelli, professor of mathe¬ 
matics in the university of Pisa; but she soon gave proofs 
of her amazing proficiency, in digesting a complete body of 
the modern calculus. This excellent work, entitled, “ Analy¬ 
tical Institutions, for the Use of the Italian Youth,” appeared 
in 1748, in two volumes quarto, and was highly esteemed by 
the best judges, and justly regarded as exhibiting the fullest 
and clearest view of the state of the science at that period. 
She was, in consequence, elected by acclamation a member 
of the Institute of Sciences of Bologna; and the pope farther 
conferred on her the title of Professor of Mathematics in the 
university of that city. 

But Agnesi was already sated with literary fame. That 
sun, which in its ascent had shone forth with such dazzling 
radiance, was, through the rest of its course, shrouded in 
clouds and darkness. The fever of genius had preyed on her 
mind, and the high fit of excitement was quickly succeeded 
by a hopeless depression of spirits. She repelled the seduc¬ 
tions of human learning, and abandoned for ever her favourite 
mathematical pursuits. Renouncing the vanities of this world, 
she withdrew from society, embraced a life of religious seclu¬ 
sion, and sunk by degrees into the languor of religious melan¬ 
choly. She studied nothing but Hebrew, and the rhapsodies 
of the Greek fathers of the church. For upwards of twenty 
years she denied all access to strangers. The famous Lalande 
complains, in his “ Travels through Italy,” that he was not 
allowed the honour of visiting that prodigy; and Father Bos- 
covick himself, whose religious principles must have been 
unexceptionable, experienced, notwithstanding his repeated 
importunities, a similar refusal. Indulging that gloomy tem¬ 
per, she retired into a convent, and assumed the habit of a 
Blue Nun. She sought to forget the world, and was herself 
forgotten. She died about the year 1770. The Inshhiziom 
Analytiche of Agnesi were translated into English, many years 
ago, by Mr. Colson, Lucasian professor of mathematics at 
Cambridge. The translation was discovered among the papers 
of that ingenious mathematician, by the learned Baron Mase- 



MARIA GAETANA AGNESL 



ANNA MARIA SCHURMAN, 



































' 
























































































ANNA MARIA SCHURMAN. 


12 $ 

res, who put the manuscript into the hands of Mr. Hellins, as 
editor, and generously defrayed the expenses attending the 
publication. 

Anna Maria Schurman, the other distinguished female 
character, was born at Cologne, 1607, of parents sprung 
from noble Protestant families. From her infancy she dis¬ 
covered an uncommon dexterity of hand ; for, at six years 
of age, she cut with her scissors all sorts of figures upon pa¬ 
per, without any pattern or model. At eight, she learned in 
a few days to design flowers in a very agreeable manner; and 
two years after, took no more than three hours in learning to 
embroider. She was afterwards instructed in music, painting, 
sculpture, and engraving; and succeeded to admiration in all 
these arts. Her hand-writing in all languages was inimitable; 
and some curious persons have preserved specimens of it in 
their cabinets. Mr. Joby, in his journey to Munster, relates, 
that he had a view of the beauty of her writing in French, 
Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic ; and was an eye-witness 
of her skill in drawing in miniature, and making portraits upon 
glass with the point of a diamond. She painted her own 
picture ; and made artificial pearls, so nearly resembling na¬ 
tural ones, that they could not be distinguished, except by 
pricking them with a needle. 

The powers of her understanding were equally capacious ; 
for, at eleven years of age, when her brothers were examined 
in their Latin exercises, she frequently whispered them what 
to answer, though she had only heard them say their lessom- 
en passant , which her father observing, and perceiving she had 
a genius for literature, determined to cultivate those talents 
he saw she was possessed of, and accordingly assisted he> 
in gaining that noble stock of learning, for which she was 
afterwards so eminent. The Latin, Greek, and Hebrew lan¬ 
guages were so familiar to her, that she not only wrote, but 
spoke them fluently, to the surprise of the most learned men. 
She made a great progress also in the Oriental languages 
which had an affinity with the Hebrew, as the Syriac, Chaldee, 
Arabic, and Ethiopic; understood the living languages per¬ 
fectly well, and could converse readily in French, English, 
and Italian. She was likewise competently versed in geogra¬ 
phy, astronomy, philosophy, and the sciences; but as her 
mind was naturally of a religious cast, these learned amuse¬ 
ments gave her but little satisfaction; and at length she 
applied herself to divinity, and the study of the holy scrip¬ 
tures. 

While she was an infant, her father had settled at Utrecht, 
but afterwards, for the more convenient education of his chil¬ 
dren, removed to Praneker, where he died 1623. Upon which 
his widow returned to Utrecht, where Anna Maria continued 









124 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

her studies very intensely; which undoubtedly kept her from 
marrying, as she might advantageously have done with Mr. 
Cotts, pensionary of Holland, and a celebrated poet, who 
wrote verses in her praise, when she was no more than four 
teen years of age. 

Her modesty, which was as remarkable as her knowledge, 
would have kept her merit and learning in obscurity, if Rive- 
tus, Spanheim, and Vossius, had not produced her, contrary 
to her own inclination, upon the stage of the world. To these 
three divines we may add Salmasius, Beveronicius, and Huy¬ 
gens, who maintained a literary correspondence with her, and, 
by shewing her letters, spread her fame into foreign countries. 
This procured her letters from eminent men; and her name be¬ 
came so famous, that persons of the first distinction, even 
princesses, paid her visits ; and cardinal Richelieu shewed her 
marks of his esteem. 

About the year 1650, she made a visible alteration in her re¬ 
ligious system. She no longer went to‘public worship, but 
performed her devotions in private ; which occasioned a report 
that she was inclined to popery : but the truth was, she had 
attached herself to Labadie, the famous Quietist, and embra¬ 
cing his principles and practices, accompanied him wherever he 
went. She lived some time w r ith him at Altena, in Holstein, 
where she attended him at his death in 1674. She afterwards 
retired to Weimart, in Friesland, where Mr. William Penn, 
the quaker, visited her in 1677 ; and died at this place, 1678. 
She took for her device these words of St. Ignatius, Amor metis 
crucijixus est, My Love is crucified. 

Samuel Bisset, the noted animal instructor, next follows.— 
A most singular character, famous for teaching quadrupeds to 
perform very remarkable actions. He was born at Perth, in 
1721. He first tried his skill on a horse and a dog which he 
bought in London, and he succeeded beyond all expectation. 
Two monkeys were the next pupils he took in hand ; one of 
these he taught to dance and tumble on the rope, whilst the 
other held a candle with one paw for his companion, and with 
the other played a barrel organ. These antic animals he also 
instructed to play several fanciful tricks, such as drinking to 
the company, riding and tumbling upon the horse’s back, and 
going through several regular dances with the dog. 

Being a man of unwearied patience, three young cats were 
the next objects of his tuition. He taught those domestic 
. tigers, to strike their paws in such directions on the dulcimer, 
as to produce several tunes, having music-books before them, 
and squalling at the same time in different keys or tones, first, 
second, and third, by way of concert. In such a city as Lon¬ 
don, these feats could not fail of exciting attention. The well- 
known Cat’s Opera was performed at the llaymarket; the 






RIAIP© EL [1 © PS - 





















SAMUEL BISSET.-JOHN PHILIP BARAT1ER. 125 

horse, the dog, the monkeys, and the cats, went through their 
several parts with uncommon applause, to crowded houses; 
and in a few days Bisset found himself in possession of nearly 
a thousand pounds to reward his ingenuity. 

This success excited a desire of extending his dominion 
over other animals, including even the feathered kind. He 
procured a leveret, and reared it to beat several marches on 
the drum with its hind-legs, until it became a good stout hare. 
This creature, which is always set down as the most timid, he 
declared to be as mischievous and bold an animal, to the ex¬ 
tent of its power, as any with which he was acquainted. He 
taught canary-birds, linnets, and sparrows, to spell the name 
of any person in company, to distingish the hour and minute 
of time, and play many other surprising tricks ; he trained six 
turkey cocks to go through a regular country dance. In the 
course of six months’ teaching, he made a turtle fetch and carry 
like a dog ; and having chalked the floor, and blackened his 
claws, could direct it to trace out any given name in the 
company. 

The following is a surprising instance of premature genius, 
in the person of John Philip Baratier. A most extraor¬ 
dinary person, born 1721, in the margravate of Anspach, of 
such extraordinary powers of memory, that, at the age of four, 
he conversed with his mother in French, with his father in 
Latin, and with his servants in German. The rapidity of his 
improvement augmented with his years, so that he became 
acquainted with Greek at six, with Hebrew at eight, and in 
his eleventh year translated from the Hebrew into French the 
Travels of Benjamin of Tudela, which he enriched with valu¬ 
able annotations. His proficiency in mathematics was so 
great, that he submitted to the London Royal Society, a scheme 
for finding the longitude, which, though insufficient, exhibit¬ 
ed the strongest marks of superior abilities. He visited Halle 
with his father in 1735, where he was offered by the univer¬ 
sity the degree of M. A. The young philosopher drew up 14 
theses, which he printed, and the next morning disputed upon 
them with such logical precision, that he astonished a most 
crowded audience. At Berlin he was received with kindness 
by the king of Prussia, and honoured with marks of distinction 
His abilities, however, shone but like a meteor: a constitu¬ 
tion, naturally delicate, was rendered still more weak by ex¬ 
cessive application ; and a cough, spitting of blood, and fever 
on the spirits, put an end to his life at Halle, 1740, in his 
20th year. 

Baratier is mentioned as a prodigy of learning and of genius; 
his memory was universally retentive, and his application 
scarcely credible, when it is recollected that he spent twelve 
hours in bed till 1 is tenth year, and ten afterwards. In one 



126 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 


winter be read twenty great folios, with all the attention of a 
vast comprehensive mind ; and the large work which he pre¬ 
pared on Egyptian antiquities, shewed the most judicious and 
laborious arrangement. In his domestic economy he was very 
temperate; he ate little flesh, lived totally on milk, tea, bread, 
and fruit; he disliked wine; he had an aversion to dancing, 
music, and the sports of the field ; so that he wished for no 
recreation from study, but in walking, or in the conversation of 
a few friends. 

We shall conclude this chapter with an account of the prin¬ 
cipal events in the life of— 

Buonaparte. —1769, Born at Ajaccio, Corsica, Aug. 15.— 
1779, Placed at the Military School of Brienne, March.— 
1794, An Officer of artillery at the siege of Toulon, and ap¬ 
pointed General of Brigade.—1794, Commands the Conven¬ 
tional Troops, and defeats the Parisians, Oct. 4.—1796, Ap¬ 
pointed to the command of the Army of Italy. Battle of 
Lodi, May 10. Battle of Castiglione, Aug. 3. Battle of 
Areola, Nov. 16.—1797, Surrender of Mantua, Feb. 2. Trieste 
surrenders, March 23. Preliminaries with Austria signed at 
Leoben, April 18. French take possession of Venice, May 
16. Treaty of Campo Formeo, with Austria, 17.—1798, Buo¬ 
naparte sails for Egypt, May 20. Battle of Embabe, or of the 
Pyramids, July 21. Insurrection at Cairo, Oct. 24.—1799, 
Siege of Acre raised, May 21. Sails from Egypt for France, 
Aug. 23. Lands at Frejus, Oct. 7. Dissolves the Conven¬ 
tional Government, Nov. 9. Declared First Consul, 10.— 

1800, Peace with the Chouans, Feb. 15. Buonaparte crosses 
Mount St. Bernard, May. Battle of Marengo, June 16. Pre¬ 
liminaries with Austria signed at Paris. Battle of Holien- 
linden, Dec. 3. Explosion of the Infernal Machine, 24.— 

1801, Treaty of Luneville with Austria, Feb. 9. Nelson attacks 
the Buologne Flotilla, Aug. 16. Preliminaries with England, 
Oct. 8.—1802, The Cisalpine .Republic placed under Buona- 

£ arte, Jan. 26. Definitive Treaty 7 with England, March 27. 

egion of Honour instituted, May 15. Declared Consul for 
Life, Aug. 2. Swiss form of Government changed by the 
interference of the French, 28.—1803, English Declaration of 
War, May 18. Hanover conquered, June 5.—1804, Moreau 
arrested, Feb. Due D’Enghien shot, March 20. Picliegru 
dies in Prison, April 8. Buonaparte made Emperor, May 18. 
Crowned by the Pope, Nov. 19.—1805, Writes a pacific let¬ 
ter to the King of England, Feb. Treaty of Petersburgh, 
between England, Kussia, Austria, and Sweden, April 11. 
Buonaparte declared King of Italy, May 26. Buonaparte 
heads his army against Austria, Sept. 24. Mack’s army sur¬ 
renders at Ulm, Oct 20. French enter Vienna, Nov. 13. 
Battle of Austerlitz, Dec. 2. Treaty of Vienna with Prussia, 


BUONAPARTE. 


127 

15. Treaty of Presburg with Austria, 26.—1806, Joseph Buo¬ 
naparte declared King of Naples, March 30. Louis Buona¬ 
parte declared King of Holland, June 5. Convocation of the 
Jews, July 26. Confederation of the Rhine published, 27. 
Buonaparte marches against Prussia, Sept. 24. Battle of 
Auerstadt, or Jena, Oct. 14. Buonaparte enters Berlin, 27. 
Hamburgh taken, Nov. 19. Berlin Decree.—1807, Battle 
of Eylau, Feb. 8. Battle of Friedland, June 14. Treaty of 
Tilsit, July 7.—1808, Joseph Buonaparte declared King of 
Spain, July 7. Surrender of Dupont’s army at Baylen, 20. 
Joseph Buonaparte evacuates Madrid, 29. Battle ofVimeira, 
August 21. Conferences at Erfurth, Sept. 20. Buonaparte 
arrives at Vittoria, Nov. 5. Surrender of Madrid, Dec. 4.— 
1809, Battle of Corunna, Jan. 16. Buonaparte returns to Pa¬ 
ris, 22. War declared by Austria, April 6. Bonaparte heads 
his army against Austria, 13. French enter Vienna, May 10. 
Battle of Esling, or Asperne, 22. Battle of Wagram, July 6. 
Flushing taken by the English, August 14. Treaty of Vienna, 
Oct. 14. Lucien Buonaparte arrives in England, Dec. 13. 
Buonaparte’s marriage with Josephine dissolved, 16. Walche- 
ren evacuated by the English, 23.—1810, Buonaparte marries 
Maria Louisa, daughter of Francis II. March 11. Holland 
and the Hanse Towns annexed to France, July 9. Bernadotte 
elected Crown Prince of Sweden, Aug. 21. Decree for re¬ 
straining the liberty of the Press, Dec.—1811, Hamburgh an¬ 
nexed to the empire, Jan. 1. The impress delivered of a son, 
w r ho is styled King of Rome, April 20. Buonaparte present 
at an engagement between the Boulogne flotilla and an Eng¬ 
lish cruiser. Sept. 2.—1812, Swedish Pomerania seized by 
Buonaparte, Jan. 22. He heads the army against Russia, May 
2. Arrives at Konigsberg, June 11. Enters Wilna, 28. Smo- 
lensko taken, Aug. 18. Battle of Moskwa, Sept. 7. French 
enter Moskow, 14. Evacuate it, October 22. Buonaparte 
at Smolensko, Nov. 9. Deserts the army, Dec. 5. Arrives at 
Paris, 18.—1813, Takes the command of the army on the 
Elbe, April. Battle of Lutzen, May 1. Battle of Bautzen, 
20. Armistice agreed on, June 4. Battle of Vittoria, 21. 
Hostilities re-commence, Aug. 17. Battle of Dresden, Mo¬ 
reau killed, 28. English enter France, Sept. 7, Buonaparte 
evacuates Dresden, 28. Battle of Leipsic, Oct. 18. Revo¬ 
lution in Holland, Nov. 15. Declaration of the Allies at 
Frankfort, Dec. 1. English army cross the Nive, 8.—1814, 
Allies cross the Rhine, Jan. 4. Battle of Montmartre, March 
30. Allies enter Paris, 31. Buonaparte abdicates the throne, 
April 11. Arrives at Elba, May 8.—1815, Sails from Elba to 
France, March 1. Arrives at Paris, and reascends the throne, 
20. Is declared an outlaw by the Sovereigns of Europe then 
assembled at Vienna, 25. Calls a new House of Peers and 










l28 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

Chamber of Representatives of the people. Calls a Champ 
de Mai, April. Defeats the Prussians, June 16. Loses his 
army in the great battle of Waterloo, 18. Abdicates the 
throne a second time, 21. Surrenders himself to Capt. Mait¬ 
land, commanding the English ship of war, the Bellerophon* 
in Basque Roads, July 15. Arrives at Torbay, 22. Sailed 
from England in the Northumberland, for St. Helena, Aug. 11 
—1821, Died at St. Helena, May 5. Buried there, 9. 


CHAP. X. 

curiosities respecting man.— (Continued.) 

Richard Savage, one of the most extraordinary charac¬ 
ters that is to be met with in all the records of biography, was 
the son of Anne, countess of Macclesfield, by the earl of 
Rivers, according to her own confession; and was born in 
1698. This confession of adultery was made, to procure a 
separation from her husband, the earl of Macclesfield : yet, 
having obtained this end, no sooner was a spurious off¬ 
spring brought into the world, than she resolved to disown 
him; and, as long as he lived, she treated him with the most 
unnatural cruelty. She delivered him over to a poor wo¬ 
man to educate as her own ; maliciously prevented the earl of 
Rivers from leaving him a legacy of £6000, by declaring him 
dead; and deprived him of another legacy which his god¬ 
mother, Mrs. Lloyd, had left him, by concealing from him 
his birth, and thereby rendering it impossible for him to pro¬ 
secute his claim. She endeavoured to send him secretly to 
the plantations; but this plan being frustrated, she placed 
. him apprentice with a shoemaker. In this situation, however, 
he did not long continue ; for his nurse dying, he went to 
take care of the effects of his supposed mother, and found in 
her boxes some letters, which discovered to young Savage his 
birth, and the cause of its concealment. From the moment of 
this discovery he became dissatisfied. He conceived that 
he had a right to share in the affluence of his real mother; 
and therefore he applied to her, and tried every art to attract 
her regard. But in vain did he solicit this unnatural parent; 
she avoided him with the utmost precaution, and took mea¬ 
sures to prevent his ever entering her house. Meantime, 
while he was endeavouring to rouse the affections of a mother, 
in whom all natural affection was extinct, he was destitute 
of the means of support. Having a strong inclination to 
literary pursuits, especially poetry, he wrote poems; and 



RICHARD SAVAGE. 



WILLIAM HUNTINGTON. 























RICHARD SAVAGE. l29 

afterwards two plays. Woman’s a Riddle, and. Love in a Veil: 
he was allowed no part of the profits from the first; but 
by the second he acquired the acquaintance of Sir Richard 
Steel and Mr. Wilkes, by whom he was pitied, caressed, and 
relieved. But the kindness of his friends not affording him 
a constant supply, he wrote the tragedy of Sir Thomas Over¬ 
bury; which not only procured him the esteem of many per¬ 
sons of wit, but brought him £200. The celebrated Aaron 
Hill, Esq. was of great service to him in correcting and fitting 
this piece for the stage and the press; and extended his pa¬ 
tronage still farther. But Savage was, like many other wits, 
a bad economist. As fast as his friends raised him out of one 
difficulty, he sunk into another; and when he found himself 
greatly involved, he rambled about like a vagabond, with 
scarcely a shirt on his back. He was in one of these situa¬ 
tions all the time he wrote his tragedy above mentioned; 
without a lodging, and often without a dinner. Mr. Hill also 
promoted a subscription to a volume of his Miscellanies, and 
furnished part of the poems of which it was composed. To 
this Miscellany Savage wrote a preface, in which he gives an 
account of his mother’s cruelty, in a very uncommon strain 
of humour. The profits of his tragedy and his Miscellanies 
had now’ somewhat raised him, both in circumstances and 
credit, so that the world began to behold him with a more 
favourable eye, when both his fame and life were endangered 
by a most unhappy event: a drunken frolic, in which he one 
night engaged, ended in a fray, and Savage unfortunately killed 
a man, for which he was condemned to be hanged : his friends 
earnestly solicited the mercy of the crown, while his mother as 
earnestly exerted herself to prevent his receiving it. The Coun¬ 
tess of Hertford, at length, laid his whole case before Queen 
Caroline, and Savage obtained a pardon. Savage now lost that 
affection for his mother which the whole series of her cruelty 
had not been able wholly to repress ; and considering her as an 
implacable enemy, whom nothing but his blood could satisfy, 
threatened to harass her with lampoons, and to publish a 
copious narrative of her conduct, unless she consented to 
allow him a pension. This expedient proved successful; and 
Lord Tyrconnel, upon his promise of laying aside his design 
of exposing his mother’s cruelty, took him into his f&m!.y ( 
treated him as an equal, and engaged to allow him a pension 
of £200 a year. This was the happy period of Savage ’s life. 
He was courted by all who wished to be thought men of 
genius and taste. At this time he published the Temple of 
Health and Mirth, on the recovery of Lady Tyrconnel from a 
languishing illness; and the Wanderer, a moral poem, which 
he dedicated to Lord Tyrconnel, in strains of the highest 
panegyric : but these praises he soon was inclined to retract, 
6. R 






iSO ' CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

being discarded by the man on whom they were bestowed. 
Of this quarrel. Lord Tyrconnel and Mr. Savage gave very 
different accounts. But our author’s conduct was ever such 
as made all his friends, sooner or later, grow weary of him, 
and even forced most of them to become his enemies. 

Being thus once more turned adrift upon the world. Savage, 
whose passions were very strong, and whose gratitude was 
very small, exposed the faults of Lord Tyrconnel. He also 
took revenge upon his mother, by publishing the Bastard, a 
poem, remarkable for the vivacity of its beginning (where he 
humorously enumerates the imaginary advantages of base 
birth ;) and for the pathetic conclusion, wherein he recounts 
the real calamities which he suffered by the crime of his pa¬ 
rents. The following lines, in the opening of the poem, are a 
specimen of this writer’s spirit and versification : 

“ Blest be the bastard’s birth ! thro’ wondrous ways 
He shines eccentric, like a comet’s blaze. 

No sickly fruit cf faint compliance he ; 

He ! stamp’d in nature’s mint with ecstasy ! 

He lives to build, not boast, a generous race ; 

No tenth transmitter of a foolish face. 

He, kindling from within, requires no flame ; 

He glories in a bastard’s glowing name. 

Nature’s unbounded son, he stands alone, 

His heart unbias’d, and his mind his own. 

O mother! yet no mother !—’tis to you 
My thanks for some distinguish’d claims are due.” 

This poem had an extraordinary sale; and its appearance 
happening at the time when his mother was at Bath, many 
persons there repeated passages from it in her hearing. This 
was perhaps the first time that ever she discovered a sense of 
shame, and, on this occasion, the pow 7 er of w 7 it was very con¬ 
spicuous. The wretch, who had without scruple proclaimed 
herself an adulteress, and who had first endeavoured to starve 
her son, then to transport him, and afterwards to hang him, 
was not able to bear the representation of her own conduct, 
but fled from reproach, though she felt no pain from guilt; 
and left Bath in haste, to shelter herself among the crowds of 
London. Some time after this. Savage formed the resolution 
of applying to the Queen; who, having once given him life, 
he hoped she might extend her goodness to him, by enabling 
him to support it. With this view, he published a poem on 
her birth-day, which he entitled The Volunteer Laureat; for 
which she was pleased to send him £50, accompanied 
with an intimation that he might annually expect the same 
bounty. But this annual allowance was nothing to a man of 
his strange and singular extravagance. His usual custom 
was, as soon as he had received his pension, to disappear with 
it, and secrete himself from his most intimate friends, till every 


RICHARD SAVAGE. 


131 


shilling of it was spent; which done, he again appeared penni¬ 
less as before : but he would never inform any person where he 
had been, nor in what manner his money had been dissipated. 
From the reports, however, of some who penetrated his haunts, 
he expended both his time and his cash in the most sordid 
and despicable sensuality ; particularly in eating and drinking, 
in which he would indulge in the most unsocial manner, sit¬ 
ting whole days and nights by himself, in obscure houses of 
entertainment, over his bottle and trencher, immersed in 
•filth and sloth, with scarcely decent apparel; generally wrapped 
up in a horseman’s great coat; and, on the whole, with his 
very homely countenance, exhibiting an object the most dis 
gustingto the sight, if not to some other of the senses. 

His wit and parts, however, still raised him new friends, 
as fast as his misbehaviour lost him his old ones. Yet such 
was his conduct, that occasional relief only furnished the 
means of occasional excess; and he defeated all attempts 
made by his friends to fix him in a decent way. He was even 
reduced so low as to be destitute of a lodging; insomuch that 
he often passed his nights in those mean houses that are set 
open for casual wanderers; sometimes in cellars, amidst the 
riot and filth of the most profligate of the rabble ; and not 
seldom would he walk the streets till he was weary, and then 
lie down, in summer, on a bulk,—or, in winter, with his asso¬ 
ciates, among the ashes of a glasshouse. Yet, amidst all 
iiis penury and wretchedness, this man had so much pride, 
and so high an opinion of his own merit, that he was always 
ready to repress, with scorn and contempt, the least appear¬ 
ance of any slight towards himself, in the behaviour of his 
acquaintance ; among whom he looked upon none as his 
superior. He would be treated as an equal, even by persons 
of the highest rank. He once refused to wait upon a gentle¬ 
man, who was desirous of relieving him, when at the lowest 
distress, only because the message signified the gentleman’s 
desire to see him at nine in the morning. His life was ren¬ 
dered still more unhappy, by the death of the Queen, in 1738. 
His pension was discontinued; and the insolent manner in 
which he demanded of Sir Robert Walpole to have it restored, 
for ever cut off his supply, which probably might have been 
recovered by proper application. 

His distress now became so notorious, that a scheme was 
at length concerted for procuring him a permanent relief. It 
was proposed that he should retire into Wales, with an al¬ 
lowance of £50 a year, on which he was to live privately, in 
a cheap place, for ever quitting his town haunts, and resign¬ 
ing all farther pretensions to fame. This offer he seemed 
gladly to accept; but his intentions were only to deceive his 
friends, bv retiring for awhile to write another tragedy, and 







132 CURIOSITIES RES PECTI N G MAN 

then to return with it to London. In 1739, he set out for 
Swansey, in the Bristol stage-coach, and was furnished with 
15 guineas, to bear the expense of his journey. But, on the 
14th day of his departure, his friends and benefacto.s, the 
principal of whom was Mr. Pope, who expected to hear of his 
arrival in Wales, were surprised with a letter from Savage, 
informing them that he was yet upon the road, and could not 
proceed for want of money. There was no other remedy than a 
remittance, which was sent him, and by the help of which he 
\^as enabled to reach Bristol, whence he was to proceed to 
Swansey by water. At Bristol, however, he found an embargo 
laid upon the shipping; so that he could not immediately 
obtain a passage. Here, therefore, being obliged to stay for 
some time, he so ingratiated himself with the principal inha¬ 
bitants, that he was often invited to their houses, distinguish¬ 
ed at their public entertainments, and treated with a regard 
that highly gratified his vanity. At length, with great reluc¬ 
tance, he proceeded to Swansey ; where he lived about a year, 
very much dissatisfied with the diminution of his salary, for 
he had, in his letters, treated his contributors so insolently, 
that most of them withdrew their subscriptions. Here he 
finished his tragedy, and resolved to return with it to London ; 
which was strenuously opposed by his constant friend Mr. 
Pope ; who proposed that Savage should put this play into 
the hands of Mr. Thomson and Mr. Mallet, that they might 
fit it for the stage ; that his friends should receive the profits 
it might bring in; and that the author should receive the pro¬ 
duce by way of annuity. This kind and prudent scheme was 
rejected by Savage with contempt. He declared he would not 
submit his works to any one’s correction; and that he would 
no longer be kept in leading-strings. Accordingly, he soon 
returned to Bristol, in his way to London; but at Bristol, 
meeting with a repetition of the same kind treatment he had 
before found there, he was tempted to make a second stay in 
that opulent city for some time. Here he was not only caress¬ 
ed and treated, but the sum of £30 was raised for him; with 
which it would have been happy if he had immediately de¬ 
parted for London. But he never considered that a frequent 
repetition of such kindness was not to be expected. In short, 
he remained here till his company was no longer welcome* 
His visits in every family were too often repeated, his wit had 
lost its novelty, and his irregular behaviour grew troublesome* 
Necessity came upon him before he was aware ; his money was 
spent, his clothes were worn out, his appearance was shabby, 
and his presence was disgustful at every table. He now began 
to find every man from home at whose house he called, and 
he found it difficult to obtain a dinner. 

Thus reduced, it would have been prudent in him to have 


RICHARD SAVAGE. 


13a 

withdrawn from the place ; but prudence and Savage were 
never acquainted. He staid, in the midst of poverty, hunger, 
and contempt, till the mistress of a coffee-house, to whom he 
owed about 81. arrested him for the debt. He remained for 
some time at the house of the sheriff’s officer, in hopes of pro¬ 
curing bail; which expense he was enabled to defray by a present 
of five guineas from Mr. Nash at Bath. No bail, however, was 
to be found ; so that poor Savage was at last lodged in New¬ 
gate, a prison in Bristol. But it was the fortune of this extra¬ 
ordinary mortal always to find more friends than he deserved. 
The keeper of the prison took compassion on him, and greatly 
softened the rigours of his confinement by every kind of indul¬ 
gence ; he supported him at his own table, gave him a com¬ 
modious room to himself, allowed him to stand at the door of 
the gaol, and often took him into the fields for the benefit of 
the air and exercise ; so that, in reality. Savage endured fewer 
hardships here than he had usually suffered during the great¬ 
est part of his life. 

While he remained in this agreeable prison, his ingratitude 
again broke out, in a bitter satire on the city of Bristol; to 
which he certainly owed great obligations, notwithstanding 
his arrest, which was but the lawful act of an individual. This 
satire is entitled, London and Bristol delineated; and in it he 
abused the inhabitants of the latter with such a spirit of re 
sentment, that the reader would imagine he had never receiv 
ed any other than the worst of treatment in that city. When 
Savage had remained about six months in this hospitable pri¬ 
son, he received a letter from Mr. Pope, (who still allowed 
him £20 a year,) containing a charge of very atrocious ingrati¬ 
tude; and though the particulars have not transpired, yet, from 
the notorious character of the man, there is reason to fear that 
Savage was but too justly accused: He, however, solemnly 
protested his innocence ; but he was very unusually affected 
on this occasion:—in a few days after, he was seized with a 
disorder, which, at first, was not suspected to be dangerous ;. 
but growing daily more languid and dejected, at last a fever 
seized him, and he died on the 1st of August, 1743, in the 
46th year of his age. 

Thus lived, and thus died, Richard Savage, Esq. leaving 
behind him a character strangely chequered with vices and 
good qualities. Of the former we have mentioned a variety 
of instances ; of the latter, his peculiar situation in the world 
gave him but few opportunities of making any considerable 
display. He was, however, undoubtedly a man of excellent 
parts ; and had he received the full benefits of a liberal edu¬ 
cation, and had his natural talents been cultivated to the best 
advantage, he might have made a respectable figure in life. 
He was happy in a quick discernment, a retentive memory,. 



134 CURIOS TIES RESPECTING MAN. 

and a lively flow of wit, which made his company much covet¬ 
ed ; nor was his judgment of men and writings inferior to his 
wit: but he was too much a slave to his passions, and his pas¬ 
sions were too easily excited. He was warm in his friendships, 
but implacable in his enmity ; and his greatest fault was ingra¬ 
titude. He seemed to think every thing due to his merit, and 
that he was little obliged to any one for those favours which 
he thought it their duty to confer upon him. He therefore 
never rightly estimated the kindness of his many friends and 
benefactors, or preserved a grateful sense of their generosity 
towards him. The works of this original writer, after having 
long lain dispersed in magazines and fugitive publications, 
were collected and published in an elegant edition, in 2 vols. 
8vo. to which are prefixed the admirable Memoirs of Savage, 
written by Dr. Samuel Johnson. 

—*►►•••♦««— 

CHAP. XI. 

curiosities respecting man.— (Concluded.) 

William Huntingdon, a very eccentric personage, who 
was originally a coal-heaver, and afterwards became a popular 
preacher of the Calvinistic persuasion. The following account, 
formed principally from the preacher’s own words, was first 
presented to the public in the first volume of “ The Pulpit,” 
1809. Excepting the circumstance of enlarging his name 
from Hunt to Huntingdon, which is stated as one of the ine¬ 
vitable consequences of “ the follies of his youth,” Mr. Hunt¬ 
ingdon has already written, with tolerable truth, the greater 
portion of the history of himself. 

He was born, he says, in the Weald of Kent; and “ suffered 
much from his parents’ poverty, when young. He long felt 
other disadvantages attending his birth. Beino- born in “ none 
of the most polite parts of the world,” he “ retained a good 
deal of his provincial dialect;” so that many of his expres¬ 
sions sounded very harsh and uncouth.” Of this he com¬ 
plains, with some cause, as it afterwards occasioned numbers 
-of “ unsanctified critics to laugh and cavil at” him. He was 
first an errand boy, then a daily labourer, then a cobbler; 
and, though he “ worked by day,” and “ cobbled by night,” 
he, at one time, “ lived upon barley.” His first ministerial 
preparation is thus told : 

“ I had now (says Mr. H.) five times a week to preach 
constantly: on which account I was forced to lay the Bible 
in a chair by me, and now and then read a little, in order to 
furnish myself with matter for the pulpit. It sometimes hap- 


WILLIAM HUNTINGDON. 


135 

pened that I was under sore temptations and desertions . the 
Bible, too, appeared a sealed book, insomuch that I could 
not furnish myself with a text; nor durst I leave my work in 
order to study or read the Bible ; if I did, my little ones would 
soon want bread; my business would also run very cross at 
those times.” His earnings did not then amount to more than 
eight shillings per week. Even when his state grew better, 
when he got his first “ parsonic livery” on his back, he could 
not study at his ease. “ My little cot (he says) was placed 
in a very vulgar neighbourhood, and the windows were so 
very low, that 1 could not study at any of them, without being 
exposed to the view of my enemies; who often threw stones 
through the glass, or saluted me with a volley of oaths or 
imprecations.” This must have been painful enough to one 
whose “ memory was naturally bad.” Providence had long 
furnished him with very superior accommodations. After 
many years of itinerant and irregular preaching, William 
Huntingdon,” weary of living at Thames Ditton, secretly 
longed to leave it, fully persuaded that he “ should end his 
“ mi-nistry in London.” 

“ Having unsuccessfully laboured in the vineyard of the 
country,” and as he “ did not see that God had any thing more 
for him to do there,” he, like one Durant of late, “ saw the 
Lord himself open the door” for his removal. He had resolved 
to be off; and he contrived to get off. He was now, as he him¬ 
self says, “ to perch upon the thick boughs.” Ditton was to 
be left for London. Yet had poor Ditton not been so unkind 
to him. “ Some few years before I was married,” says Mr. 
H. “ all my personal effects used to be carried in my hand, 
or on my shoulders, in one or two large handkerchiefs ; but 
after marriage, for some few years, I used to carry all the 
goods that we had gotten, on my shoulders, in a large sack : 
but when we removed from Thames Ditton to London, we. 
loaded two large carts with furniture and other necessaries ;. 
besides a post-chaise, well filled with children and cats.” 

Being viewed as ludicrous while in the country, he was 
fearful of being considered as ridiculous elsewhere. I here 
transcribe his words: At this (says Mr. H.—having been ad¬ 
vertised in Margaret-street Chapel,) I was sorely offended, 
being very much averse to preaching in London, for several 
reasons. First, because I had been told it abounded so much 
with all sorts of errors, that I was afraid of falling into them, 
there were so many that lay in w T ait to deceive. Secondly, 
because I had no learning, and therefore feared I should not 
be able to deliver myself with any degree of propriety; and as 
I knew nothing of Greek or Hebrew, nor even of the English 
Grammar, that I should be exposed to the scourging tongue 
of every critic in London.” 


136 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN- 


“ During many weeks, (he adds,) I laboured under much 
distress of mind respecting my want of abilities to preach in 
this great metropolis.” I think this one of the few rational 
passages to be found in the “ Bank of Faith/’ Mr. Hunting¬ 
don here candidly confesses his own conviction of his then 
ministerial incompetency, and expresses his apprehension as 
to the probable nullity of his divine mission. His call seems 
to fail him now. He feels just as most men would feel in the 
same state,—fears just as they would fear,—and takes the same 
chance as to the great end he had in view. “ During the 
-space of three years, (says Mr. Huntingdon,) I secretly 
wished in my soul, that God would favour me with a chapel 
of my own, being sick of the errors that were perpetually 
broached by some one or other in Margaret-street Chapel, 
where I then preached. But though I so much desired this, 
yet I could not ask God for such a favour, thinking it was 
not to be brought about by one so very mean, low, and poor 
as myself. However, God sent a person, unknown to me, to 
look at a certain spot, who afterwards took me to look at it; 
but I trembled at the very thought of such an immense under¬ 
taking. Then God stirred up a wise man to offer to build a 
chapel, and to manage the whole work without fee or reward. 
God drew the pattern on his imagination, while he was hearing 
me preach a sermon. I then took the ground; this person 
executed the plan; and the chapel sprung up like a mushroom 
As soon as it was finished, this precious scripture came sweet 
to my soul, ‘ He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him :* 
Psa. cxlv. 19. 

“ I will now inform my reader of the kind providence of my 
God at the time of building the chapel, which I named Pro¬ 
vidence Chapel (1788); and also mention a few free-will-offer¬ 
ings which the people brought. They first offered about eleven 
pounds, and laid it on the foundation at the beginning of the 
building. A good gentleman, with whom I had but little 
acquaintance, and of whom I bought a load of timber, sent 
it in with a bill and receipt-in-full, as a present to the Chapel 
of Providence. Another good man came with tears in his 
eyes, and blessed me, and desired to paint my pulpit, desk, &c. 
as a present to the chapel. Another person gave half a dozen 
chairs for the vestry ; and my friends, Mr. and Mrs. Lyon, fur¬ 
nished me with a tea-chest, well stored, and a set of china. 
My good friends, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, furnished me with a 
very handsome bed, bedstead, and all its furniture and neces¬ 
saries, that I might not be under the necessity of walking 
home in the cold winter nights. A daughter of mine in the 
faith, gave me a looking-glass for my chapel study. Another 
friend gave me my pulpit-cushion, and a book-case for my 
study. Another gave me a book-case for the vestry. And 


WILLIAM HUNTINGDON 


137 

»Y 


my good friend, Mr. E. seemed to level all his displeasure 
at the devil; for he was in hopes I should be enabled, 
through the gracious arm of the Lord, to cut Rahab in 
pieces; therefore he furnished me with a sword of the Spirit— 
a new Bible, with Morocco binding and silver clasps. I had 
got one old cart-horse, (says W. H.) that I had bought with 
the rest of the stock on the farm, and f wanted two more, but 
money ran short; and I determined also to have a large tilted 

V ' < J 

cart, to take my family to chapel, and the man should drive it 
on the Sunday and on lecture nights, and I would ride my lit¬ 
tle horse. This was the most eligible plan that I could adopt; 
and on this I determined, as soon as God should send money 
to procure them. I came to this conclusion on a Friday ; and 
on the next day, toward evening, came two or three friends 
from town to see me. I wondered not a little at their coming, as 
they knew that on a Saturday I never like to see any body, and 
therefore I conceived that they must be come with some heavy 
tidings ; some friend was dead, or something bad had happened. 
But they came to inform me that some friends had agreed 
among themselves, and bought me a coach and a pair of horses, 
which they intended to make me a present of. I informed 
them that the assessed taxes ran so high, that I should not be 
able to keep it. But they stopped my mouth by informing 
me, that the money for paying the taxes for the coach and 
horses was subscribed also ; so that nothing lay upon me, but 
the keep of the horses. Thus, instead of being at the expense 
of a tilted cart, God sent me a coach without cost, and two 
horses without my purchasing them; and which, with my other 
old horse, would do the work of the farm, as well as the work 
of the coach ; and my bailiff informed me that he could drive 
it, having formerly drove one. Thus was I set up. But at 
this time the pocket was bare, and many things were wanting, 
both in the house and on the farm, and a place to fit up for 
my bailiff and dairy-woman to live in. And it was but a few 
days afterward before a gentleman out of the country called 
upon me ; and, being up in my study with me, he said, ‘ My 
friend, I often told you, you would keep your coach before 
you died ; and I always promised, that whenever you had a 
coach, 1 would give you a pair of horses ; and I will not be 
worse than my word. I have inquired of Father Green, and 
he tells me that the horses cost forty-five pounds, and there 
is the money/ In a day or two after, the coach, horses, and 
harness, came ; and, having now a little money, I wrote to a 
friend in the country to send me twelve ewes, and a male with 
them ; and he sent me twelve excellent ones, and the male with 
them, but would not be paid for them ; they were a present to 
the farm. ‘Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they 
shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord/ Ps.cvii.4T/ 


S 


138 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MAN. 

»* 

Much did Mr. Huntingdon owe to the singularity of his ways. 
Singular in his outset and career, singular in his opinions, sin¬ 
gular in his own appearance, singular in his chapel, singular 
in his style of preaching, he seemed to know, as well as most 
men, the value of singularity. He not only excelled in extem¬ 
pore eloquence, but his peculiarities distinguished him from 
most other preachers. Having formally announced his text, 
he laid his Bible at once aside, and never referred to it again. 
Having laid on one side the volume of inspiration, and dis¬ 
daining the trammels of transcription, he proceeded directly 
to his object; and, excepting incidental digressions, as, “ Take 
care of your pockets !” “Wake that snoring sinner !” “ Silence 
that noisy numscull!” “Turn out that drunken dog!” ex¬ 
cepting such occasional digressions, which, like the episodes 
of poetry, must, when skilfully introduced, be understood to 
heighten the effect of the whole, our orator never deviated 
from the course in which he commenced his eccentric career 
of ministerial labour. 

He had other advantages over many of his pulpit compeers. 
Being of the metaphorical and allegorical school, as well as 
possessing his citations by rote, there is seldom to be found 
the passage, from the book of Genesis to the Revelation of St. 
John, that may not have, remotely or allusively, some con¬ 
nection with the subject immediately under his investigation. 
Hence the variety, as well as the fertility, of his eloquence. 
Hence the novelty of his commentaries ; his truly astonishing 
talent of reconciling texts, else undoubtedly incongruous ; 
and of discovering dissimilarities, and asserting difficulties, 
where none were believed to exist. Nothing could exceed the 
dictatorial dogmatism of this famous preacher. Believe him, 
none but him,—and that is enough. If he aimed thus to pin 
the faith of those who hear him, he would say over and over, 
“As sure as I am born, ’tis,” 8cc. or, “ I believe this,” or, “ I 
know this,” “ I am sure of it,” or, “ I believe the plain Eng¬ 
lish of it (some difficult text) to be,” Sic. When he adds, as 
he was wont, by way of fixing his point, “ Now, you can’t 
help it,” or, “ So it is,” or, “ It must be so in spite of you,” 
he did this with a most significant shake of his head, with a 
sort of beldam hauteur , with all the dignity of defiance. Ac¬ 
tion he seemed to have none, except that of shifting his hand¬ 
kerchief from hand to hand, and hugging his cushion as though 
it were his bolster. He therefore owed his distinction to the 
absence of those qualities by which most men rise. Self has 
done great things for him : self-taught, self-raised, all of self. 
“ God (says Mr. H.) enabled me to put out several little books, 
which were almost universally exclaimed against, both by 
preachers and professors, and by these means God sent them 
into all winds; so that I soon rubbed off one hundred, and 


ANIMAL GENERATION. 139 

soon after another, so that, in a short time, I had reduced my 
thousand pounds (debt) down to seven hundred.” 

Of his works, he adds, that “ they are calculated (as he 
thinks,) to suit the earnest inquirer; the soul in bondage, in 
the furnace, in the path of tribulation, or in the strong hold 
of Satan ; and (says he) I have heard of them from Wales, 
from Scotland, from Ireland, from various parts of America, 
from Cadiz in Spain, from Alexandria in Egypt, and, I be¬ 
lieve, from both the East and West Indies.” 

His " Bank of Faith” has proved a bank of gold ! When 
he wrote so much of what came to him as gifts, was it not to 
rouse more to give ? The man who says he lives by gifts, will, 
as he gets his friends, find gifts by which he may live. He 
died at London, in 1813 ; and such was the avidity of his ad¬ 
herents to obtain a relic of him, that his furniture sold at ten 
times the original value. An old chair went off at 
pounds. 





CHAP. XII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS. 

Animal Generation—Formation of Animals—Preservation of 

Animals—Destruction of Animals—Animal Reproductions . 

See, thro’ this air, this ocean, and this earth, 

All matter quick, and bursting into birth. 

Above, how high progressive life may go! 

Around, how wide! how deep extend below! 

Vast chain of Being ! which from God began, 

Nature s ethereal, human, angel, man, 

Beast, bird, fish, insect, what no eye can see, 

No glass can reach; from Infinite to thee, 

From thee to nothing. Pope. 

In entering upon the subject of Curiosities respecting Ani¬ 
mals, we shall first introduce to the reader some interesting 
observations respecting the generation, formation, preserva¬ 
tion, destruction, and reproduction, of animals in general; and, 
first, of animal generation. 

Animal generation holds the first place among all that raise 
our admiration when we consider the Works of the Creator 
and chiefly that appointment by which he has regulated the 
propagation, which is wisely adapted to the disposition anu 
mode }f life of every different species of animals, that people 
earth, air, Gr sea. 

“ Inciease and multiply,” said the benevolent Author ot na- 


140 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS. 


ture, when he pronounced his blessing on the new made world. 
By virtue of this powerful mandate, all the various tribes of 
sentient beings have not only been preserved, but increased 
in an astonishing degree. 

It is not in our province to describe the laws of gestation; 
we will content ourselves with a few brief hints upon this 
subject; and we shall find, that in different animals, nature 
operates in different ways, in order to produce the same 
general end. 

The human female, and the female of quadrupeds, are pos¬ 
sessed of a temperate cherishing warmth; this fits them for easy 
gestation, and enables them to afford proper nourishment to 
their young, till the time of birth. 

Birds are intended to soar in the air, or to flit from place 
o place in search of food. Gestation, therefore, would be 
burdensome to them. For this reason, they lay eggs, covered 
with a hard shell: these, by natural instinct, they sit upon, 
and cherish till the young be excluded. The ostrich and the 
cassowary are said to be exempt from this law; as they com¬ 
mit their eggs to the sand, where the intense heat of the sun 
hatches them. 

Fish es inhabit the waters, and most of them have cold 
blood, unfit for nourishing their young. The all-wise Crea¬ 
tor, therefore, has ordained that most of them should lay their 
eggs near the shore ; where, by means of the solar rays, 
the water is warmer, and also fitter for that purpose ; and 
also because water insects abound more there, which afford 
nourishment to the young fry. 

Salmon, when they are about to deposit their eggs, are led 
by instinct to ascend the stream, where purity and freshness 
are to be found in the waters : and to procure such a situa¬ 
tion for its young, this fish will endure incredible toil and 
hazard. 

The butterfly-fish is an exception to this general law, for 
that brings forth its young alive. The species of fish whose 
residence is in the middle of the ocean, are also exempt. Pro¬ 
vidence has given to these, eggs that swim; so that they are 
hatched among the sea-weeds, which also swim on the sur¬ 
face. 

The various kinds of whales have warm blood, and there¬ 
fore bring forth their young alive, and suckle them with 
their teats. 

Some amphibious animals also bring forth their young alive, 
as the viper, &c. But such species as lay eggs, deposit them 
in places where the heat of the sun supplies the want of warmth 
in the parent. Thus the frog, and the lizard, drop their’s in 
shallow waters, which soon receive a genial heat by the rays 
of the sun; the common snake, in dunghills, or otner warm 


ANIMAL GENERATION. 


141 

places. The crocodile and sea-tortoise go ashore to lay their 
eggs in the sand ; in these cases. Nature, as a provident nurse, 
takes care of all. 

The multiplication of animals is not restrained to the same 
rule in all; for some have a remarkable power of increase, 
while others are, in this respect, confined within very nar¬ 
row limits. Yet, in general, we find, that nature observes 
this order, that the least animals, and those which are most 
useful for food to others, usually increase with the greatest 
rapidity. The mite, and many other insects, will multiply to 
a thousand within the compass of a few days; while the ele¬ 
phant hardly produces a young one in two years. 

Birds of the hawk-kind seldom lay more than two eggs; 
while poultry will produce from fifteen to thirty. The diver, 
or loon, which is eaten by few animals, lays also only two 
eggs; but the duck-kind, moor game, partridges. See. and 
small birds in general, lay a great many. Most of the insect 
tribes neither bear young nor hatch eggs; yet they are the 
most numerous of all living creatures ; and were their bulk 
proportionable to their numbers, there would not be room on 
the earth for any other animals. The Creator has wisely or¬ 
dained the preservation of these minute creatures. The 
females lay not their eggs indiscriminately, but are endued 
with instinct to choose such places as may supply their infant 
offspring with proper nourishment: in their case, this is 
absolutely necessary, for the mother dies as soon as she has 
deposited her eggs, the male parent having died before this 
event takes place ; so that no parental care ever falls to the 
lot of this orphan race. And indeed, were the parents to live, 
it does not appear that they would possess any power to assist 
their young. Butterflies,- weevils, tree-bugs, gall-insects, 
and many others, lay their eggs on the leaves of plants ; and 
every different tribe chooses its own species of plants. Nay, 
there is scarce any plant which does not afford nourishment 
to some insect; and still more, there is hardly any part of a 
plant which is not preferred by some of them. Thus one feeds 
upon the flower; another upon the leaves ; another upon the 
trunk ; and still another upon the root. But it is particularly 
curious to observe how the leaves of some trees of plants are 
formed into dwellings for the convenience of these creatures. 
Thus the gall-insect fixes her eggs in the leaves of an oak; 
the wounded leaf swells, and a knob arises like an apple, 
which includes, protects, and nourishes the embryo. In the 
same manner are the galls produced, which are brought from 
Asiatic Turkey, and which are used both as a medicine, 
and as a dye in several of our manufactories. 

When the tree-bug has deposited its eggs in the boughs 
of the fir-tree, excrescences arise, shaped like pearls. Whe r 


142 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS. 

another insect of the same species has deposited its eggs m 
the mouse-ear, chick-weed, or speedwell plants, the leaves 
contract in a wonderful manner into the shape of a head. 
The water spider excludes eggs either on the extremities of 
juniper, which from thence forms a lodging that resembles 
the arrow-headed grass; or on the leaves of the poplar, from 
whence a red globe is produced. The tree-louse lays its 
eggs on the leaves of the black poplar, which turn into a kind 
of inflated bag; and so in many other instances. 

Nor is it only upon plants that insects live and lay their eggs. 
The gnat commits her’s to stagnant waters; the flesh-fly, in 
putrified flesh; another kind of insect deposits her’s in the 
cracks of cheese. 

Some insects exclude their eggs on certain animals; the 
mill-beetle, between the scales of fishes ; a species of the gad¬ 
fly, on the back of bullocks ; another of the same species, on 
the back of the rein-deer; another, in the noses of sheep ; 
another still, in the intestinal tube, or the throat of horses. 
Nay, even insects themselves are generally surrounded with 
the eggs of other insects; so that there is, perhaps, no ani¬ 
mal to be found, but what affords both lodging, and nourish¬ 
ment, and food, to other animals: even man himself, the 
haughty lord of this lower world, is not exemnt from this 
general law. 

r) 


We shall next call the reader’s attention to some particulars 
respecting the Formation of Animals. 

Whatever matter may be in itself as to its essence, it is certain 
that it appears to our senses as various and heterogeneous: 
however, the modus of the formation of animals is still un¬ 
known. The inspired writers express themselves here, at 
least, according to the capacity of the learned, as well as tho 
vulgar, when they acknowledge the ignorance of mankind,— 
how the bones do at first grow in their embryo state,—and 
that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, when we are 
fashioned secretly in the lower parts of the earth. However, 
it seems not probable, that one part of matter acting upon 
another, should produce animal existence, though we grant 
it may have a strange and unaccountable power in the altera¬ 
tion of matter purely insensible or inanimate. Fermentation 
may dilate, and extremely alter the parts of animated matter, 
when they are delineated and marked out by the finger of the 
Almighty; but still, matter being a principle purely passive 
and irrational, we cannot conceive how it should become an 
animal, any more than a world, it being much more easy for 
stones to leap out of a quarry, and make an Escurial, without 
asking the architect’s leave, or calling for the mason, with 
his mortar and trowel, to assist them. 



MUSK OX. 



AMERICAN BISON 


































































FORMATION OF ANIMALS. 


143 


Nor seems it necessary, or rational, that the first seed of 
every creature should formally include all those seeds that 
should be afterwards produced from it; since it is, we think, 
sufficient that it should potentially include them, just as Abra¬ 
ham did Levi ; or as one kernel does all those indeterminate 
kernels that may be thence afterwards raised; the first seeds 
being doubtless of the same nature with those that now exist, 
after so many thousand years, the order of time making only 
an accidental difference; which if we do not grant, we must 
run into this absurdity, that every thing does not produce its 
like,—a bird a bird, or a horse a horse,—which would be to 
fill all the world with monsters, which nature does so much 
abhor. 

But every vegetable seed, or kernel, for example, does now 
actually and formally contain all the seeds or kernels which 
may be at any time afterwards produced from them. A kernel 
has indeed, as we have found by microscopes, a pretty fair 
and distinct delineation of the tree and branches into which 
it may be afterwards formed by the fermentation of its parts, 
and addition of suitable matter; as in the tree are potentially 
contained all the thousands and millions of kernels, and so of 
trees, that shall or may be thence raised afterwards : and 
some are apt to believe it must be similar in the first animals; 
wheieas the finest glasses, which are brought to an almost 
incredible perfection, cannot discover actual seeds in seeds, 
or kernels in kernels ; though, if there were any such thing as 
an actual least atom, they might, one would think, be disco¬ 
vered by them, since they have shewn us not only seeds, but 
even new animals, in many parts of matter where we never 
suspected them, and even in some of the smallest animals 
themselves, whereof our naked sight can take no cogni¬ 
zance. As for the parts of matter, be they how they will, 
finite or infinite, it makes no great alteration ; for, if these 
parts are not all seminal, we are no nearer. Nay, at best, an 
absurdity seems to be the consequence of this hypothesis; 
because, if those parts are infinite, and include all successive ge¬ 
nerations of animals, it would follow that the number of animals 
too should be infinite ; and, instead of one, we should have a 
thousand infinites ; and it wmuld be strange too if they should 
not, some of them, be greater or less than one another. 

For that pleasant fancy, that all the seeds of animals were 
distinctly created at the beginning of time and things, that 
they are mingled with all the elements, that we take them in 
with our food, and the he and she atoms either fly oft or stay, 
as they like their lodgings ; we hope there is no need of being 
serious to confute it. And we may ask of this, as well as the 
former hypothesis,—what need of them, w r hen the w< rk may 
be done without them 9 The kernel, as before, contains the 




x44 ;>• ORIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS. 

tree, the tree a thousand other fruits, and ten thousand ker¬ 
nels ; the first animal several others; and as many of them 
as Nature can dispose of, and provide fit nourishment for, are 
produced into what we may call actual being, in comparison 
to what they before enjoyed. If it be asked, whether these 
imperfect creatures have all distinct souls while lurking yet 
in their parent? we answer, that there is no need of it; they 
are not yet so much as well-defined bodies, but rather parts 
of the parent: there is required yet a great deal more of the 
chemistry and mechanism of nature, and that in both sexes, 
to make one or more of these embryo beings, the offspring of 
man, capable of receiving a rational soul; but when that ca¬ 
pacity comes, and wherein it consists, perhaps he only 
knows, who is the Father of spirits, as well as the former of 
the universe. 

On the Preservation of Animals. —With respect to 
the preservation of animals, it maybe observed, that in tender 
age, while the young are unable to provide for themselves, 
the parent possesses the most anxious care for them. The 
lioness, the tigress, and every other savage of the wilderness, 
are gentle and tender towards their offspring; they spare no 
pains, no labour, for their helpless progeny ; they scour the 
forest with indescribable rage ; destruction marks their path ; 
they bear their victim to the covert, and teach their whelps to 
quaff the blood of the slain. There is one great law, which 
the all-wise Creator has implanted in animals towards their 
offspring, which is, that, according to their nature, they should 
provide for their nourishment, defence, and comfort. 

All quadrupeds give suck to their young, and support them 
by a liquor of a most delicate taste, and perfectly easy of di¬ 
gestion, till they are capable of receiving nourishment from 
more solid food. 

Birds build their nests in the most artificial manner, and line 
them as soft as possible, that the eggs or young may not be 
injured. Nor do they build promiscuously, but chuse such 
places as are most concealed, and likely to be free from the 
attacks of their enemies: thus the hanging-bird of the tropi¬ 
cal countries, makes its nest of the fibres of withered plants 
lined with down, and fixes it at the extremity of some bough 
hanging over the water, that it may be out of reach ; and the 
diver places its swimming nest upon the water itself, among 
the rushes. 

The male rooks and crows, during the time of incubation, 
bring food to the females. Pigeons, and most of the small 
birds which pair, sit by turns; but where polygamy pi evails, 
the males scarcely take any care of the young. 

Birds of the duck kind pluck the feathers off their breast, 






PRESERVATION OF ANIMALS. 


145 

and cover their eggs with them, lest they should be injured by 
cold when they quit their nest for food ; and when the young 
are hatched, they shew the utmost solicitude in providing for 
them, till they are able to fly, and shift for themselves 

Young pigeons are fed with hard seeds, which the parents 
first have prepared in their own crops, that so the infant bird 
may digest them easily. And the eagle makes its nest on the 
highest precipices of mountains, and in the warmest spot, 
facing the sun ; here the prey which it brings is corrupted by 
the heat, and made digestible to the young. 

There is, indeed, an exception to this fostering care of ani¬ 
mals in the cuckoo, which lays its eggs in the nest of some 
small bird, generally the wagtail, yellow-hammer, or white- 
throat, and leaves both the incubation and preservation of the 
young to them. But naturalists inform us that this apparent 
want of instinct in the cuckoo proceeds from the structure and 
situation of its stomach, which disqualifies it for incubation; 
still its care is conspicuous in providing a proper, though a 
foreign situation, for its eggs. 

Amphibious animals, fishes, and insects, which cannot come 
under the care of their parents, yet owe this to them, that 
they are deposited in places where they easily find proper 
nourishment. 

When animals come to that maturity as no longer to want 
parental care, they exercise the utmost labour and industry 
for the preservation of their own lives. But the different spe¬ 
cies are many, and the individuals of each species are very 
numerous. In order, therefore, that all may be supported, 
the Creator has assigned to each class its proper food, and set 
bounds and limits to their appetites. Some live on particular 
species of plants, which are produced only in particular ani- 
malcula ; others on carcases, and some even on mud and dung. 
For this reason. Providence has ordained that some should 
swim in certain regions of the watery element; that others 
should fly ; and that some should inhabit the torrid, the frigid, 
-or the temperate zones. Different animals also are confined 
to certain spots in the same zone : some frequent the deserts, 
others the meadows, or the cultivated grounds; thus the moun¬ 
tains, the woods, the pools, the gardens, have their proper inha¬ 
bitants. By this means there is no terrestrial tract, no sea, no 
river, no country, but what teems with life. Hence one spe¬ 
cies of animals does not injuriously invade the aliment of an¬ 
other ; and hence the world at all times affords support to so 
many, and such various inhabitants, and nothing which it pro¬ 
duces is in vain. 

We ought to remark, also, the wisdom and goodness of 
Providence in forming the structure of the bodies of animals 
for their peculiar manner of life, and in giving them clothing 

T 



146 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS. 

which is suitable both to the country and element in which 
they live. 

Thus the elephant, the rhinoceros, and the various kinds of 
monkeys, are destined to live in the torrid regions, where the 
sun darts its fiercest rays ; their skins are therefore naked, 
for were they covered with hair, they would perish with heat. 
They are also of such conformation of body as to suit their 
different manner of life. The rein-deer has his habitation in 
the coldest parts of Lapland ; his food is the liverwort, which 
grows nowhere else so abundantly; and as the cold is in that 
country intense, this useful animal is covered with hair of 
the densest kind ; by this means he easily defies the keenness 
of the arctic regions. The rough-legged partridge passes its 
life in the Lapland Alps, where it feeds on the seeds of the 
dwarf birch : while, to withstand the cold, and to enable it to 
run freely among the snow, even its feet are thickly beset with 
feathers. 

The camel is a native of the arid sandy deserts, which, with 
their dreadful sterility, are yet capable of yielding him sup¬ 
port. How wisely has the Creator formed him! his foot is 
made to traverse the burning sands; and as the place of his 
habitation affords but little water, he is made capable of en¬ 
during long journeys, and going many days without quench¬ 
ing his thirst; for he is furnished with a natural reservoir, in 
which, when he drinks, he stores up a quantity of water, and 
has the power of using it in a frugal and sparing manner, 
when, for his food, he crops the dry thistle of the desert. The 
bullock delights in low rich grounds, because there he finds 
the food which is most palatable to him. The wild horse 
chiefly resorts to woods, and feeds upon leafy plants. Sheep 
prefer hills of moderate elevation, where they find a short sweet 
grass, of which they are very fond. Goats climb up the pre¬ 
cipices of mountains, that they may brouse on the tender 
shrubs ; and, in order to fit them for their situation, their feet 
are made for jumping. 

Swine chiefly get provision by turning up the earth; for 
which purpose their snouts are peculiarly formed. In this em¬ 
ployment they find succulent roots, insects, and reptiles. 

So various is the appetite of animals, that, there is scarcely 
any plant which is not chosen by some, and left untouched by 
others. Thus the horse refuses the water hemlock, which the 
goat will eat: the goat will not feed on monkshood, but the 
horse eats it with avidity. The long-leafed water hemlock is 
avoided by the bullock; yet the sheep is fond of it. The 
spurge is poisonous to man; but the caterpillar finds it a 
wholesome nourishment. Some animals live on the leaves of 
certain plants, others on the stalks, and others still on the 
rind, or even the roots of the same vegetable 





\ 


ANTELOPE 


























PRESERVATION OF ANIMALS. 


147 

It should seem from hence, that no plant is absolutely poi¬ 
sonous, but only relatively so: that is, there is no plant but 
what is wholesome food to some animal or other. Thus di¬ 
vine wisdom has assigned an use for all its productions. 

The care of Providence is further evident in giving to each 
animal an instinctive knowledge of its proper aliment; but 
that delicacy of taste and smell, by which they accurately 
distinguish the wholesome from the pernicious, is not so evi¬ 
dent in domestic animals as in those which are in a state of 
nature. 

All birds of the goose kind pass great part of their lives in 
water, feeding on water-insects, fishes, and their eggs. It is. 
evident thajt they are calculated for this mode of existence ; 
their beaks, their necks, their feet, and their feathers, are 
formed for it. All other birds are as aptly fitted for their man¬ 
ner of life as these. 

The sea-swallow is said to get his food in a very singular 
way. Fish are his support, but he is not capable of diving in 
order to catch them like other aquatic birds; the sea-gull, 
therefore, is his caterer: when this last has gorged himself, 
he is pursued by the former, who buffets him till he casts up 
a part of his prey, which the other catches before it reaches 
the water; but in those seasons when the fishes hide them¬ 
selves in deep water, the merganser supplies even the guh 
himself with food, being capable of plunging deeper into the 
sea. 

Small birds are generally supposed to live principally upo’ 
the berries of ivy and hawthorn ; but modern naturalists con¬ 
tradict this, and affirm that their winter food is the knot-grass, 
which bears heavy seeds, like those of the black bind-weed. 
This is a very common plant, not easily destroyed ; it grows 
in great abundance by>the sides of roads, and trampling on it 
will not kill it; it is extremely plentiful in corn-fields after 
harvest, and gives a reddish hue to them by the multitude of 
its seeds. Wherever the husbandman ploughs, this plant 
will grow, nor can all his art prevent it: thus a part of his 
labours are necessarily destined for the propagation of a plant 
which our heavenly Father has designed immediately for the 
support of the “ fowls of the airfor though “ they sow not, 
neither gather into barns,” yet are they fed by him. 

Some birds who live on insects, migrate every year to foreign 
regions, in order to seek food in a milder climate; while all 
the northern countries, where they live well in summer, are 
covered with snow. Some naturalists reckon the different 
species of the Hirundo, or swallow, among the birds of pas¬ 
sage ; while others affirm that they do not migrate, but, at the 
approach of winter, seek an asylum from the cold in the clefts 
of rocks, with which our island is surrounded, or take refuge 


148 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS. 

in the bottom of pools and lakes, among the reeds and rushes; 
others still, who have made their observations with more 
attention and patience than either of the former, allow that 
the old swallows with their early brood do migrate ; but that 
the latter hatches, which are incapable of distant flight, lay 
themselves up, and become torpid during the winter; and at 
the approach of spring, by the wonderful appointment of 
Nature, they come forth again with renewed life and activity. 
In these, and all other animals which become to.rpid in the 
winter, the peristaltic motion of the bowels ceases while they 
are dormant, so that they do not suffer by hunger. Dr. Lis¬ 
ter remarks, concerning this class of animals, that their blood, 
when poured into a vessel, does not coagulate, like that of 
all other animals ; and therefore is no less fit for circulation 
when they revive, than before. 

The birds called moor-fowl, during great snows, work out 
paths for themselves under its surface, where they live in 
safety, and get their food. They moult in summer, so that 
about the latter end of August they cannot fly, and are there¬ 
fore obliged to run in the woods; but then the blackberries 
and bilberries are ripe, from whence they are abundantly sup¬ 
plied with food : but the young do not moult the first year, 
and therefore, though they cannot run so well, are enabled to 
escape danger by flight. 

The migration of birds is not only a fact, but, as it relates 
to many kinds of them, is an useful fact to mankind. This 
remark applies to such of them as feed on insects, the number 
of which is so great, that if these birds did not destroy them, 
it would be almost impossible for us to live. 

Of the various kinds of water-fowl that are known in Eu¬ 
rope, there is hardly any but what, in the spring, are found 
to repair to Lapland. This is a country of lakes, rivers, 
swamps, and mountains, covered with thick and gloomy fo¬ 
rests, that afford shelter during summer to these birds. 

In these arctic regions, by reason of the thickness of the 
woods, the ground remains moist and penetrable, and the 
waters contain the larvae of the gnat in innumerable quantities. 
The days there are long, and the beautiful and splendid me¬ 
teors of the night indulge them with every opportunity of col¬ 
lecting so minute a food; at the same time, men are very 
sparingly scattered over that vast northern waste. Yet, 
Linnaeus, that great explorer of nature, in his excursion to 
Lapland, was astonished at the myriads of water-fowl that 
migrated with him out of that country, which exceeded in 
multitude the army of Xerxes, covering, for eight whole days 
and nights, the surface of the river Calix! The surprise of 
Linnaeus was occasioned by his supposing their support to be 
furnished chiefly by the vegetable kingdom, almost denied 





1 



BROWN BEAR. 




GRIZZLY BEAR 



















PRESERVATION OF ANIMALS. 


149 

to the Lapland waters ; not knowing that the all-bountiful 
Creator had plenteously provided insect food for them in that 
dreary wilderness. 

Certain beasts, also, as well as birds, become torpid, or at 
least inactive, when they are, by the rigour of the season, 
excluded from the necessaries of life. Thus the bear, at the 
end of autumn, collects a quantity of moss, into which he 
creeps, and there lies all the winter, subsisting upon no other 
nourishment than his fat, collected during the summer in 
the cellulous membrane, and which, without doubt, during his 
fast, circulates through his vessels, and supplies the place of 
food. 

The hedge-hog, badger, and some kinds of mice, fill their 
winter quarters with vegetables, which they eat during mild 
weather in the winter, and sleep during the frosts. The bat 
seems cold and quite dead, but revives in the spring: while 
most of the amphibious animals get into dens, or the bottom 
of lakes and pools. 

Among other instances of the preservation of animals, we 
ought to mention that of the pole-cat of America, commonly 
called the squash or skink. This is a small animal of the 
weasel kind, which some of the planters of that country keep 
about their premises to perform the office of a cat. This crea¬ 
ture has always a very strong and disagreeable smell, but 
when affrighted or enraged, it emits so horrible a stench, as 
to prevent any other creature from approaching it: even dogs 
in pursuit of it, when they find this extraordinary mode of 
defence made use of, will instantly turn, and leave him undis¬ 
puted master of the field ; nor can any attempts ever bring 
them to rally again. Kalm, as quoted by Buffon, says, “ One 
of these animals came near the farm where I lived in the year 
1749. It was in the winter season, during the night; and 
the dogs that were upon the watch, pursued it for some time, 
until it discharged against them. Although I was in bed a 
good way off, I thought I should have been suffocated ; and 
the cows and oxen themselves, by their lowings, shewed how 
much they were affected by the stench.” 

Nor is even the serpent, in its various kinds, destitute of 
the care of the common Father of nature. This reptile, which 
has neither wings to fly, nor the power to run with much 
speed, would not have the means to take its prey, were it not 
endowed with superior cunning to most other creatures. In 
favour of the serpent, also, there is a terror attending its ap¬ 
pearance, which operates with such power upon birds and 
other small animals, as often to cause them to fall an easy 
prey to it. Hence, probably, has arisen the fiction of the 
power of fascination, which has been confidently ascribed to 
the rattlesnake and some other serpents 


150 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS 


On the Destruction of Animals. 

In considering the destruction of animals, we may observe 
that Nature is continually operating : she produces, preserves 
for a time, and then destroys all her productions. Man him¬ 
self is subject to this general order ; for he also, like other 
creatures, returns to the dust from whence he was taken. 

This process of nature is marked even in the vicissitudes 
of the seasons. Spring, like the jovial, playful infancy of all 
living creatures, represents childhood and youth ; for then 
plants spread forth their flowers, fishes play in the waters, 
birds sing, and universal nature rejoices. Summer, like mid¬ 
dle age, exhibits plants and trees full clothed in green; fruits 
ripen ; and every thing is full of life. But autumn is compa¬ 
ratively gloomy; for then the leaves fall from the trees, and 
plants begin to wither, insects grow torpid, and many animals 
retire to their winter quarters. 

The day proceeds with steps similar to the year. In the 
morning every thing is fresh and playful; at noon all is 
energy and action; evening follows, and everything is inert 
and sluggish. 

Thus the age of man begins from the cradle ; pleasing child¬ 
hood succeeds ; then sprightly youth ; afterwards manhood, 
firm, severe, and intent on self-preservation ; lastly, old age 
creeps on, debilitates, and, at length, totally destroys our 
tottering bodies. 

But we must consider the destruction of animals more at 
at large. We have before observed, that all animals do not 
live on vegetables, but there are some which feed on animal- 
cula; others on insects. Nay, some there are which subsist 
only by rapine, and daily destroy some or other of the peace¬ 
able kind. 

The destruction of animals by each other, is generally in 
progression,—the strong prevailing against the weak. Thus, 
the tree-louse lives on plants; the fly called musca amphidi- 
vora, lives on the tree-louse; the hornet and wasp-fly, on the 
musca amphidivora; the dragon-fly, on the hornet and wasp-fly; 
the larger spider, on the dragon-fly; small birds feed on the 
spider; and lastly, the hawk kind on the small birds. 

In like manner, the monoculus delights in putrid waters ; 
the gnat eats the monoculus ; the frog eats the gnat; the pike 
eats the frog ; and the sea-calf eats the pike. 

The bat and the goat-sucker make their excursions only at 
night, that they may catch the moths, which at that time fly 
about in great quantities. 

The woodpecker pulls out the insects which lie hid in the 
trunks of trees. The swallow pursues those which fly about 
in the open air. The mole feeds on worms and grubs in the 
earth. The large fishes devour the small ones. And perhaps 









DESTRUCTION OF ANIMALS. ^ 51 

there is not an animal in existence, which has not an enemy 
to contend with. 

Among quadrupeds, wild beasts are most remarkably perni¬ 
cious and dangerous to others. But that they may not, by 
their cruelty, destroy a whole species, these are circumscribed 
within certain bounds : as to the fiercest of them, they are 
few in number, when compared with other animals; some¬ 
times they fall upon and destroy each other; and it is remark¬ 
ed also, that they seldom live to a great age, for they are 
subject, from the nature of their diet, to various diseases, 
which bring them sooner to an end than those animals which 
live on vegetables. It has been asked, why has the Supreme 
Being constituted such an order in nature, that, it should 
seem, some animals are created only to be destroyed by others? 
To this it has been answered, that Providence not only aimed 
at sustaining, but also keeping a just proportion amongst all 
the species, and so preventing any one of them f rom increas¬ 
ing too much, to the detriment of men and other animals. For 
if it be true, as it assuredly is, that the surface of the earth 
can support only a certain number of creatures, they must all 
perish, if the same number were doubled or trebled. 

There are many kinds of flies, which bring forth so abun¬ 
dantly, that they would soon fill the air, and, like clouds, in¬ 
tercept the light of the sun, unless they were devoured by 
birds, spiders, and other animals. 

Storks and cranes free Egypt from frogs, which, after the 
inundation of the Nile, cover the whole country. Falcons 
clear Palestine from mice. Bellonius, on this subject, says. 

The storks come to Egypt in such abundance, that the fields 
and meadows are quite white with them. Yet the Egyptians 
are not displeased with them, as frogs are generated in such 
numbers, that, did not the storks devour them, they would 
over-run every thing. Besides, they also catch and eat ser¬ 
pents. Between Belba and Gaza, the fields of Palestine are 
often injured by mice and rats ; and were these vermin not 
oestroyed by the falcons, that come hereby instinct, the inha¬ 
bitants could have no harvest.” 

The white fox is of equal advantage in the Lapland Alps ; 
as he destroys the Norway rat, which, by its prodigious in¬ 
crease, would otherwise entirely destroy vegetation in that 
country. 

It is sufficient for us to believe that Providence is wise in 
all its works, and that nothing is made in vain. When rapa¬ 
cious animals do us mischief, let us not think that the Creator 
planned the order of nature according to our private principles 
of economy; for the Laplander has one way of living, the 
European husbandman another, and the Hottentot difiers from 
them both ; whereas the stupendous Deity is one throughout 



152 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS 


the globe; and if Providence do not always calculate ac¬ 
cording to our method of reckoning, we ought to consider 
this affair in the same light as when different seamen wait for 
a fair wind, every one with respect to the port to which he ia 
bound ; these we plainly see cannot all be satisfied. 

We shall conclude this branch, by turning once more to 
Man, and tracing him through his progressive stages of decay, 
until death puts a final period to his earthly existence. 

The human form has no sooner arrived at its state of perfec¬ 
tion, than it begins to decline. The alteration is at first insen¬ 
sible, and often several years are elapsed before we find our¬ 
selves grown old. The news of this unwelcome change too 
generally comes from without; and we learn from others that 
we grow old, before we are willing to believe the report. 

When the body is come to its full height, and is extended 
into its just dimensions, it then also begins to receive an addi¬ 
tional bulk, which rather loads than assists it. This is form¬ 
ed of fat, which, generally, at about the age of forty, covers 
all the muscles, and interrupts their activity. Every exertion 
is then performed with greater labour, and the increase of size 
only serves as the forerunner of decay. 

The bones also become every day more solid. In the em¬ 
bryo they are almost as soft as the muscles and the flesh, but 
by de grees they harden, and acquire their proper vigour ; but 
still, for the purpose of circulation, they are furnished through 
all their substance with their proper canals. Nevertheless, 
these canals are of very different capacities during the diffe¬ 
rent stages of life. In infancy they are capacious, and the 
blood flows almost as freely through the bones as through any 
other part of the body ; in manhood their size is greatly di¬ 
minished, the vessels are almost imperceptible, and the circu¬ 
lation is proportionably slow. But in the decline of life, the 
blood which flows through the bones, no longer contributing 
to their growth, must necessarily serve to increase their 
hardness. The channels which run through the human frame 
may be compared to those pipes that we see crusted on the 
inside, by the water, for a long continuance, running through 
them. Both every day grow less and less, by the small rigid 
particles which are deposited within them. Thus, as the ves¬ 
sels are by degrees diminished, the juices also, which circu¬ 
late through them, are diminished in proportion ; till at length 
in old age, these props of the human frame are not only more 
solid, but more brittle. 

The cartilages, likewise, grow more rigid ; the juices circu¬ 
lating through them, every day contribute to make them 
harder, so that those parts which in youth are elastic and pli¬ 
ant, in age become hard and bony, consequently the motion 
of the joints must beome more difficult. Thus, in old age. 




DESTRUCTION OF ANIMALS. 


153 


every action of the body is performed with labour, and the 
cartilages, formerly so supple, will now sooner break than 
bend. 

As the cartilages acquire hardness, and unfit the joints foi 
motion, so also that mucous liquor, which is always secreted 
between the joints, and which serves, like oil to a hinge, to 
give them an easy and ready play, is now grown more scanty. 
It becomes thicker and more clammy, more unfit for answer¬ 
ing the purposes of motion, and from thence, in old age every 
joint is stiff and awkward. At every motion this clammy liquor 
is heard to crack ; and it is not without a great effort of the 
muscles, that its resistance is overcome. Old persons have 
been known, that seldom moved a single joint without thus 
giving notice of the violence that was done to it. 

The membranes that cover the bones, joints, and the rest 
of the body, become, as we grow old, more dense and more 
dry. Those w r hich surround the bones soon cease to be ductile. 
The fibres, of which the muscles or flesh is composed, become 
every day more rigid; and while, to the touch, the body seems, 
as we advance in years, to grow softer, it is in reality in¬ 
creasing in hardness. It is the skin, and not the flesh, that 
we feel on such occasions. The fat, and the flabbiness of it, 
seem to give an appearance of softness, which the flesh itself 
is very far from having. None can doubt this after trying the 
difference between the flesh of young and old animals. The 
first is soft and tender, the last is hard and dry. 

The skin is the only part of the body that age does not har¬ 
den ; that stretches to every degree of tension ; and we have 
often frightful instances of its pliancy, in many disorders 
which are incident to humanity. In youth, while the body is 
vigorous and increasing, it continues to give way to its growth. 
But although it thus adapts itself to our increase, its does not 
in the same manner conform to our decay. The skin, in youth 
and health, is plump, glossy, veined, and clear; but when 
the body begins to decline, it has not elasticity enough to 
shrink entirely with its diminution; it becomes dark or yellow, 
and hangs in wrinkles, which no cosmetic can remove. The 
wrinkles of the body in general proceed from this cause ; but 
those of the fate seem to proceed from another, namely, from 
that variety of positions into which it is put by the speech, 
the food, or the passions. Every grimace, every passion, and 
every gratification of appetite, puts the visage into different 
forms. These are visible enough in young persons; but what 
at first w 7 as accidental or transitory, becomes, by habit, unal¬ 
terably fixed in the visage as it grow r s older. 

Hence, as w r e advance in age, the bones, the cartilages, the 
membranes, the flesh, and every fibre of the body, becomes 
moie solid, more dry, and more brittle. Every part shrinks 

U 


% 


154 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS. 

motion becomes more slow, the circulation of tl e fluids is 
performed with less freedom; perspiration diminishes; the 
secretions alter , the digestion becomes laborious; and the 
juices no longer serve to convey their accustomed nourish¬ 
ment, Thus the body dies by little and little, and all its func¬ 
tions are diminished by degrees; life is driven from one part 
of the frame to another; universal rigidity prevails; and 
death, at last, seizes upon the remnant that is left. 

As the bones, the cartilages, the muscles, and all other 
parts of the body, are softer in women than in men, these 
parts must, of consequence, require a longer time to arrive 
at that state of hardness which occasions death. Women, 
therefore, ought to be longer in growing old than men, and 
this is, generally speaking, the case. If we consult the tables 
which have been drawn up respecting human life, we shall find 
that, after a certain age, they are more long-lived than men, 
all other circumstances the same. Thus a woman of sixty has 
a greater probability, than a man of the same age, of living 
till eighty. 

We shall close this chapter with an account of Animal 
Reproductions. 

Here we discover a new field of wonders, that seems entirely 
to contradict the principles that we had adopted concerning 
the formation of organized bodies. It was long thought that 
animalscould only be multiplied by eggs, or by youngones. But 
it is now found that there are some exceptions to this general 
rule, since certain animal bodies have been discovered, that 
may be divided into as many complete bodies as you please ; 
for each part thus separated from the parent body, soon re¬ 
pairs what is deficient, and becomes a complete animal. It 
is now no longer doubtful that the polypus belongs to the 
class of animals, though it much resembles plants, both 
in form, and in its mode of propagating. The bodies of these 
creatures may be either cut across or longitudinally, and the 
pieces will become so many complete polypi. Even from the 
skin, or least part, cut off from the body, one or more polypi 
will be produced ; and if several pieces cut off be joined to¬ 
gether by the extremities, they will perfectly unite, nourish each 
other, and become one body. This discovery has given rise 
to other experiments, and it has been found that polypi are not 
the only animals which live and grow after being cut in pieces. 
The earth-worm will multiply after being cut in two ; to the 
tail there grows a head, and the two pieces then become two 
wmrms. After having been divided, they cannot be joined 
together again; they remain for some time in the same state, 
or grow rather smaller; we then see at the extremity which 
was cut, a little white button begin to appear, which increases 




aNIMAL reproduction. 


15b 

and gradually lengthens. Soon after, we may observe rings 
at first very close together, but insensibly extending on all 
sides; a new stomach, and other organs, are then formed. 
We may at any time make the following experiment with 
snails : cut off their heads close by the horns, and in a cer¬ 
tain space of time the head will be reproduced. A similar 
circumstance takes place in crabs; if one of their claws is 
torn off‘, it will again be entirely reproduced. 

A very remarkable experiment was made by Duhamel, on 
the thigh of a chicken. After the thigh-bone which had been 
broken was perfectly restored, and a callus completely form¬ 
ed, he stripped off the flesh down to the bone;—the parts 
were gradually reproduced, and the bone, and the circulation 
of the blood, again renewed. We know then that some ani¬ 
mals may be multiplied by dividing them into pieces ; and we 
no longer doubt that the young of certain insects may be 
produced in the same manner as a branch is from a tree ; that, 
being cut in pieces, they will live again in the smallest 
piece ; that they may be turned inside out like a glove, divided 
into pieces, then turned again, and yet live, eat, grow, and 
multiply. Here a question offers itself, which perhaps no 
naturalist can resolve in a satisfactory manner: How does it 
happen that the parts thus cut off, can be again reproduced ? 
We must suppose that germs are distributed to every part of 
the body; whilst in other animals they are only contained 
in certain parts. These germs unfold themselves when they 
receive propern ourishment. Thus, when an animal is cut in 
pieces, the germ is supplied with the necessary juices, which 
would have been conveyed to other parts, if they had not been 
diverted into a different channel. The superfluous juices deve¬ 
lop those parts which without them would have continued 
attached to each other. Every part of the polypus and worm, 
contains in itself, as the bud does the rudiments of a tree, all 
the viscera necessary to the animal. The parts essential to 
life are distributed throughout the body, and the circulation 
is carried on even in the smallest particles. As we do not 
understand all the means that the Author of nature makes use 
of to distribute life and feeling to such a number of animals, 
we have no reason to maintain, that the creatures of which 
we have been speaking, are the only ones that are exceptions 
to the general rule in their mode of propagating. The fecun¬ 
dity of nature, and the infinite wisdom of the Creator, always 
surpass our feeble conceptions. The same hand that has 
formed the polypus and the worm, has shewn us that it is able 
to simplify the structure of animals 



CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMAL* 


ibO 


CHAP. XIII. 

curiosities respecting animals.— (Continued.) 

I'/ie Beaver, audits Habitations—The Mole—The Frog — The 

Toad—The Rhinoceros—Crocodiles and Alligators — Fossi. 

Crocodile—The Ornithorhynchus Paradoxus—The Marmot, or 

Mountain Rat, of Switzerland. 

Nature’s unnumber’d family combine 
In one beneficent, one vast design ; 

E’en from inanimates to breathing man,— 

A heaven-conceiv’d, heaven-executed plan ; 

Onward, from those who soar or lowly creep, 

The wholesome equipoise through all to keep, 

As faithful agents in earth, sea, and air, 

The lower world to watch with constant care ; 

Her due proportion wisely to conserve :— 

A wondrous trust, from which they never swerve. Pratt 

It would not be consistent with the plan of this work to 
embrace the whole natural history of the animal and vegetable 
kingdom. This is a Book of Curiosities ; and it is our inten- 
tion to present the reader with a sketch of the most remark¬ 
able things in the universe : our present subject, therefore, 
being curiosities respecting animals, we shall commence 
with— 

The Beaver. —This animal was known to the ancients for 
its possession of that sebaceous matter called castor, secreted 
by two large glands near its genitals and anus, and of which 
each animal has about two ounces ; but they appear to have 
been unacquainted with its habits and economy, with that 
mental contrivance and practical dexterity, which in its natu¬ 
ral state so strikingly distinguish it. Beavers are found in 
the most northern latitudes of Europe and Asia, but are most 
abundant in North America. 

In the months of June and July, they assemble in large 
companies to the number of two hundred, on the banks of 
some water, and proceed to the formation of their establish 
ment. If the water be subject to risings and fallings, they 
erect a dam, to preserve it at a constant level; where this 
level is naturally preserved, this labour is superseded. The 
length of this dam is occasionally eight feet. In the prepara¬ 
tion of it, they begin with felling some very high, but not 
extremely thick tree, on the border of a river, which can be 
made to fall into the water; and, in a short time, this is ef 
fected by the united operation of many, with their fore-teeth, 
the branches being afterwards cleared by the same process 
4 multitude of smaller trees are found necessary to complete 






















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































■I 








* 


THE BEAVER. 15, 

the fabric, and many of these are dragged from some dist&nce 
by land, and formed into stakes ; the fixing of which is a 
work of extreme difficulty and perseverance, some of the bea* 
vers with their teeth raising their large ends against the cross¬ 
beam, while others at the bottom dig with their fore-feet the 
holes in which the points are to be sunk. A series of these 
stakes, in several rows, is established from one bank of the 
river to the other, in connection with the cross-tree, and the 
intervals betw r een them are filled up by vast quantities of 
earth, brought from a distance, and plashed with materials 
adapted to give it tenacity, and prevent its being carried off. 
The bark is formed at the bottom, of about the width of twelve 
feet, diminishing as it approaches the surface of the water, to 
two or three ; being thus judiciously constructed to resist its 
weight and efforts by the inclined plane instead of perpendi¬ 
cular opposition. 

These preparations., of such immense magnitude and toil, 
being completed, they proceed to the construction of their 
mansions, which are raised on piles near the margin of the 
stream or lake, and have one opening from the land, and an¬ 
other by which they have instant access to the water. These 
buildings are usually of an orbicular form, in general about 
the diameter of ten feet, and comprehending frequently seve¬ 
ral stories. The foundation walls are nearly two feet in thick¬ 
ness, resting upon planks or stakes, which constitute also 
their floors. In the houses of one story only, the walls, which 
in all cases are plastered with extreme neatness both exter¬ 
nally and within, after rising about two feet perpendicularly, 
approach each other, so as at length to constitute, in closing, 
a species of dome. In the application of the mortar to their 
habitations, the tails as well as feet of the beavers are of es¬ 
sential service. Stone, wood, and a sandy kind of earth, are 
employed in their structures, which, by their compactness and 
strength, completely preclude injury from winds and rain. 
The alder, poplar, and willow, are the principal trees which 
they employ ; and they always begin their operations on the 
trunk, at nearly two feet above the ground; nor do they ever 
desist from the process till its fall is completed. They sit 
instead of stand, at this labour, and while reducing the tree 
to the ground, derive a pleasure at once from the success of 
their toils, and from the gratification of their palate and 
appetite by the bark, which is a favourite species of food to 
them, as well as the young and tender parts of the wood 
;tself. 

For their support in winter, ample stores are laid up near 
each separate cabin; and occasionally, to give variety and 
luxury to their repasts during a long season, in which their 
stores must have become dry and nearly tasteless, they will 









{.58 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS 

make excursions into the neighbouring woods for iresli sup¬ 
plies. Depredations by the tenants of one cabin on the ma¬ 
gazines of another are unknown, and the strictest notions of 
property and honesty are universal. Some of their habitations 
will contain six only, others twelve, and some even twenty or 
thirty inhabitants ; and the whole village or township contains 
in general about twelve or fourteen habitations. Strangers are 
not permitted to intrude on the vicinity ; but, amidst the differ¬ 
ent members of the society itself, there appears to prevail that 
attachment and that friendship which are the natural result of 
mutual co-operation, and of active and successful struggles 
against difficulty. The approach of danger is announced by 
the violent striking of their tails against the surface of the 
water, which extends the alarm to a great distance ; and, while 
some throw themselves for security into the water, others re¬ 
tire within the precincts of their cabins, where they are safe 
from every enemy but man. 

The neatness as well as the security of their dwellings is re¬ 
markable, the floors being strewed over with box and fir, and 
displaying the most admirable cleanness and order. Their 
general position is that of sitting, the upper part of the body, 
with the head, being considerably raised, while the lower 
touches, and is somewhat indeed immersed in, the water. 
This element is not only indispensable to them in the same 
way as to other quadrupeds, but they carefully preserve access 
to it even when the ice is of very considerable depth, for the 
purpose of regaling themselves by excursions to a great extent 
under the frozen surface. The most general method of taking 
them is by attacking their cabins during these rambles, and 
watching their approach to a hole dug in the ice at a small 
distance, to which they are obliged, after a certain time, to 
resort for respiration. 

If a man, who had never been informed of the industry of 
beavers and their manner of building, were shewn the edifices 
that they construct, he would suppose them to be tbe work of 
most eminent architects. Every thing is wonderful in the 
labours of these amphibious animals ; the regular plan, the 
size, the solidity, and the admirable art of these buildings, 
must fill every attentive observer with astonishment. 

The works of beavers have a great resemblance to those of 
men ; and upon their first appearance we may imagine them to 
be produced by rational and thinking beings ; but when we 
examine them nearer, we shall find that in all their proceed¬ 
ings, these animals do not act upon the principles of reason, 
but by an instinct which is implanted in them by nature. If 
reason guided their labours, we should naturally conclude that 
the buildings which they now construct would be very differ¬ 
ent from those they formerly made, and that they would gra- 




THE BEAVER.— THE MOLE 


15ft 

dually advance towards perfection. But we find that they 
never vary in the least from the rules of their forefathers, ne¬ 
ver deviate from the circle prescribed to them by nature, and 
the beavers of to-day build exactly after the same plan as 
those which lived before the deluge. But they are not the 
less worthy of our admiration. In these sagacious creatures 
we have an example of the great diversity there is in the in¬ 
stinct of animals—how superior is the instinct of the beaver 
to that of the sheep ! • 

The flesh of the anterior part of the bodies of beavers re 
sembles that of land animals in substance and flavour ; while 
that of the lower possesses the taste, and smell, and lightness 
of fish. 

The sexual union among these animals is connected with 
considerable individual choice, sentiment, and constancy.— 
Every couple pass together the autumn and winter, with the 
most perfect comfort and affection. About the close of winter, 
the females, after a gestation of four months, produce, in ge¬ 
neral, each two or three young, and soon after this period 
they are quitted by the males, who ramble into the country to 
enjoy the return of spring; occasionally returning to their 
cabins, but no longer dwelling in them. When the females 
have reared their young, which happens in the course of a few 
weeks, to a state in which they can follow their dams, these 
also quit their winter residence, and resort to the woods, to 
enjoy the opening bloom and renovated supplies of nature. If 
their habitations on the water should be impaired by floods, 
or winds, or enemies, the beavers assemble with great rapi¬ 
dity to repair the damage. If no alarm of this nature occurs, 
the summer is principally spent by them in the woods, and on 
the advance of autumn they assemble in the scene of their 
former labours and friendships, and prepare with assiduity 
for the confinement and rigours of approaching winter. 

When taken young, the beaver may be tamed without diffi¬ 
culty ; but it exhibits few or no indications of superior intelli¬ 
gence. Some beavers are averse to that association which so 
strikingly characterizes these animals in general, and satisfy 
themselves with digging holes in the banks of rivers, instead 
of erecting elaborate habitations. The fur of these is compa¬ 
ratively of little value. 

Another subject of animal curiosity is. The Mole. —This 
animal is about six inches in length, without the tail 
Its body is large and cylindrical, and its snout strong and car¬ 
tilaginous. Its skin is of extraordinary thickness, and co¬ 
vered with a fur, short, but yielding to that of no other animal 
in fineness. It hears with particular acuteness, and, notwith¬ 
standing the popular opinion to the contrary, possesses eyes, 


/ 


l6G CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS. 

which it is stated to be able to withdraw or project at pleasure 
It lives partly on the roots of vegetables, but principally on 
animal food, such as worms and insects, and is extremely 
voracious and fierce. Shaw relates, from Sir Thomas Brown, 
that a mole, a toad, and a serpent, have been repeatedly in¬ 
closed in a large glass vase, and that the mole has not only 
killed the others, but has devoured a very considerable par* 
of them. It abounds in soft ground, in which it can dig with 
ease, and which furnishes it with a great supply of food. I 
forms its subterraneous apartments with great facility by its 
snout and feet, and with a very judicious reference to escape 
and comfort. It produces four or five young in the spring, in 
a nest a little beneath the surface, composed of moss and 
herbage. It is an animal injurious to the grounds of the 
farmer, by throwing up innumerable hills of mould, in the 
construction of its habitation, or the pursuit of its food, and 
many persons obtain their subsistence from the premiums, 
which are, on this account, given for their destruction. Moles 
can swim with considerable dexterity, and are thus furnished 
with the means of escape in sudden inundations, to which they 
are frequently exposed. In Ireland, the mole is unknown. 

The Common Frog. —This is an animal so well known, that 
it needs no description: but some of its properties are very 
singular. Its spring, or power of taking large leaps, is re¬ 
markably great, and it is the best swimmer of all four-footed 
animals. Its parts are finely adapted for those ends, the fore 
members of the body being very lightly made, the hind legs 
and thighs very long, and furnished with very strong muscles. 
While in a tadpole state, it is entirely a water animal, for in 
this element the spawn is cast. As soon as frogs are released 
from their tadpole state, they immediately take to land; and 
if the weather has been hot, and there fall any refreshing 
showers, the ground for a considerable space is perfectly 
blackened by myriads of these animalcules, seeking for some 
secure lurking places. Some persons not taking time to ex¬ 
amine into this phenomenon, imagined them to have been 
generated in the clouds, and showered on the earth : but had 
they, like Mr. Derham, traced them to the next pool, they 
would have found a better solution of the difficulty. As frogs 
adhere closely to the backs of their < wn species, so we know 
they will do the same by fish. That they will injure, if not 
entirely kill carp, is a fact indisputable, from the following 
relation. 

Not many years ago, on fishing a pond belonging to Mr. 
Pitt, of Encomb, Dorsetshire, great numbers of the carp 
were found, each with a frog mounted on it, the hind le^s 
clinging to the back, and the fore legs fixed to the corner of 







THE FROG.-THE TO A I). 161 

each eye of the fish, which were thin and greatly wasted, 
teased by carrying so disagreeable a load. The croaking of 
frogs is well known; and from that, in fenny countries, they 
are distinguished by ludicrous titles,—thus they are styled 
Dutch nightingales, and Boston waites. Yet there is a time of 
the year when they become mute, neither croaking nor open¬ 
ing their mouths for a whole month ; this happens in the hot 
season, and that is in many places known to the country peo¬ 
ple by the name of the paddock-moon. It is said, that during 
that period their mouths are so closed, that no force (without 
killing the animal) will be capable of opening them. These, 
as well as other reptiles, feed but a small space of the year. 
Their food is flies, insects, and snails. During winter, frogs 
and toads remain in a torpid state ; the last of which will dig 
into the earth, and cover themselves with almost the same 
agility as the mole. 

Not less remarkable is The Common Toad. —This is the 
most deformed and hideous of all animals. The body is broad, 
the back flat, and covered with a pimply dusky hide ; the 
belly large, swagging, and swelling out; the legs short, and 
its pace laboured and crawling ; its retreat gloomy and filthy : 
in short, its general appearance is such as to strike one with 
disgust and horror. Yet it is said that its eyes are fine. iElian 
and other ancient writers tell many ridiculous fables of the 
poison of the toad. 

This animal was believed by some old writers to have a 
stone in its head fraught with great virtues, medical and ma¬ 
gical : it was distinguished by the term of, the reptile, and 
called the toad-stone, bufonites, krottenstern, and other names, 
but all its fancied powers vanished on the discovery of its being 
nothing but the fossil tooth of the sea-wolf, or of some other 
flat-toothed fish, not unfrequent in our island, as well as seve¬ 
ral other countries. But these fables have been long exploded. 
And as to the notion of its being a poisonous animal, it is 
probable that its excessive deformity, joined to the faculty it 
has of emitting a juice from its pimples, and a dusky liquid 
from its hind parts, is the foundation of the report. That it 
has any noxious qualities, there seem to be no proofs in the 
smallest degree satisfactory, though we have heard many 
strange relations on that point. On the contrary, many have 
taken them in their naked hands, and held them long without 
i eceiving the least injury. It is also well known that quacks 
have eaten them, and have squeezed their juices into a glass, 
and drank them with impunity They are also a common food 
to many animals ; to buzzards, owls, Norfolk plovers, ducks, 
and snakes, which would not touch them, were they in any de¬ 
gree noxious. 


X 


i62 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS. 

The fullest information concerning the nature and qualities 
of this animal is contained in letters from Mr. Arscott and 
Mr. Pitfield to Dr. Milles, communicated to Mr. Pennant; 
concerning a toad that lived above thirty-six years with 
them, was completely tame, and became so great a favourite 
that most of the ladies in the neighbourhood got the better of 
their prejudices so far as to be anxious to see it fed. Its food 
was insects, such as millepedes, spiders, ants, flies, &c. but 
it was particularly fond of flesh worms, which were bred on pur¬ 
pose for it. It never appeared in winter, but regularly made 
its appearance in the spring, when the warm weather com¬ 
menced, climbing up a few steps, and waiting to be taken up, 
carried into the house, and fed upon a table. Before it at¬ 
tacked the insects, it fixed its eyes on them, and remained 
motionless for a quarter of a minute, when it attacked them 
by an instantaneous motion of its tongue, darted on the insect 
with such rapidity that the eye could not follow it, whereby 
the insect stuck to the tip of its tongue, and was instantly 
conveyed to its mouth. This favourite toad at last lost its life, 
in consequence of being attacked by a tame raven, which 
picked out one of its eyes ; and although the toad was rescued, 
and lived a year longer, it never recovered its health or spirit. 
It never showed any signs of rage, being never provoked. 

Our next subject is an animal of great bulk. The Rhi¬ 
noceros. —This quadruped is exceeded in size only by the 
elephant. Its usual length, not including the tail, is twelve 
feet, and the circumference of its body nearly the same. Its 
nose is armed with a horny substance, projecting, in the full- 
grown animal, nearly three feet, and is a weapon of defence, 
which almost secures it from every attack. Even the tiger, 
with all his ferocity, is but very rarely daring enough to assail 
the rhinoceros. Its upper lip is of considerable length and 
pliability, acting like a species of snout, grasping the shoots 
of trees and various substances, and conveying them to the 
mouth; and it is capable of extension and contraction at the 
animal’s convenience. The skin is, in some parts, so thick 
and hard as scarcely to be penetrable by the sharpest sabre, or 
even by a musket-ball. These animals are found in Bengal, 
Siam, China, and in several countries of Africa ; but are far 
less numerous than the elephant, and of sequestered solitary 
habits. The female produces only one at a birth ; and at the 
age of two years the horn is only an inch long, and at six 
only of the length of nine inches. The rhinoceros is not fero¬ 
cious, unless provoked, when he exhibits paroxysms of rage 
and madness, and is highly dangerous to those who encounter 
him. He runs with great swiftness, and rushes through brakes 
and woods with an energy to which every thing yields. He is 






RHINOCEROS. 

Many varieties of this formidable animal are found in Asia and Africa. 
The above figure represents the Asiatic variety, which has but one horn. 



RHINOCEROS. 

Of the African rhinoceros, Mr. Cumming, the famous hunter, describes 
several kinds. The above figure represents the two-horned kind, which is 
found nowhere but in Africa. Mr. Cumming killed many of this kind. 










































































r* 





































































/ 







































THE RHINOCEROS.-THE CROCODILE. 163 

generally, however, quiet and inoffensive. Its food consists 
entirely of vegetables, the tender branches of trees, and suc¬ 
culent herbage, of which it will devour immense quantities. 
It delights in retired and cool situations, neai lakes and 
streams, and appears to derive one :f the highest sacisfactiong 
from the practice of rolling and wallowing in mud,—in this 
respect bearing a striking resemblance to the hog. 

This animal was exhibited, by Augustus, to the Romans, 
and is supposed to be the unicorn of the scripture, as it pos¬ 
sesses the properties ascribed to that animal, of magnitude, 
strength, and swiftness, in addition to that peculiarity of a 
single horn, which may be considered as establishing their 
identity. This animal can distinguish, by its sight, only what 
is directly before it, and always, when pursued, takes the 
course immediately before it, almost without the slightest 
deviation from a right line, removing every impediment. Its 
sense of smelling is very acute, and also of hearing, and, on 
both these accounts, the hunters approach him against the 
wind. In general, they watch his lying down to sleep, when, 
advancing with the greatest circumspection, they discharge 
their muskets into his belly. The flesh is eaten both in Africa 
and India. 

We now proceed to The Crocodile. —This animal is a na¬ 
tive both of Africa and Asia, but is most frequently found in 
the former, inhabiting its vast rivers, and particularly the 
Niger and the Nile. It has occasionally been seen of the length 
of even thirty feet, and instances of its attaining that cf 
twenty are by no means uncommon. It principally subsists 
on fish, but such is its voracity, that it seizes almost every 
thing that comes within its reach. The upper part of its body 
is covered with a species of armour, so thick and firm, as to be 
scarcely penetrable with a musket-ball; an4 the whole body 
has the appearance of an elaborate covering of carved work. 
It is an oviparous animal, and its eggs scarcely exceed in size 
those of a goose. These eggs are regarded as luxuries by the 
natives of some countries of Africa, who will also with great 
relish partake of the flesh of the crocodile itself. When young, 
the small size and weak state of the crocodile prevent its be¬ 
ing injurious to any animal of considerable bulk or strength; 
and those which have been brought living to England have by 
no means indicated that ferocious and devouring character 
which they have been generally described to possess; a cir¬ 
cumstance probably owing to the change of climate, and the 
reducing effect of confinement. 

In its native climate its power and propensity to destruction 
are unouestionably great, and excite in the inhabitants of the 
territories near its haunts a high degree of terror. It lies in 


164 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS. 


wait near the banks of rivers, and, with a sudden spring, seizes 
any animal that approaches within its reach, swallowing it 
with an instantaneous effort, and then rushing back into its 
watery recesses, till renewed appetite stimulates the repetition 
of its insidious exertions. These animals were occasionafly 
exhibited by the Romans among their collections of the natu¬ 
ral wonders of the provinces ; and Scaurus and Augustus are 
both recorded to have entertained the people with a sight of 
these new and formidable objects. 

It is reported by some travellers, that crocodiles are capa¬ 
ble of being tamed, and are actually kept in a condition of 
harmless domestication at the grounds and artificial lakes of 
some African princes, chiefly as appendages of royal splen¬ 
dour and magnificence. A single negro will often attack a 
crocodile, and by spearing it between the scales of the belly, 
where it is easily penetrable, secure its destruction. In some 
regions these animals are hunted by dogs, which, however, 
are carefully disciplined to the exercise, and are armed with 
collars of iron spikes. 

Aristotle appears to have been the first who asserted that 
the under jaw of the crocodile was immoveable, and from him 
it was transmitted and believed for a long succession of ages. 
But the motion of the jaw in this animal is similar to that of all 
other quadrupeds. The ancients also thought it destitute of 
a tongue; an idea equally false. The tongue, however, ia 
more fixed in this than in other animals, to the sides of its 
mouth, and less capable, therefore, of being protruded.— 
The eggs of the crocodile are deposited in the mud or sand of 
the banks of rivers, and immediately on being hatched, the 
young move towards the water; in their passage to which, how¬ 
ever, vast numbers are intercepted by ichneumons and birds, 
which watch their progress. 

The Alligator, or American Crocodile, has a vast 
mouth, furnished with sharp teeth ; from the back to the end 
of the tail, it is serrated ; its skin is tough and brown, and 
covered on the sides with tubercles. This dreadful species, 
which grows to the length of 17 or 18 feet, is found in the 
warmer parts of North America, and is most numerous, fierce, 
and ravenous, towards the south. Yet, in Carolina, it never 
devours the human species, but on the contrary, shuns man¬ 
kind; it, however, kills dogs as they swim the rivers, and 
hogs which feed in the swamps. It is often seen floating like 
a log of wood on the surface of the water, and is mistaken for 
such by dogs and other animals, which it seizes, draws under 
water, and devours. Like the wolf, when pressed by long 
hunger, it will swallow mud, and even stones, and pieces of 
wood. They often get into the wears in pursuit of fish, and 





TIIE ORNITHORHYNCUS PARADOXUS 









































































THE ALLIGATOR 


! 65 

do much mischief by teaiing them to pieces. They are tor¬ 
pid during' winter, in Carolina, and retire into their dens, 
which they form by burrowing far under ground. They make 
th c entrance under water, and work upwards. In spring they 
quit their retreats, and resort to the rivers, and chiefly seek 
their prey near the mouth, where the water is brackish. They 
roar and make a dreadful noise at first leaving their dens, and 
against bad weather. The female lays a vast number of eggs 
in the sand, near the banks of lakes and rivers, and leaves 
them to be hatched by the sun : multitudes are destroyed as 
soon as hatched, either by their own species, or by fish of 
prey. In South America, the carrion vulture is the instru¬ 
ment of Providence to destroy multitudes ; and it thus prevents 
the country from being rendered uninhabitable. 

The following account of Eastern Alligators is extract¬ 
ed from Forbes’s Oriental Memoirs. 

The eastern districts of Travancore, intersected by lakes and 
rivers, abound with amphibious animals, especially alligators 
and seals. There seems to be no essential difference between 
the alligator of India, and the Egyptian crocodile; lacerta 
alligator, and lacertus crocodilus. Naturalists seem to con¬ 
fine the alligator to South America, the crocodile to Asia 
and Africa; but in India the lacerta crocodilus, generally 
called the alligator, is from five to twenty feet long, shaped 
like the genus to which he belongs ; the back is covered with 
impenetrable scales; the legs short, with five spreading toes 
on the fore feet, and four in a straight line on the hinder, 
armed with claws : the alligator moves slowly, its whole for¬ 
mation being calculated for strength, the back bone firmly 
jointed, and the tail a most formidable weapon: in the river, 
he eagerly springs on the wretch unfortunately bathing within 
his reach, and either knocks him down with his tail, or cpens 
his wide mouth for his destruction, armed with numerous sharp 
teeth of various lengths; by which, like the shark, he some¬ 
times severs the human body at a single bite : the annals of 
the Nile and Ganges, although w r onderful, are not fabulous. 
The upper jaw only of the alligator was thought to be move- 
able ; but that is now completely disproved : the eyes are of 
a dull green, with a brilliant pupil, covered by a transparent 
pellicle, moveable as in birds: from the heads of those of 
large size, musk is frequently extracted. 

It may not be improper in this place to introduce to the 
reader’s notice, one of the greatest curiosities of its kind, 
which late ages nave produced; that is, a Fossil Crocodile. 

This is the skeleton of a large crocodile, almost entire, 
fouui at a great depth under ground, bedded in stone. This 





1G6 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMAi.S 

was in the possession of Linkius, who wrote many pieces in 
natural history, and particularly an accurate description of 
this curious fossil. It was found in the side of a large moun¬ 
tain in the midland part of Germany, and in a stratum of 
black fossil stone, somewhat like our common slate, but of a 
coarser texture, the same with that in which the fossil fishes 
in many parts of the world are found. This skeleton had the 
back and ribs very plain, and was of a much deeper black 
than the rest of the stone ; as is also the case with the fossil 
fishes, which are preserved in this manner. The part of the 
stone where the head lay was not found; this being broken 
off just at the shoulders, but that irregularly; so that in one 
place a part of the back of the head was visible in its natural 
form. The two shoulder-bones were very fair, and three of 
the feet were well preserved : the legs were of their natural 
shape and size ; and the feet preserved even to the extremities 
of the five toes of each. 

Our next subject is named The Ornithorhynchus Pa 
radoxus, and is a very singular quadruped, remarkable for 
its structure. The head is similar to that of a duck, which 
would lead to the supposition that it belonged to an aquatic 
bird. Both jaws are as broad and low as those in a duck, 
and the calvaria has no traces of a suture, as is generally the 
case in full-grown birds. In the cavity of the skull there is 
a considerably bony falx, which is situated along the middle 
of the os frontis, and the ossa bregmatis. The mandible of 
this animal consists of a beak, the under part of which has 
its margin indented as in ducks, and of the proper instrument 
for chewing that is situated behind within the cheeks. Dr. 
Shaw says it has no teeth, though Mr. Home found, in a spe¬ 
cimen examined by him, two small and flat molar teeth on 
each side of the jaws. The fore part of this mandible, or 
beak, is covered and bordered with a coriaceous skin, in 
which three parts are to be distinguished, within the proper in¬ 
tegument of the beak. Into these three parts of that membrane 
numerous nerves are distributed, intended, probably, as the 
organs of feeling, a sense which, besides men, few mammalia 
enjoy ; that is, few animals possess the faculty of distinguish¬ 
ing the form of external objects and their qualities, by organs 
destined for that purpose,—a property very different from the 
common feeling, by which every animal is able to perceive 
the temperature and presence of sensible objects, but with¬ 
out being informed, by the touch, of their peculiar qua¬ 
lities. Thus the skin in the wings of the bat, and its ear, are 
supposed the organs of common feeling, by means of which 
they are enabled to flutter, after being blinded, without flying 
against any thing. The whiskers of many animals appeal 












VAMPIRE BAT. 




/ 



ROUUETTE, 









































. 































































































ORNITHORHYNCHUS PARADOXUS.— MARMOT 167 

likewise to serve the same purpose of informing them of the 
presence of sensible bodies, and hence they have been com¬ 
pared to the antennae of insects. 

But to return to the ornithorhynchus : It is an animal which 
from the similarity of its abode, and the manner of searching 
for food, agrees much with the duck, on which account it has 
been provided with an organ for touching, viz. with the inte¬ 
gument of the beak, richly endowed with nerves. This instance 
of analogy in the structure of a singular organ of sense in two 
species of animals, from classes quite different, is a most cu¬ 
rious circumstance in comparative physiology, and hence the 
ornithorhynchus is looked upon as one of the most remarkable 
phenomena in zoology. 

We shall close this chapter with an account of The Mar 
mot, or Mountain-Rat of Switzerland. —This rat is al¬ 
most the size of a leveret, and resembles a common rat very 
much in appearance. These little creatures live together in 
societies, and have different dwellings for winter and summer; 
their fore paws are remarkably strong, which qualifies them 
for scooping out their burrows. The same form is always pre¬ 
served in the construction of their dwellings, which consist o. 
a long passage, just big enough to let the marmot enter, lead¬ 
ing to two apartments; the largest of these serves the whole 
family for a chamber, where they lie close together, in a torpid 
state, rolled up like hedge-hogs, during the cold season, as 
dormice do in England. When they betake themselves to 
their winter quarters, after having lined their chamber with 
soft hay, they carefully stop up the entrance with a sort of 
cement, which they make of earth, mixed with stones and dry 
grass. Before they collect the grass, either for food, or for 
their winter habitations, they form themselves into a circle, 
sitting on their hind legs, looking with a cautious eye on 
every side. If the least thing stirs that alarms them, the first 
which perceives it makes a particular kind of cry, which its 
next neighbour repeats, and so on till it goes round, when they 
hastily make their escape. They are often seen upon the slopes 
of the Alps, where grass is in plenty; but they love a warm 
sheltered situation, and change their residence according to 
the season 



168 


CURIOSITI lij RESPECTING ANIMALS. 


CHAP. XIV. 

curiosities respecting animals.— (Continued.) 

The Elephant—Fossil Elephant—The Chameleon—The Common 
Tortoise — Orang-Outang—The Unicorn—The Common Seal— - 
The Ursine Seat-—American Natural History. 


Let no presuming impious railer tax 

Creative wisdom, as if aught was form'd 

In vain ; or not for admirable ends. Thomson. 


The Elephant. —This is a very wonderful animal; and has, 
both in ancient and modern times, been duly estimated in the 
Eastern world. His virtues are thus enumerated by Buffon:—To 
forma just estimation of the elephant, he must be allowed to 
possess the sagacity of the beaver, the address of the ape, the 
sentiment of the dog, together with the peculiar advantages 
of strength, largeness, and long duration of life. Neither 
should we overlook his arms or tusks, which enable him to 
transfix and conquer the lion ! We should also consider that 
the earth shakes under his feet; that with his trunk, as with a 
hand, he tears up trees; that by a push of his body he makes a 
breach in a wall; that, though tremendous in strength, he is 
rendered still more invincible by his enormous mass, and by 
the thickness of his skin ; that he can carry on his back an 
armed tower, filled with many warriors ; that he works ma¬ 
chines, and carries burdens, which six horses are unable to 
move ; that to this prodigious strength he adds courage, pru ¬ 
dence, coolness, and punctual obedience ; that he preserves 
moderation even in his most violent passions ; that he is con¬ 
stant and impetuous in love ; that when in anger, he mistakes 
not his friends; that he never attacks any but those who of- 
fend him; that he remembers favours as long as injuries; 
that having no appetite for flesh, he feeds on vegetables 
alone, and is born an enemy to no living creature ; and, in 
fine, that he is universally beloved, because all animals respect, 
and none have any reason to fear him! 

The following account is extracted from Forbes’s Oriental 
Memoirs, a highly interesting work. 

“ The largest Elephants are from ten to eleven feet in height, 
some are said to exceed it; tit? average is eight or nine feet 
They are fifty or sixty years before they arrive at their full 
growth ; the female goes with young eighteen months, and 
seldom produces more than one at a birth, which she suckles 
until it is five years old : its natural life is about one hundred 








I 









































THE E LEE HA NT. 


169 


and twenty years. The Indians are remarkably fond of these 
animals, especially when they have been long in their service. 
I have seen an elephant valued at twenty thousand rupees : the 
common price of a docile well-trained elephant is five or six 
thousand : and in the countries where thev are indigenous, the 
Company contract for them at five hundred rupees each, when 
they must be seven feet high at the shoulders. The mode of 
catching and training the wild elephants is now well known ; 
their price increases with their merit during the course of edu¬ 
cation. Some, for their extraordinary qualities, become in a 
manner invaluable; when these are purchased, no compensa¬ 
tion induces a wealthy owner to part with them. 

“ The skin of the elephant is generally of a dark grey, some¬ 
times almost black ; the face frequently painted with a variety 
of colours ; and the abundance and splendour of his trappings 
add much to his consequence. The Mogul princes allowed 
five men and a boy to each elephant: the chief of them, called 
the mahawut, rode upon his neck, to guide him; another sat 
upon his rump, and assisted in battle; the rest supplied him 
with food and water, and performed the necessary services. 
Elephants bred to war, and well disciplined, will stand firm 
against a volley of musketry, and never give way unless se¬ 
verely wounded. I have seen one of those animals, with up¬ 
wards of thirty bullets in the fleshy parts of his body, per¬ 
fectly recovered from his wounds. All are not equally docile ; 
and when an enraged elephant retreats from battle, nothing 
can withstand his fury; the driver having no longer a com¬ 
mand, friends and foes are involved in undistinguished 

y f 

ruin. 

The elephants in the army of Antiochus were provoked to 
fight by shewing them the blood of grapes and mulberries. 
The history of the Maccabees informs us, that “ to every ele¬ 
phant they appointed a thousand men, armed with coats of 
mail, and five hundred horsemen of the best: these were 
ready at every occasion ; wherever the beast was, and whi¬ 
thersoever he went, they w r ent also; and upon the elephant 
were strong towers of wood, filled with armed men, besides 
the Indian that ruled them.” 

“ Elephants in peace and war know their duty, and are more 
obedient to the word of command than many rational beings. 
It is said they can travel, on an emergency, two hundred miles 
in forty-eight hours; but will hold out for a month at the rate 
of forty or fifty miles a day, with cheerfulness and alacrity. 
I performed many long journeys upon an elephant given by 
Ragobah to Colonel Keating. Nothing could exceed the saga¬ 
city, docility, and affection, of this noble quadruped : if I 
stopped to enj )y a prospect, he remained immoveable until 
my sketch was finished ; if I wished for ripe mangoes growing 

Y 





170 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING WIMALS. 


out of the common reach, he selected the most fruitful bran_h f 
and breaking it off with his trunk, offered it to the driver far 
the company in the houdah, accepting of any part given to 
himself with a respectful salem, by raising his trunk three 
times above his head, in the manner of the Oriental obeisance, 
and as often did he express his thanks by a murmuring noise. 
When a bough obstructed the houdah, he twisted his trunk 
around it, and, though of considerable magnitude, broke it 
off with ease, and often gathered a leafy branch, either to 
keep off the flies, or as a fan to agitate the air around him, by 
waving it with his trunk; he generally paid a visit at the tent 
door during breakfast, to procure sugar-candy or fruit, and be 
cheered by the encomiums and caresses he deservedly met 
with ; no spaniel could be more innocent, playful, or fonder 
of those who noticed him, than this docile animal, that on 
particular occasions appeared conscious of his exaltation 
above the brute creation.” 

The following account of the docility of the elephant, from 
ancient writers, will interest the reader. 

They have been taught to adore the king, says Aristotle, 
to dance, to throw stones at a mark, to cast up stones at a mark, 
to catch them again in their fall, and to walk upon ropes: Galba 
was the first, says Suetonius, that exhibited this at Rome. 
And these things they learned with such care, that they have 
often been found practising in the night what had been taught 
them in the day. They write too, says Pliny, speaking of one 
which wrote in the Greek tongue, Ipse ego hcec scripsi et spolia 
lettica dicavi. I myself saw, says iElian, one of them writing 
Roman letters on a tablet with his trunk; and the letters he 
made were not ragged, but straight and even; and his eyes 
were fixed upon the tablet, as one that was serious. And in 
the plays that Germanicus Csesar shewed at Rome, there were 
twelve elephants, six males and six females; these were clothed 
as men and women. At the command of their keeper, they 
danced, and performed all the gestures of a mimic. At last 
they were brought where they were to feast; a table was co¬ 
vered with all kinds of dainties, and beds were covered with 
purple carpets, after the manner of the Roman eating, for 
them to lie upon. Upon these they lay down, and, at 
the signal given, they reached out their trunks to the table, 
and with great modesty fell to eating, and ate and drank as 
civif men would do.” 

This seems to be the most proper place for introducing an 
account of The Mammoth. 

The Mammoth is a fossil Elephant; a most remarkable one 
of which was found in the ice, at the mouth of the river ~,ena, 
in Siberia. 






THE MAMMOTH. 


171 

The following account is extracted from an abridgment of a 
paper by Dr. Tilesius, from the Journal of Science. 

‘* In the year 1805, when the Russian expedition under Kru« 
senstern returned for the third time to Kamschatka, Patagof, 
master of a Russian ship, bringing victualling stores from 
Okotsk, related that he had lately seen a mammoth elephant, 
dug up on the shores of the Frozen Ocean, clothed with a 
hairy skin ; and shewed, in confirmation of the fact, some 
hair three or four inches long, of a reddish black colour, a 
little thicker than horse hair, which he had taken from the 
skin of the animal: this he gave to me, says Dr. Tilesius, and 
I sent it to professor Blumembach. No further knowledge 
has been obtained on this subject, and unfortunately Patagof 
was not employed by any of our Societies to return to Siberia. 
Th. is was this curious fact consigned to oblivion ; nor should 
we now possess any information respecting the carcase of 
the mammoth, if the rumour of its discovery had not reached 
Mr. Adams, a man of great ardour in pursuit of science, who 
undertook the labour of a journey to these frozen regions, 
and of preparing these gigantic remains, and transporting 
them to a sreat distance. 

O 

“ The preservation of the flesh of the mammoth through a 
long series of age3, is not to be wondered at, when we recol¬ 
lect the constant cold and frost of the climate in which it was 
found. It is a common practice to preserve meat and berries 
throughout the winter, by freezing them, and to send fish, and 
all other provisions, annually at that period, from the most 
remote of the northern provinces, to St. Petersburg, and other 
parts of the empire. 

“ I w r as told, at Jakutsk, says Mr. Adams, by the merchant 
Papoff, chief of the body of merchants in that town, that 
there had been discovered on the shores of the Frozen Ocean, 
near the mouth of the river Lena, an animal of extraordinary 
magnitude. The flesh, the skin, and the hair, were in a state 
of preservation, and it was supposed that the fossil production 
known under the name of mammoth’s horns, must have be¬ 
longed to an animal of this species. The news of this inte¬ 
resting discovery determined me to hasten the journey which 
I had in contemplation, for the purpose of visiting the shores 
of the Lent, as far as the Frozen Ocean; wishing to preserve 
these precious remains, which might otherwise be lost. 

“ The third day of our journey we pitched our tents, at some 
hundred paces distant from the mammoth, on a hill, called 
Kembisaga-Shseta. Schumachof, a Tungusian chief, related 
to me, nearly in these terms, the history of the discovery of 
the mamnroth. 

** The Tungusians, w ho are a w'andering people, remain but 
a little time in the same place Those w r ho live in the forests, 


! 












17 ? 


CURIOSITIES RESPECT’NG ANIMALS. 


often take ten years or more, to travel over the vast regions 
between the mountains : during this time, they do not once 
return to their habitations. Each family lives isolated, and 
knows no other society. If, during the course of several 
years, two friendrs meet by chance, they then communicate to 
each other their adventures, their different successes in hunt¬ 
ing, and the number of skins they have obtained. After 
having passed some days together, and consumed the few 
provisions they had, they separate cheerfully, carrying each 
other’s compliments to their acquaintance, and trusting to 
Providence for another meeting. The Tungusians inhabiting 
the coast differ from the former, in having more regular and 
fixed habitations, and in collecting together at certain sea¬ 
sons for fishing and hunting. During winter, they inhabit 
cottages, built side by side, so that they form villages. It is 
to one of these annual trips that we owe the discovery of the 
mammoth. 

“ Towards the end of the month of August, when the fishing 
season in the Lena is over, Schumachof generally goes with 
his brothers to the peninsula of Tamut, where they employ 
themselves in hunting, and where the fresh fish of the sea 
offer them a wholesome and agreeable food. In 1799, he had 
constructed for his wife some cabins on the banks of the lake 
Oncovd, and had embarked, to seek along the coasts for 
mammoth horns. One day, he perceived along the blocks of 
ice a shapeless mass, not at all resembling the large pieces 
of floating wood which are commonly found there. To ob¬ 
serve it nearer, he landed, climbed up a rock, and examined 
this new object on all sides, but without being able to discover 
what it was. 

“The following year, 1800, he found the carcase of a Wal¬ 
rus, ( Trichecus Rosmarus.) He perceived, at the same time, 
that the mass he had before seen was more disengaged from 
the blocks of ice, and had two projecting parts, but was still 
unable to make out its nature. Towards the end of the fol¬ 
lowing summer, 1801, the entire side of the animal, and one 
of his tusks, were quite free from the ice. On his return to 
the borders of the lake Oncoul, he communicated this extraor¬ 
dinary discovery to his wife and some of his friends; but the 
way in which they considered the matter filled him w'ith grief. 
The old men related, on this occasion, their having heard their 
fathers sav, that a similar monster had been formerly seen in 
the same peninsula, and that all the family of the discoverer 
had died soon afterwards. The mammoth was therefore 
considered as an augury of future calamity, and the Tun- 
gusian chief was so alarmed, that he fell seriously ill; but 
becoming convalescent, his first idea was the profit which 
he might obtain by selling the tusks of the animal, which 








THE MAMMOTH. 


173 

were of extraordinary size and beauty. He ordered that the 
place where the mammoth was found should be carefully 
concealed, and that strangers should, under different pretexts, 
be diverted from it, at the same time charging trust-worthy 
people to watch that the treasure was not carried off. 

“ But the summer of 1802, which was less warm and more 
windy than common, caused the mammoth to remain buried 
in the ice. which had scarcely melted at all. At length, to¬ 
wards the end of the fifth year, 1803, the ardent wishes of 
Schumachof were happily accomplished ; for the part of the 
ice between the earth and the mammoth having melted more 
rapidly than the rest, the plane of its support became inclined, 
and this enormous mass fell, by its own weight, on a bank of 
sand. Of this, two Tungusians, who accompanied me, were 
witnesses. 

“ In the month of March, 1804, Schumachof came to his 
mammoth, and having cut off his horns (or tusks) he ex¬ 
changed them with the merchant Bultunof, for goods of the 
value of fifty rubles. 

“ Two years afterwards, or the seventh after the discovery of 
the mammoth, I fortunately traversed these distant and desert 
regions, and I congratulate myself in being able to prove a 
fact which appears so improbable. I found the mammoth 
still in the same place, but altogether mutilated. The preju¬ 
dices being dissipated, because the Tungusian chief had reco¬ 
vered his health, there was no obstacle to prevent approach 
to the carcase of the mammoth; the proprietor was content 
with his profit from the tusks, and the Jakutski of the neigh¬ 
bourhood seized upon the flesh, with which they fed their 
dogs during the scarcity. Wild beasts, such as white bears, 
wolves, wolverenes, and foxes, also fed upon it, and the 
traces of their footsteps were seen around. The skeleton, 
almost entirely cleared of its flesh, remained whole, with the 
exception of one fore leg. The head was covered with a dry 
skin ; one of the ears, well preserved, was furnished with a 
tuft of hairs. All these parts have necessarily been injured 
in transporting them a distance of 11,000 wersts (7,330 miles :) 
yet the eyes have been preserved, and the pupil of the left 
eye can still be distinguished. The point of the lower lip 
had been gnawed ; and the upper one having been destroyed, 
the teeth could be perceived. The brain was still in the cra¬ 
nium, but appeared dried up. 

" The parts least injured are one fore foot and one hind foot; 
they are covered with skin, and have still the sole attached. 
According to the assertion of the Tungusian chief, the animal 
was so fat and well fed, that its belly hung down below the 
joints of the knees. 

“ This mammoth was a male, with a long mane on the neck, 





174 


;URIOSITlES RESPECTING ANIMALS. 


but without tail or proboscis.* The skin, of which 1 possess 
three-fourths, is of a dark grey colour, covered with a reddish 
wool, and black hairs. The dampness of the spot where the 
animal had lain so long, had in some degree destroyed the 
hair. The entire carcase, of which I collected the bones on 
the spot, is four archines (9 ft. 4 in.) high, and seven archines 
(16 ft. 4 in.) long, from the point of the nose to the end of the 
tail, without including the tusks, which are a toise and a 
half T in length ; the two together weighed 360 lbs. avoirdu¬ 
pois ; the head alone, without the tusks, weighs 11 poods and 
a half, 414 lbs. avoirdupois. 

“ The principal object of my care was to separate the bones, 
to arrange them, and put them up safely, which was done 
with particular attention. I had the satisfaction to find the 
other scapula, which had remained not far off. I next detached 
the preserved parts. The skin was of such extraordinary 
weight, that ten persons found great difficulty in transporting 
it to the shore. After this, I dug the ground in different 
places, to ascertain whether any of its bones were buried, but 
principally to collect all the hairs,$ which the white bears 
had trod into the ground, while devouring the flesh. Although 
this was difficult, for the want of proper instruments, I suc¬ 
ceeded in collecting more than a pood (36 pounds) of hair 
in a few days the work was completed, and I found myself in 
possession of a treasure which amply recompensed me for the 
fatigues and dangers of the journey, and the considerable 
expenses of the enterprise. 

“ The place where I found the mammoth is about sixty paces 
distant from the shore, and nearly 100 paces from the escarp 
ment of the ice from which it had fallen. This escarpment 
occupies exactly the middle between the two points of the pen¬ 
insula, and is three wersts long (two miles), and in the place 
where the mammoth was found, this rock has a perpendicular 
elevation of 30 or 40 toises. Its substance is a clear pure ice; 
it inclines towards the sea ; its top is covered with a layer of 
moss and friable earth, half an archinc (14 inches) in thick 
ness. During the heat of the month of July a part of this crus' 
is melted, but the rest remains frozen. Curiosity induced me 
to ascend two other hills at some distance from the sea; they 
were of the same substance, and less covered with moss. In 
various places were seen enormous pieces of wood, of all the 

* The places of the insertion of the muscles of the proboscis are visi¬ 
ble on the skull; it was probably devoured, as well as the end of the 
tail. 

d 9 ft. 6 in. measuring along the curve. The distance from the base 
of the root of the tusk to the point, is 3 ft. 7 in. 

t On the arrival of the skin at Petersburg, it was totally devoid of 
hair. 








ThE MAMMOTH.-THE CHAMELEON 


175 


kinds produced in Siberia ; and also mammoths’ horns, in great 
numbers, appeared between the hollows of the rocks ; they all 
were of astonishing freshness. 

“ How all these things could become collected there, is a 
question as curious as it is difficult to resolve. The inhabit¬ 
ants of the coast call this kind of wood Adamschina, and dis¬ 
tinguish it from the floating pieces of wood which are brought 
down by the large rivers to the ocean, and collect in masses 
on the shores of the Frozen Sea. The latter are called Noa- 
china. I have seen, when the ice melts, large lumps of earth 
detached from the hills, mix with the water, and form thick 
muddy torrents, which roll slowly towards the sea. This 
earth forms wedges, which fill up the spaces between the blocks 
of ice. 

“ The escarpment of ice was 35 to 40 toises high ; and, ac¬ 
cording to the report of the Tungusians, the animal was, when 
they first saw it, seven toises below the surface of the 
ice, &c. 

“On arriving with the mammoth at Bonchaya, our first care 
was to separate the remaining flesh and ligaments from the 
bones, which were then packed up. When I arrived at Jakutsk, 
l had the good fortune to re-purchase the tusks, and from 
thence expedited the whole to St. Petersburg. 

“ The skeleton is now put up in the museum of the Academv 
and the skin still remains attached to the head and feet. The 
mammoth is described by M. Cuvier as a different species from 
either of the two elephants living at the present day, the 
African or the Indian. It is distinguished from them by the 
teeth, and by the size of the tusks, which are from ten to fif¬ 
teen feet long, much curved, and have a spiral turn outwards. 
The alveali of the tusks are also larger, and are protruded far¬ 
ther. The neck is shorter, the spinal processes larger, all the 
bones of the skeleton are stronger, and the scabrous surfaces 
for the insertion of the muscles more prominent, than in the 
other species. The skin being covered with thick hair, induces 
M. Cuvier to consider that it was the inhabitant of a cold 
region. The form of the head is also different from that of 
the living species, as well as the arrangement of the lines of 
the enamel of the teeth.” 

The mammoth more nearly resembles the Indian than the 
African species of elephant. 

A part of the skin, and some of the hair of this animal, was 
sent by Mr. Adams to the late Sir Joseph Banks, who pre¬ 
sented them to the museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. 

From For.j.s’s work we extract the following particulars re¬ 
specting The Chameleon. 

The greatest curiosity in the East, says Forbes, is the Cha- 






17b 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS 


meleen, found in every thicket. I kept one for several weeks, 
of which, as it differed in many respects from those described 
in Arabia, and other places, I shall mention a few particulars. 
The chameleon of the Concan, including the tail, is about nine 
inches long; the body only half that length, varying in cir¬ 
cumference, as it is more or less inflated ; the head, like that 
of a fish, is immoveably fixed to the shoulders; but every in¬ 
convenience is removed by the structure of its eyes, which, 
like spheres rolling on an invisible axis, are placed in deep 
cavities, projecting from the head ; through a small perfora¬ 
tion in the exterior convexity, appears a bright pupil, sur¬ 
rounded with a yellow iris, which, by the singular formation 
and motion of the eye, enables the animal to see what passes 
before, behind, or on either side ; and it can give one eye all 
these motions, while the other remains perfectly still; a hard 
rising protects these delicate organs, another extends from 
the forehead to the nostrils : the mouth is large, and furnished 
with teeth, with a tongue half the length of the body, and 
hollow like an elephant’s trunk ; it darts nimbly at flies and 
other insects, which it seems to prefer to the aerial food gene¬ 
rally supposed to be its sustenance. The legs are longer than 
usual in the licerta genus ; on the fore feet are three toes near¬ 
est the body, and two without; the hinder exactly the reverse ; 
with these claws it clings fast to the branches, to which it 
sometimes entwines itself by the tail, and remains suspended ; 
the skin is granulated like shagreen, except a range of hard 
excrescences, or denticulations, on the ridge of the back, 
which are always of the same colour as the body ; whereas a 
row of similar projections beneath continue perfectly white, 
notwithstanding any metamorphosis of the animal. 

The general colour of the chameleon so long in my posses¬ 
sion, was a pleasant green, spotted with pale blue ; from this 
it changed to a bright yellow, dark olive, and a dull green; 
but never appeared to such advantage as when irritated, or a 
dog approached it; the body was then considerably inflated, 
and the skin clouded like tortoise-shell, its shades of yellow, 
orange, green, and black. A black object always caused 
an almost instantaneous transformation : the room appropri¬ 
ated for its accommodation was skirted by a board painted 
black ; this the chameleon carefully avoided ; but if he acci¬ 
dentally drew near it, or we placed a black hat in his way, 
he was reduced to a hideous skeleton, and, from the most 
lively tints, became black as jet: on remoVing the cause, the 
effect as suddenly ceased ; the sable hue was succeeded bv a 
brilliant colouring, and the body was again inflated 

Our next subject is The Common Tortoise. —The weight 
of this animal is three pounds, and the length of its shell 







THE COMMON TORTOISE. 


177 

about seven inches. It abounds in the countries surrounding 
the Mediterranean, and particularly in Greece, where the inha¬ 
bitants not only eat its flesh and eggs, but frequently swallow 
its warm blood. In September or October it conceals itself, 
remaining torpid till February, when it re-appears. In June 
it lays its eggs, in holes exposed to the full beams of the sun, 
by which they are matured. The males frequently engage ir 
severe conflicts, and strike their heads against each other with 
great violence, and very loud sounds. Tortoises attain most 
extraordinary longevity, and one was ascertained to have lived 
in the gardens of Lambeth to the age of nearly 120 years. Its 
shell is preserved in the archiepiscopal palace. So reluctant 
is the vital principle to quit these animals, that Shaw informs 
us, from Redi, that one of them lived for six months after all its 
brain was taken out, moving its limbs, and walking, as before. 
Another lived twenty-three days after its head was cut off, 
and the head itself opened and closed its jaws for a quarter of 
an hour after its separation from the body. It may not only 
be tamed, but has in several instances exhibited proofs, in that 
state, of considerable sagacity in distinguishing its benefac¬ 
tors, and of grateful attachment in return for their kindness, 
notwithstanding its general sluggishness and torpor. It will 
answer the purpose of a barometer, and uniformly indicates 
the fall of rain before night, when it takes its food with great 
rapidity, and walks with a sort of mincing and elate step. It 
appears to dislike rain with extreme aversion, and is discom¬ 
fited and driven back by only a few and scarcely perceivable 
drops. 

The following particulars respecting the Instinct of the 
Tortoise, are copied from Vaillant’s Travels in Africa.—“ It 
is very remarkable, that when the waters are dried up by ex¬ 
cessive heat, the tortoises, which always seek for moisture, 
bury themselves under the earth, in proportion as the surface 
of it becomes dry. To find them, it is then sufficient to dig 
to a considerable depth, in the spot where they have concealed 
themselves. They remain as if asleep, and never awake, or 
make their appearance, until the rainy season has filled the 
ponds and small lakes, on the borders of which they deposit 
their eggs, where they continue exposed to the air; they are 
as large as those of a pigeon ; they leave to the heat and the 
sun the care of hatching-- them. These ec;°;s have an excellent 
taste; the white, which never grows hard by the force of fire, 
preserves the transparency of a bluish jelly. I do not know 
whether this instinct be common to every species of water 
tortoises, and whether they all employ the same means ; but 
this I can assert, that every time, during the great droughts, 
when I wished to procure any of them, by digging in those 
places where there had been water, I always found as many 





178 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANiMALS. 


as I had occasion for. This* method of fishing, or vvhatevei 
else it may be called, was not new to me ; for at Surinam a 
stratagem of the same kind is employed to catch two species 
of fish, which bury themselves also; and which are called, 
one the varappe, and the other the gorret or the kevikwi .” 

The next curious animal which we shall consider, is, Tin: 
Orang-Outang. —This animal is sometimes called the satyr, 
great ape, or man of the woods. It is a native of the warmei 
parts of Africa and India, as well as of some of the Indian 
islands, where it resides principally in woods, and is supposed 
to feed, like most others of this genus, on fruits. The orang¬ 
outang appears to admit of considerable variety in point of 
colour, size, and proportions ; and there is reason to believe, 
that, in reality, there may be two or three kinds, which, 
though nearly approximated as to general similitude, are yet 
specifically distinct. The specimens imported into Europe 
have rarely exceeded the height of two or three feet, and were 
supposed to be young animals ; but it is said the full-grown 
ones are, at least, six feet in height. The general colour 
seems to be dusky or brown, in some ferruginous or reddish 
brown ; and in others coal-black, with the skin itself white. 
The face is bare ; the ears, hands, and feet, nearly similar to 
the human, and the whole appearance such as to exhibit the 
most striking approximation to the human figure. The like¬ 
ness, however, is only a general one, and the structure of the 
hands and feet, when examined with anatomical exactness, 
seems to prove, in the opinion of those most capable of judg¬ 
ing with accuracy on the subject, that the animal was princi¬ 
pally designed by nature for the quadrupedal manner of walk¬ 
ing, and not for an upright posture, which is only occasion¬ 
ally assumed, and which, in those exhibited to the public, is, 
perhaps, rather owing to instruction, than truly natural. 

The Count de Buffon, indeed, makes it one of the distinc¬ 
tive characters of the real or proper apes, (among which the 
orang-outang is the chief,) to walk erect on two legs only : 
and it must be granted, that these animals support an upright 
position much more easily and readily than most other qua¬ 
drupeds, and may probably be very often seen in this attitude 
even in a state of nature. 

The manners of the orang-outang, when in captivity, are 
gentle, and perfectly void of that disgusting ferocity so con¬ 
spicuous in some of the larger baboons and monkeys. The 
orang-outang is mild and docile, and may be taught to per¬ 
form, with dexterity, a variety of actions in domestic life. 
Thus, it has been taught to sit at table, and, in its manner of 
feeding and general behaviour, to imitate the company in 
which it was placed; to pour out tea, and drink it, without 








I 





THE ORANG-OUTANG, 
Ape, or Man of the Woods. 


9 























































THE ORANG-OUTANG.-THE UNICORN. 179 

awkwardness or constraint; to prepare its bed with exact¬ 
ness, and compose itself to sleep in a proper manner. Such 
are the actions of one which was exhibited in London, in the 
year 1738; and the Count de Buffon relates nearly similar 
particulars of that which he saw at Paris. 

Dr. Tyson, who, about the close of the last century, gave a 
very exact description of a young orang-outang, then exhi¬ 
bited in the metropolis, assures us, that in many of its actions 
it seemed to display a very high degree of sagacity, and was 
of a disposition uncommonly gentle ; “ the most gentle and 
loving creature that could be. Those that he knew on ship¬ 
board, he would come and embrace with the greatest tender¬ 
ness, opening their bosoms, and clasping his hands about 
them; and, as I was informed, though there were monkeys 
on board, yet it was observed, he would never associate with 
them, and, as if nothing akin to them, would always avoid 
their company.” 

But, however docile and gentle when taken young, and in¬ 
structed in its behaviour, it is said to be possessed of great 
ferocity in its native state, and is considered as a dangerous 
animal, capable of readily overpowering the strongest man. 
Its swiftness is equal to its strength, and for this reason it is 
but rarely to be obtained in its full-grown state, the young 
alone beings taken. 

O 

The next i-s, The Unicorn. —The following account is ex¬ 
tracted from the St. James’s Chronicle of Dec. 19 to 21, 
1820.^ 

“ We have no doubt that a little time will bring to light 
many objects of natural history, peculiar to the elevated re¬ 
gions of central Asia, and hitherto unknown in the animal, 
vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, particularly in the tw r o 
former. This is an opinion which we have long entertained ; 
but we are led to the expression of it on the present occasion, 
by having been favoured with the perusal of a most interesting- 
communication from Major Latter, commanding in the Rajah 
of Sikkim’s territories, in the hilly country east of Nepaul, 
addressed to Adjutant-General Nicol, and transmitted by him 
to the Marquis of Hastings. This important paper explicitly 
states, that the Unicorn, so long considered a fabulous ani¬ 
mal, actually exists at this moment in the interior of Thibet, 
where it is well known to the inhabitants. 

“ This (we copy from the Major’s letter) is a very curious 
fact, and it may be necessary to mention how the circumstance 
became known to me. In a Thibetian manuscript, containing 
the names of different animals, procured the other day from 
the hills, the Unicorn is classed under the head of those 
whose hoofs are divided ; it is called the One-horned Tso’-po. 






180 


CURIOS TIES RESPECTING ANIMALS 


Upon inquiring what kind of animal it was, to our astonish¬ 
ment, the person who brought me the manuscript, described 
exactly the Unicorn of the ancients: saying, that it was a 
native of the interior of Thibet, about the size of a tattoo (a 
horse from 12 to 13 hands high,) fierce, and extremely wild ; 
seldom, if ever, caught alive, but frequently shot; and that 
the flesh was used for food. 

“ The person (Major Latter adds) who gave me this infor¬ 
mation, has repeatedly seen these animals, and eaten the flesh 
of them. They go together in herds, like our wild buffaloes, 
and are very frequently to be met with on the borders of the 
great desert, about a month’s journey from Lassa, in that part of 
the country inhabited by the wandering Tartars. This com¬ 
munication is accompanied by a drawing, made by the mes¬ 
senger from recollection: it bears some resemblance to a 
horse, but has cloven hoofs, a long curved horn growing out 
of the forehead, and a boar-shaped tail, like that of the ‘ fera 
monoceros,’ described by Pliny.* From their herding together, 
as the Unicorns of the scripture are said to do, as well as from 
the rest of the description, it is evident that this singular 
animal cannot be the rhinoceros, which is a solitary creature ; 
besides that, in the Thibetian manuscript, the rhinoceros is 
described under the name of Servo, and classed with the ele¬ 
phant. Neither can it be the wild horse, well known in 
Thibet, for that also has a different name, and is classed in 
the MS. with the animals which have the hoofs undivided.—I 
have written (he subjoins) to the Sachia Lama, requesting 
him to procure me a perfect skin of the animal, with the head, 
horn, and hoofs; but it will be a long time before I can get 
it down, for they are not to be met with nearer than a month’s 
journey from Lassa.” 

We now make a few remarks on Seals. —First, the Com¬ 
mon Seal. 

These animals are found on the coasts of the polar regions, 
both to the north and south, often in extreme abundance, and 
are generally about five feet in length, closely covered with 
short hair. They swim with great vigour and rapidity, and 
subsist on various kinds of fish, which they are often observed 
to pursue within a short distance of the shore. They pos¬ 
sess no inconsiderable sagacity, and may, without much 

* In speaking of the wild beasts of India, Pliny says, with regard to 
the animal in question,— 

“ Asperrimam autem feram monocerotem, reliquo corpore equo simi- 
Icm, capite cervo, pedibus eliphante, cauda apro, mugitu gravi, uno 
cornu nigro media fronte, cubitorum duum eminente. Hanc feram vivam 
negant capi.” Plin. Hist. Mund. Lib. 3, cap. 21, 

Th* resemblance is certainly fery striking. 


























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































THE SEAL. 


181 

diLiculty, if taken young, be familiarized to their keepers 
and instructed in various gesticulations. They are supposed 
to attain great longevity. The female is particularly attentive 
to her young, and scarcely ever produces more than two at a 
birth, which, after being suckled a fortnight on the shore, 
where they are always born, are conducted to the water, and 
taught by their dam the means of defence and subsistence; 
and when they are fatigued by their excursions, are relieved 
by being taken on her back. They distinguish her voice, and 
attend at her call. The flesh of seals is sometimes eaten, but 
they are almost always destroyed for their oil and skins. The 
latter are manufactured into very valuable leather, and the 
former is serviceable in a vast variety of manufactures. A 
young seal will supply about eight gallons of oil. The smell 
of these animals, in any great number upon the shore, is 
highly disagreeable. In the month of October, they are 
generally considered as most valuable; and as they abound in 
extended caverns on the coast, which are washed by the tide, 
the hunters proceed to these retreats about midnight, advan ¬ 
cing with their boat as far into the recess as they are able, 
armed with spears and bludgeons, and furnished with torches, 
to enable them to explore the cavern. They begin their 
operations by making the most violent noises, which soon 
rouse the seals from their slumbers, and awaken them to a 
sense of extreme danger, which they express by the most 
hideous yellings of terror. In their eagerness to escape, they 
come down from all parts of the cavern, running in a promis¬ 
cuous and turbulent mass along the avenue to the watpr 
The men engaged in this perilous adventure oppose no impe¬ 
diment to this rushing crowd, but, as this begins to diminish, 
apply their weapons with great activity and success, destroy¬ 
ing vast numbers, and principally the young ones. The blow 
of the hunter is always levelled at the nose of the seal, where 
a slight stroke is almost instantly fatal. 

This leads us to the consideration of The Ursine Seal.— 
This animal grows to the length of eight feet, and to the weight 
of an hundred pounds. These are found in vast abundance 
in the islands between America and Kamschatka, from June 
till September, when they return to the Asiatic or American 
shores. They are extremely strong, surviving wounds and 
lacerations which almost instantly destroy life in other ani¬ 
mals, for days, and even weeks. They may be observed, not 
mearly by hundreds, but by thousands, on the shore, each 
male surrounded by his females, from eight to fifty, and his 
offspring, amounting frequently to more than that number. 
Each family is preserved separate from every other. The 
ursine seals are extremely fat and indolent, and remain, with 


182 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS 


little exercise, or even motion, for months together, upon the 
shore. But if jealousy, to which they are ever alive, once 
strongly operates, they are roused to animation by all the 
fierceness of resentment and vengeance ; and conflicts arising 
from this cause between individuals, soon spread through 
families, till at length the whole shore becomes a scene of the 
most horrid hostility and havoc. When the conflict is 
finished, the survivors plunge into the water, to wash off the 
blood, and recover from their exhaustion. 

Those which are old, and have lost the solace of connubial 
life, are reported to be extremely captious, fierce, and malig¬ 
nant, and to live apart from all others, and so tenaciously to 
be attached to *he station w T hich pre-occupancy may be sup¬ 
posed to give eacn a right to call his own, that any attempt 
at usurpation is resented as the foulest indignity, and the 
most furious contests frequently occur in consequence of the 
several claims for a favourite position. It is stated, that in 
those combats two never fall upon one. These seals are 
said, in grief, to shed tears very copiously. The male defends 
his young with the most intrepid courage and fondness, and 
will often beat the dam, notwithstanding her most supplicat¬ 
ing tones and gestures, under the idea that she has been the 
cause of the destruction or injury which may have occurred 
to any of them. The flesh of the old male seal is intolerably 
strong; that of the female and the young is considered as 
delicate and nourishing, and compared, in tenderness and fla- 
vour, to the flesh of young pigs. 

The bottle-nosed seal is found on the Falkland Islands; is 
twenty feet long; and will produce a butt of oil, and dis¬ 
charge, when struck to the heart, two hogsheads of blood. 

We shall close this chapter with an extract from the Public 
Journals of 1821, on American Natural History 

On the unfrequented, solitary, remote banks of the Mis¬ 
souri, grows one of the most ornamental trees that adorn 
creation—the Ten-petaUed Bartonia . Its height is four feet; 
fiow T ers, beautifully white, expand as the sun sets, and close 
at the approach of morning.—Shall we say that all things 
were made for the gratification of man only, when he is daily 
taught that some of the loveliest objects the world contains, 
he is destined never to behold?—Shall we believe that the 
sylvan natives are not formed with taste, and enjoy the 
scenery with which the great Artist has decorated their 
abode ? 

A Leopard was killed on the 6th day of June, 1820, by John 
Six, living on the waters of Green river, ten miles south-east 
of Hartford, in the Ohio county : length from the end of the 
nose to the buttock, five feet, and a tail two feet Ions:; under 




AMERICAN NATURAL HISTORY. 183 

the jaw the colour was black, with white spots equally pro¬ 
portioned; the sides and back are yellow, with black spots, 
curiously arranged; a row of black spots on its back, much 
larger than those on its sides, extending half way of the tail; 
small round ears, black outside, white inside ; around its nose 
and mouth were long stiff bristles ; some appeared to grow 
out black half the length, then white six inches long. The 
hair on the end of the tail is longer than elsewhere ; tail slim ; 
its legs short, and its feet like a cat’s, only much larger, with 
large claws; large teeth ; supposed to weigh about one hun¬ 
dred and fifty pounds. 

Tivo-headed Snake .—An extraordinary snake was recently 
killed in Mason, Massachusetts. It was first discovered bask¬ 
ing in the sun, and, after much exertion, although its asto¬ 
nishing agility baffled for a considerable time its pursuers’ 
efforts, it was taken. It measured two feet in length, had two 
heads, and two legs. The legs were nearly three inches long, 
were placed about four inches from the heads, and appeared 
well calculated to assist the animal in running. 

A large Black Snake was lately killed near Halifax, Nova 
Scotia, which measured eleven feet nine inches. It was first 
noticed by a slight crack which it made with its tail, not unlike 
the cracking of a horse-whip, and appeared to be in great 
agony ; jumping up from the ground, twisting, coiling, 8tc. 
After it was killed, this was accounted for satisfactorily. Out 
of its mouth the tail of another snake was observed to be 
sticking ; on pulling it out, it actually measured five feet three 
inches. This was the cause of the uneasiness in the living 
snake ; having no doubt been partly strangled by its large 
mouthful. This great snake was long the terror of the cow- 
hunters in the neighbourhood of the place where it was killed, 
and no doubt would have continued so for a long time, had 
it not been for its voraciousness, which prevented it from run¬ 
ning. It was fleeter than any horse, and bade defia ice to the 
puny efforts of man to overtake it. 


184 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS. 


CHAP. XV. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS.- (CoTlCiUded.y 

Remarkable Strength of Affection in Animals—Surprising In¬ 
stances of their Sociality—Unaccountable Faculties possessed 
by some Animals—Remarkable Instances of Fasting in Ani¬ 
mals — Extraordinary Adventures of a Sheep—Sagacity of a 
Monkey—Astonishing Instance of Sagacity in a Horse — Sa¬ 
gacity of Dogs—Curious Anecdotes of a Dog — Remarkable 
I}jg. 

Far as creation’s ample range extends, 

The scale of sensual, mental powers, ascends : 

Mark, how it mounts to man’s imperial race, 

From the green myriads in the peopled grass ! 

What modes of sight, betwixt each wide extreme, 

The mole’s dim curtain, and the lynx’s beam: 

Of smell, the headlong lioness between, 

And hound sagacious, on the tainted green: 

Of hearing, from the life that fills the flood, 

To that which warbles thro’ the vernal wood: 

The spider’s touch, how exquisitely fine ! 

Feels at each thread, and lives along the line: 

In the nice bee, what sense so subtly true, 

From pois’nous herbs extracts the healing dew: 

How instinct varies in the grovelling swine. 

Compar’d, half-reasoning elephant, with thine! 

*Twixt that and reason, what a nice barrier, 

For ever separate, yet for ever near ! Pope. 

l t U 

Remarkable Strength of Affection in Animals.— 
Mr. White, in his Natural History, &c. of Selborne, speaking 
of the natural affection of brutes, says, “ The more 1 reflect 
on it, the more I am astonished at its effects. Nor is the vio¬ 
lence of this affection more wonderful, than the shortness of 
its duration. Thus, every hen is in her turn the virago of the 
yard, in proportion to the helplessness of her brood ; and will 
fly in the face of a dog or sow in defence of those chickens, 
which, in a few weeks, she will drive before her with relentless 
cruelty. This affection sublimes the passions, quickens the 
invention, and sharpens the sagacity, of the brute creation. 
Thus, a hen, just become a mother, is no longer that placid 
bird she used to be, but, with feathers standing on end, 
wings hovering, and clucking note, she runs about like one 
possessed. Dams will throw themselves in the way of the 
greatest danger, in order to avert it from their progeny. Thus 
a partridge will tumble along before a sportsman, in order to 
draw away the dogs from her helpless covey. In the time of 
nidification, the most feeble birds will assault the most rapa- 



THE ICELAND DOG 














































































SOCIALITY IN ANIMALS. 


185 

cious. All the hirundines of a village are up in arms at the sight 
of a hawk, whom they will persecute till he leaves that dis¬ 
trict. A very exact observer has often remarked, that a pair 
of ravens, nestling in the rock of Gibraltar, would suffer no 
vulture or eagle to rest near their station, but would drive 
them from the hill with amazing fury; even the blue thrush* 
at the season of breeding, would dart out from the clefts of 
the rocks, to chase away the kestrel or the sparrow-hawk. If 
you stand near the nest of a bird that has young, she will not 
be induced to betray them by an inadvertent fondness, but 
will wait about at a distance with meat in her mouth for an 
hour together. The fly-catcher builds every year in the vines 
that grow on the walls of my house. A pair of these little 
birds had one year inadvertently placed their nest on a naked 
bough, perhaps in a shady time, not being aware of the incon¬ 
venience that followed ; but a hot sunny season coming on 
before the brood was half fledged, the reflection of the wall 
became insupportable, and must inevitably have destroyed the 
tender young, had not affection suggested an expedient, and 
prompted the parent birds to hover over the nest all the hotter 
hours, while, with wings expanded and mouths gaping for 
breath, they screened off the heat from their suffering off-- 
spring. A farther instance I once saw of notable sagacity in 
a willow-wren, which had built in a bank in my fields. This 
bird, a friend and myself had observed as she sat in her nest; 
but we were particularly careful not to disturb her, though we 
saw she eyed us with some degree of jealousy. Some days after, 
as we passed that way, we were desirous of remarking how this 
brood went on ; but no nest could be found, till I happened to 
take up a large bundle of long green moss as it were carelessly 
thrown over the nest, in order to deceive the eye of any imper¬ 
tinent intruder.” 

Next in order is the account of Surprising Instances 
of Sociality in Animals.—A wonderful spirit of sociality 
in the brute creation, independent of sexual attachment, has 
been frequently remarked. Many horses, though quiet with 
company, will not stay one minute in a field by themselves; 
the strongest fences cannot restrain them. Ahorse has been 
known to leap out of a stable window, through which dung 
was thrown, after company; and yet in other respects was 
remarkably quiet. Oxen and cows will not fatten by them 
selves, but will neglect the finest pasture that is not recom¬ 
mended by society. It would be needless to instance in sheep, 
which constantly flock together. But this propensity seems 
not to be confined to animals of the same species. Mr. White 
mentions a doe that was brought up from a little fawn with a 
dairy of cows. “With them it goes to the field, and with them it 

2 A 



i8G CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS 

returns to the yard. The dogs of the house take no no ice of 
this doe, being used to her ; but if strange dogs come by, a 
chase ensues; while the master smiles to see his favourite se¬ 
curely leading her pursuers over hedge, or gate, or style, till 
she returns to the cows, who with fierce lowings and mena¬ 
cing horns drive the assailants quite out of the pasture.”—Even 
great disparity of kind and size does not always prevent social 
advances and mutual fellowship. Of this the following re¬ 
markable instance is given by the same author. 

“A very intelligent and observant person has assured me, 
that in the former part of his life, keeping but one horse, he 
happened also on a time to have but one solitary hen. These 
two incongruous animals spent much of their time together in 
a lonely orchard, where they saw no creature but each other. 
By degrees an apparent regard began to take place between 
these two sequestered individuals. The fowl would approach 
the quadruped with notes of complacency, rubbing herself 
gently against his legs ; while the horse would look down with 
satisfaction, and move with the greatest caution and circum¬ 
spection, lest he should trample on his diminutive companion. 
Th us by mutual good offices each seemed to console the va¬ 
cant hours of the other.” 

In the Gentleman’s Magazine for March, 1788, we have the 
following anecdotes of a raven, communicated by a corre¬ 
spondent who does not sign his name, but says it is at the ser¬ 
vice of the doubtful. The raven alluded to lived at the Red 
Lion &t Hungerford; his name was Ralph. “You must 
know then, (says the writer,) that coming into that inn, my 
chaise ran over or bruised the leg of my Newfoundland dog, 
and while we were examining the injury done to the dog’s foot, 
Ralph was evidently a concerned spectator ; for, the minute the 
dog was tied up under the manger with my horse, Ralph not 
only visited him, but fetched him bones, and attended upon 
him with particular and repeated proofs of kindness. The 
bird’s notice of the dog was so marked, that I observed it to 
the hostler ; for I had not heard a word before of the history 
of this benevolent creature. John then told me, that he had 
been bred from his pin-feather in intimacy with a dog ; that 
the affection between them was mutual; and that all the neigh¬ 
bourhood had often been witnesses of the innumerable acts 
of kindness they had conferred upon each other. Ralph’s poor 
dog, after a while, unfortunately broke his leg; and during 
the long time he was confined, Ralph waited upon him con¬ 
stantly, carried him provisions daily, and scarcely ever left 
him aione ! One night by accident the hostler had shut the 
stable-door, and Ralph was deprived of his friend the whole 
night; but the hostler found in the morning the bottom of the 
door so pecked away, that had it not been opened, Ralph w juld 







P^omoN 



THE ESQUIMAUX DOG. 



BULL DOG 

































































































































AFFECTION IN ANIMALS 


187 

in another hour have made his own entra :ce-port. I then in¬ 
quired of my landlady, (a sensible woman,) and heard what I 
have related confirmed by her, with several other singular 
traits of the kindnesses this bird shews to all dogs in general, 
but particularly to maimed or wounded ones. I hope and be¬ 
lieve, however, Ralph is still living ; and the traveller will find 
I have not over-rated this wonderful bird’s merit. ,, 

To these instances of attachment between incongruous ani¬ 
mals from a spirit of sociality, or the feelings of sympathy, 
may be added the following instance of fondness from a diffe¬ 
rent motive, recounted by Mr. White, in the work already so 
often quoted. 

** My friend had a little helpless leveret brought to him, 
which the servants fed with milk in a spoon ; and about the 
same time his cat kittened, and the young were dispatched 
and buried. The hare was soon lost, and supposed to begone 
the way of most foundling's, or to be killed by some dog or 
cat. However, in about a fortnight, as the master was sitting 
in his garden in the dusk of the evening, he observed his cat, 
with tail erect, trotting towards him, and calling with little 
short inward notes of complacency, such as they use towards 
their kittens, and something gambolling after, which proved to 
be the leveret, which the cat had supported with her milk, and 
continued to support with great affection. Thus was a gra¬ 
minivorous animal nurtured by a carnivorous and predacious 
one! Why so cruel and sanguinary a beast as a cat, of the 
ferocious genus of Felis, the murian leo, (the lion of the mice,) 
as Linnseus calls it, should be affected with any tenderness 
towards an animal which is its natural prey, is not so easy to 
determine. The strange affection probably was occasioned by 
that sympathy, and those tender maternal feelings, which the 
loss of her kittens had awakened in her breast; and by the 
complacency and ease she derived to herself from the procur¬ 
ing her teats to be drawn, which were too much distended with 
milk ; till from habit she became as much delighted with 
this foundling, as if it had been her real offspring. This in¬ 
cident is no bad solution of that strange circumstance which 
grave historians, as well as poets, assert, of exposed chil¬ 
dren being sometimes nurtured by female wild beasts, that 
probably had lost their young ; for it is not one whit more 
marvellous that Romulus and Remus, in their infant state, 
should be nursed by a she-wolf, than that a poor little suck 
ling leveret should be fostered and cherished by a bloody 
grimalkin. ’ 

We shall now give the history of the Unaccountab 
Facul ties possessed by scme Animals. —Besides reflec¬ 
tion *>nd sagacity, often in an astonishing degree, and besides 


188 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS 

the sentiments and actions prompted by social or natural 
attachments, brutes seem on many occasions inspired with a 
superior faculty, a kind of presentiment or second sight, as it 
were, with regard to events and designs altogether unforeseen 
by the rational beings whom they concern. The following 
account is of unquestionable authenticity. 

At the seat of the late Earl of Litchfield, three miles from 
Blenheim, there is a portrait in the dining-room of Sir Henry 
lee, by Jchnston, with that of a mastiff dog which saved 
his life. A servant had formed the design of assassinating 
his master, and robbing the house ; but the night he had fixed 
on, the dog, which had never been much noticed by Sir Henry, 
for the first time followed him up stairs, got under his bed, 
and could not be got from thence by either master or man : 
in the dead of night, the same servant entered the room to 
execute his horrid design, but was instantly seized by the 
dog, and, being secured, confessed his intentions. Upon 
what hypothesis can we account for a degree of foresight and 
penetration such as this ? Will it be suggested, as a solution 
of the difficulty, that a dog may possibly become capable in 
a great measure of understanding human discourse, and of 
reasoning and acting accordingly ; and that, in the present 
instance, the villain had either uttered his design in soliloquy, 
or imparted it to an accomplice, in the hearing of the 
animal ? 

It has been disputed whether the brutes have any language 
whereby they can express their minds to each other; or whe¬ 
ther all the noise they make consists only of cries, inarticulate 
and unintelligible even to themselves. Father Bougeant gives 
the following instance, among others, to prove that brutes are 
capable of forming designs, and of communicating those de¬ 
signs to others.—A sparrow, finding a nest that a martin had 
just built, standing very conveniently for him, possessed him¬ 
self of it. The martin, seeing the usurper in her house, call¬ 
ed for help to expel him. A thousand martins came full speed, 
and attacked the sparrow; but the latter being covered on 
every side, and presenting only his large beak at the entrance 
of the nest, was invulnerable, and made the boldest of them 
who durst approach him repent of their temerity. After a 
quarter of an hour’s combat, all the martins disappeared : the 
sparrow thought he had got the better, and the spectators 
judged that the martins had abandoned the undertaking. Not 
in the least; immediately they returned to the charge, and 
each of them having procured a little of that tempered earth 
with which they make their nests, they all at once fell upon the 
sparrow, and enclosed him in the nest, to perish there, though 
they could not drive him thence.—Can it be imagined that 
the martins c uld have been able to hatch and concert this 



F OX HOUND 

























INSTANCES OF FASTING. 


189 

design all of them together, without speaking to each other, 
or without some medium of communication equivalent to 
language ? 

Remarkable Instances of Fasting in Animals. —The fol¬ 
lowing remarkable instances of brutes being able to live long 
without food, are related by Sir William Hamilton, in his 
account of the earthquakes in Italy, (Phil. Trans, vol. 73.) 
“ At Soriano, two fattened hogs, that had remained buried 
under a heap of ruins, were taken out alive the 42d day ; they 
were lean and weak, but soon recovered.—At Messina, two 
mules belonging to the Duke de Belviso, remained under a 
heap of ruins, one of them 22 days, and the other 23 : they 
would not eat for some days, but drank water plentifully, 
and are now recovered.—There are numberless instances of 
dogs remaining many days in the same situation ; and a hen 
belonging to the British vice-consul at Messina, that had been 
closely shut up under the ruins of his house, was taken out 
the 22d day, and is now recovered: it did not eat for some 
days, but drank freely; it was emaciated, and shewed little 
signs of life at first. From these instances, and several others 
of the same kind that have been related to me, but which, 
being less remarkable, I omit, one may conclude, that long 
fasting is always attended with great thirst and total loss of 
appetite.” 

An instance not less remarkable than any of these, we find 
in the Gent. Mag. for Jan. 1785. “ During the heavy snow 

which fell in the night of the 7th of January, 1776, a parcel 
of sheep belonging to Mr. John Wolley, of Matlock, in Der¬ 
byshire, which were pastured on that part of the East Moor 
that lies within the manor of Matlock, were covered with the 
drifted snow. In the course of a day or two all the sheep 
that were covered with the snow were found again, except 
two, which were consequently given up as lost, but on the 
14th of Feb. following (some time after the break of the snow 
in the valleys, and 38 days after the fall) as a servant was 
walking over a large parcel of drifted snow, which remained 
on the declivity of a hill, a dog he had with him discovered 
one of the two sheep that had been lost, by winding (or scent¬ 
ing) it, through a small aperture which the breath of the 
sheep had made in the snow. The servant thereupon dug 
away the snow, and released the captive from its prison; it 
immediately ran to a neighbouring spring, at which it drank 
for a considerable time, and afterwards rejoined its old com¬ 
panions, as though no such accident had befallen it. On in¬ 
specting the place where it was found, it appeared to have 
stood between two stones which lay parallel with each other, 
at about two feet and a half distance, and probably were the 


190 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS. 


means of protecting it from the great weight of the snow, 
which in that place lay several yards thick : from the number 
of stones around it, it did not appear that the sheep had been 
able to pick up any food during its confinement. Soon after¬ 
wards its owner removed it to some low lands; but as it had 
nearly lost its appetite, it was fed with bread and milk for 
some time : in about a fortnight after its enlargement, it lost 
its sight and wool; but in a few weeks afterwards they both 
returned again, and in the course of the following summer it 
was quite recovered. The remaining sheep was found dead, 
about a week after the discovery of the other;” 

The following authentic history of the Extraordinary 
Adventures of a Sheep, which was transmitted to a re¬ 
spectable periodical journal, from Salisbury, where the animal 
died, will, we doubt not, prove interesting to our readers, as 
it affords an instance of animal sagacity, in that species on 
which Nature has bestowed it with a sparing hand. 

She was born in the North Highlands of Scotland ; em¬ 
barked, in 1804, in the Arab, and visited Iceland, Greenland, 
and Norway: here she was sent on shore to graze; the next 
day, seeing the boat row past the place where she was feed¬ 
ing, she leaped into the water, and swam to the boat: this 
circumstance protected her ever after from the butcher, and 
her life was one scene of gratitude. She was in fourteen dif¬ 
ferent actions with the enemy’s flotilla and batteries off Bou¬ 
logne, in the last of which she lost part of one of her horns. 
After that she traversed the whole of the western extent of 
Africa, across the equator to the Brazils, and along the Guiana 
coast of South America to the West Indies; from thence to 
Ireland, and then home. She was so tame as to feed from the 
hand, and, like the dog, followed her protector; would dance 
for a cabbage leaf; preferred the house and fire-side to the 
stable ; for several months was never known to touch hay or 
grass, living with the sailors on pudding and grog, and nibbling 
the ends of rope or canvass. The paring of an apple or a 
potato was her highest luxury. The docility of the animal 
was highly amusing : putting her head under your arm, she 
would eat off your plate at dinner ; would drink wine or spi¬ 
rits, and tea, if well sweetened ; run up and down the stairs ; 
and, if she got into the kitchen, would take the cover from 
the pot, and peep into it, Her wool was of a soft and silky 
nature. 

After having weathered so many storms and hardships, she 
was brought as a present by Lieut. Bagnold,of the royal navy, to 
a lady in Salisbury ; where, alas ! their fleecy friend died of a 
bowel complaint the second day after her arrival, most sin¬ 
cerely lamented, the 22d of January, 1808. 



MAUDKILL. 



PINCH. 



MONA 














SAGACITY OF ANIMALS 


id] 

Lines written on the preceding most icmarkable Sheep. 

Scarce thirty suns had brighten’d o’er her head, 

When to Arab’s deck young Jack* was led ; 

Here from her master’s side she ne’er would stray. 

Ate of his meat, and on his hammock lay. 

Grateful for this, when left on Norway’s beach, 

She brav’d the sea, the distant ship to reach. 

This act heroic stays the murd’rous knife, 

And all the crew demand to save her life. 

Thus spar’d, she visits each far distant main : 

In fourteen battles, amid heroes slain, 

She ’scapes unhurt; save that the whizzing lead 
Bears off one horn, then gently graz’d her head. 

All perils past, she reach d her native shore, 

To tempt the rage of war and seas no more.— 

“ Go, my dear Jack,” her grateful master said, 

(As on her snow-white head his hand he laid ;) 

“ Go seek the shady grove, the verdant mead ; 

There rest securely, and securely feed. 

A thousand joys shall thy long life attend, 

Blest with that greatest good, a faithful friend.— 

Vain were these hopes ! at Sarum safe arriv'd, 

Sudden she sicken’d, and as sudden died.— 

Well, then, dear Jack, since fate has seal’d thy doom, 

Be thine the honours of the sculptur’d tomb. 

There too shall this just eulogy appear, 

“ A sheep, a much-lov’d sheep, reposes here." 

M'—’’is in thee some future bard shall trace, 

Such as ne’er yet adorn’d the fleecy race. 

A patient temper, to all ills resign’d. 

Sense almost human, to good nature join’d. 

No charms for her had flow’ry lawn or grove, 

’Twas man she sought—to man gave all her love. 

Had she but liv’d in fiction’s classic days, 

The muse had sung her fame in deathless lays ; 

Had fondly told, that her not mortal frame 
Return’d from earth to heav’n, from whence it came ; 
Advanc’d to share with Aries on high, 

The space assign’d him in her native sky. 

• It was a female sheep, but by the sailors was constantly called Jack. 

The following is a notable instance of the Sagacity of a 
Monkey. —Some strolling showmen, being at Stonin, a town 
of Lithuania, belonging to Count Ogienski, grand general 
of that province, diverted the inhabitants by exhibiting the 
tricks and gambols of half a dozen monkeys they had along 
with them: this new spectacle roused the curiosity of people 
of all degrees, insomuch that the overseers of the improve¬ 
ments which were carrying on in that neighbourhood saw 
themselves deserted by all their workmen. Desirous to recall 
them to their duty, yet unwilling to drive the strollers away 
by main force, they offered the chief a round sum of money, 
on condition of his leaving the town immediately: the man 
agreed to this; and, with his two assistants, and company of 
four-footed comedians, set off from Stonin. 


102 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS. 

They had hardly proceeded out of town, when they were 
beset by some banditti, who robbed and murdered not only 
them, but all their harmless followers, except one, who escap¬ 
ed the general slaughter, and, unperceived, climbed up a tree, 
whence he could spy all the proceedings of the villains, who 
had no sooner made sure of their spoils, than they proceeded 
to inter the bodies, both of the men and beasts, covering 
the place with earth and boughs, and then made off. 

Sometime after, a coach-and-four approached; which the 
surviving monkey no sooner descried, than he set up a most 
dismal yell. The gentleman, who, as it afterwards proved, 
was going on a visit to the grand-general, amazed at so un¬ 
usual a noise, ordered the coachman to stop, when, alighting, 
he was still more surprised to see the animal coming down 
the tree, and making towards him; the monkey, taught per¬ 
haps to reverence people of rank, began to lick his feet, and, 
by several gestures, seemed to intimate that he had some¬ 
thing extraordinary to discover; the animal led the way, and 
the gentleman followed with his servant. As soon as they 
came to the place, the monkey rent the air with the most 
piteous accents; then taking up some of the branches, he 
began to scratch the earth, and throw it up With all his might: 
the gentleman seeing this, ordered his man to fall to work, 
and in a few minutes the whole scene of horror opened to his 
view. 

Fearing a similar fate, the Lithuanian, forgetting the saga¬ 
cious animal, got into his carriage, and posted to the grand- 
general as fast as his horses could carry him. Poor pug, ra¬ 
ther than be left behind, fastened about the coach as well as 
he could, and arrived likewise at the count’s, who, having 
heard the genTeman’s report, sent a proper force after the 
banditti: they were overtaken, and committed to prison. The 
grand-general ordered the monkey to be taken into his palace, 
and kept with the greatest care. This surprising mark of 
instinct and gratitude is deemed the more wonderful, as that 
animal generally turns his natural sagacity to mischief and 
treachery. 

We shall in the next place give an astonishing instance of 
Sagacity in a Horse. 

At Chepstow, in Monmouthshire, there is a bridge, the 
construction of which is extremely curious, as the planks that 
form the floor rise with the tide, which, at certain times, is 
said to attain to the height of seventy feet. 

This floor of the bridge it was necessary at cne time to re¬ 
move ; which was accordingly done, and only one or two of 
the planks remained for the convenience of the foot passen¬ 
gers. This way was well lighted, and a man placed at the 



POINTER 



























INSTANCES OF SAGACITY. 


m 

end to wain those that approached of their danger. But it 
so happened, that one dreadful stormy night the lamps blew 
out, and the monitor, supposing that no one would in such 
a hurricane attempt to pass, wisely retired to shelter. 

After midnight, a traveller knocked at the door of an inn at 
Chepstow. 

“ Who is there ?” said the landlord, who had long retired 
to rest, and was now called out of bed. 

The traveller mentioned his name, which was well known. 

" How did you come ?” said the landlord. 

“ How did I come ? Why, over the bridge to be sure !” 

“What! on horseback ?” 

** Yes.” 

“ No !” said the landlord, “ that is impossible ! however, as 
you are here, I’ll let you in.” 

The host, when the traveller repeated his assertion, was 
staggered. He was certain that he must have come over the 
bridge, because there was no other way ; but also knowing 
the state in which the passage was, he could only attribute 
the escape of the traveller and his horse to witchcraft. He, 
however, said nothing to him that night; but the next morn¬ 
ing took him to the bridge, and showed him the plank that 
his horse must have passed over, at the same time that he 
pointed to the raging torrent beneath. 

Struck with this circumstance, the traveller, it is said, was 
seized with an illness from which he did not speedily recover. 

It is from a respectable source that we insert the following 
narrative of the Sagacity of Dogs. 

M. La Valee, in his Journey through the Departments of 
France, published in 1792, gives the following curious account 
of the manner in which the country people, in the neighbour¬ 
hood of Peronne and Doulens, had trained their dogs to elude 
the vigilance of the officers of the revenue.—At night, these 
animals were laden, each with a parcel cf goods proportioned 
to its size ; except one alone, who w r as their leader, and went 
without any burden. A crack of a whip was a signal for them 
to set out. The leader travelled a little distance before the 
rest; and, if he perceived the traces of any stranger, he re¬ 
turned to the other dogs : these either took a different way, 
or, if the danger was pressing, concealed themselves behind 
the hedges, and lay close till the patrole had passed. When 
they arrived at the habitation of their master’s associate, 
they hid themselves in the neighbouring fields and hedges, 
while their leader went to the house, and scratched at the 
door, or barked, till he was admitted, when he lay quietly 
down, as at home: by this the smuggler knew that the cara¬ 
van was come ; and, if the coast w T as clear, he went out, when 

2 B 


194 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANIMALS. 


he gave a loud whistle, and the dogs came running to him 
from their several hiding-places ! 

Peltier, in his Annals of Paris, No. 164, for December, 1798, 
records the following anecdote:—At the beginning of the 
Revolution, a dog went daily to the parade before the palace 
of the Thuilleries, thrust himself between the legs of the mu¬ 
sicians, marched with them, halted with them, and after the 
parade, disappeared until the next morning, when he resumed 
his occupation. The constant appearance of this dog, and the 
pleasure which he seemed to take in the music, made him a 
favourite with the band, who nicknamed him, Parade. One 

f ave him food to-day, another to-morrow; and he understood, 
y a slight signal, and a word or two, whom he was to follow 
for his dinner; after which, faithful to his independence, the 
dog always withdrew, in spite of any caresses or threats. 
Sometimes he went to the opera, sometimes to the Comedie 
Italienne, and sometimes to the Theatre Feydeau ; in each of 
which houses he found his way to the orchestra, and would 
lie down silently in one corner, of it, until the performance was 
over. “ I know not, (says Peltier) whether this dog be now 
alive: but I know many musicians, to whom his name, his 
figure, and the singularity of his habits, are perfectly fa¬ 
miliar.” 

In Petit’s Campaign of Italy, under the chief consul Buo¬ 
naparte, published in 1800, we have the following anecdote, 
which places this animal in the most engaging light: “ In 
traversing the Alps over the mountain Great St. Bernard, 
many people perish among the almost inaccessible rocks, 
whose summits are covered with eternal snow. At the time 
we crossed them, the chapel of the monastery of St. Bernard 
was filled with dead bodies, which their dogs had discovered 
suffocated and benumbed under the snow. With what emo¬ 
tions of pleasure did I caress these dogs, so useful to travel¬ 
lers ! how can one speak of them without being moved by 
their charitable instinct! Notwithstanding the paucity of our 
eatables, there was not a French soldier who did not manifest 
an eagerness to give them some biscuit, some bread, and even 
a share of their meat. Morning and evening, these dogs go 
out on discovery; and if in the midst of their wandering 
courses the echo of some unfortunate creature ready to perish 
reaches their attentive ears, they run towards those who call 
out, express their joy, and seem to bid the sufferer take 
courage, till they have been to procure assistance; in fact, 
they hasten back to the convent, and, with an air of inquietude 
and sadness, announce in a very ‘discernible manner what 
they have seen. In that case, a small basket is fastened 
round the dog’s neck, filled with food proper for reanimating 
life almost Bxhausted ; and, by following the benevolent mes- 


ANIMAL SAGACITY 





















































































































ANECDOTES OF DOGS. 


195 

*enger, an unhappy creature is thus frequently snatched from 
impending-destruction.” 

A Florentine nobleman possessed a dog, \*hich would attend 
his table, change his plates, and carry his wine to him, with 
the utmost steadiness, and the most accurate attention to his 
masters notices. 

It is related by the illustrious Leibnitz, that a Saxon pea¬ 
sant was in possession of a dog of the middling size, then 
about three years of age. The peasant’s son, perceiving acci¬ 
dentally, as he imagined, some resemblance in its sounds to 
those of the human voice, attempted to teach it to speak. By 
the perseverance of the lad, the dog acquired the power, we 
are told, of pronouncing about thirty words. It would, how¬ 
ever, exercise this extraordinary faculty only with reluctance, 
the words being always first spoken by the preceptor, and then 
echoed by the pupil. This circumstance is attested by Leibnitz, 
who himself heard it speak; and it was communicated by him 
in a memoir to the Royal Academy of France. 

In the theatre of Marcellus, a case occurred, which many will 
consider more probable, but which is almost as extraordinary, 
as mentioned by Plutarch.—“ A dog was here exhibited which 
excelled in various dances of great complication and difficulty, 
and represented also the effects of disease and pain upon the 
frame, in all the contortions of countenance and writhings of 
the body, from the first access, to that paroxysm which often 
immediately precedes dissolution. Having thus apparently 
expired in agony, he would suffer himself to be carried about 
motionless, as in a state of death; and after a sufficient con¬ 
tinuance of the jest, he would burst upon the spectators with 
an animation and sportiveness, which formed a very interest¬ 
ing conclusion of this curious interlude, by which the animal 
seemed to enjoy the success of his scenic efforts, and to be 
delighted with the admiration which was liberally and univer¬ 
sally bestowed upon him.” 

“ A tinker (says Pezelius) brought a wonderful dog to 
Constantinople; and a number of people being assembled 
to behold him, many of them laid their rings in a heap con¬ 
fusedly before him. At the command of his master, he would 
restore to every man his own, without any mistake. Also, when 
his master asked him which of the company was a captain, 
which a poor man, which a wife, which a widow, and the like, 
he would discover all this without error, by taki ig the garment 
of the party inquired after in his mouth.” 




196 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING FISHES. 


CHAP. XVI. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING FISHES. 

The Frog-fish — Bird-catching Fish—The Nautilus—The Air- 

bladder in Fishes—Respiration in Fishes—Shower of Fishes . 

“ —- -The scaly brood 

In countless myriads cleave the crystal flood.” 

44 Who can old Ocean’s pathless bed explore, 

And count her tribes that people ev’ry shore.” 

The Frog-Fish. —There is a very singular animal of Suri¬ 
nam, bearing this name, of which a figure is given by Mr. 
Edwards, in his History of Birds, vol. I. but of which no spe¬ 
cimen is to be found either in the British Museum, or in any 
private collection, except that of Dr. Fothergill. It was 
brought from Surinam, in South America. 

Frogs, both in Asia and Africa, according to Merian, change 
gradually from fishes to frogs, as those in Europe ; but after 
many years, revert again into fishes, though the manner of 
their change has never been investigated. In Surinam these 
fishes are called Jakjes: they are cartilaginous, of a substance 
like our mustela, and exquisite food; they are formed with 
regular vertebrae, and small bones all over the body, divided 
into equal parts ; are first darkish, and then gray ; and their 
scales make a beautiful appearance. Whether this animal is, 
in its perfect state, a species of frog with a tail, or a kind of 
water-lizard, Mr. Edwards does not pretend to determine ; but 
he observes, that when its size is considered, if it should be 
deemed a tadpole, at first produced from spawn, and in its 
progress towards a frog, such an animal, when full-grown ; if it 
bears the same proportion to its tadpole state that those in 
Europe do to theirs, it must be of enormous size ; for our full- 
grown frogs exceed the tadpoles at least fifty times. 

Another curiosity is. The Bird-catchingFish. —This fish 
is called by the natives of Canada, Chaousaron ; its body is 
nearly the shape of a jack or pike, but is covered with scales 
that are proof against the stab of a dagger ; its colour is a sil¬ 
ver gray, and there grows under its mouth a fin that is flat, 
jagged at the edges, and pierced at the end, which gives rea¬ 
son to conjecture that it breathes by that part. This fish is 
about five feet in length, and as thick as a man’s thigh ; but 
some of them, it is said, are eight or ten feet long. In order to 
catch birds, it hides itself among the reeds in such a manner, 
that no part of it can be seen but the fin just mentioned ; this 




TIIE FROG FISH 










































































































































































































. 












































































































































' 





































THE NAUTILUS. 


197 

it erects upright out of the water, and birds that want to rest 
themselves, take this fin for a reed, or a dry piece of wood ; 
but no sooner have they alighted on it, than the fish opens 
his mouth, and makes such a quick motion to seize its prev, 
that it seldom escapes. 

Another curious object is. The Nautilus. 

Learn of the little Nautilus to sail, 

Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale. Pope . 

The shell of this animal consists of one spiral valve, divided 
into several apartments. There are seventeen species, chiefly 
distinguished by peculiarities in their shells. 

The most remarkable division of the Nautilus is into the 
thin and thick-shelled kinds. The first is called Nautilus 
Papyraceus ; and its shell is indeed no thicker than a piece of 
paper, when out of the water. This species is not at all fast¬ 
ened to its shell; but there is an opinion, as old as the days 
of Pliny, that this creature creeps out of its shell, and 
goes on shore to feed. When this species is to sail, it ex¬ 
pands two of its arms on high, and between these supports a 
membrane, which it throws out on this occasion: this serves 
for its sail, and the two other arms it hangs out of its shell, 
to serve occasionally either as oars or as a steerage; but this 
last office is generally served by the tail. When the sea is 
calm, numbers of these creatures may frequently be seen 
diverting themselves in this manner, in the Mediterranean : 
but as soon as a storm rises, or any thing gives them distur¬ 
bance, they draw in their legs, and take in as much water as 
makes them specifically heavier than that in which they float; 
and then they sink to the bottom. When they rise again, 
they void this water by a number of holes, of which their legs 
are full. 

The other nautilus, whose shell is thick, never quits its 
habitation. This shell is divided into forty or more partitions, 
which grow smaller and smaller as they approach the extre¬ 
mity or centre of the shell: between each of these cells there 
is a communication by means of a hole in the centre of the 
partitions. Through this hole there runs a pipe, of the 
whole length of the shell. It is supposed by many, that by 
means of this pipe the fish occasionally passes from one cell 
to another; but this seems by no means probable, as the fish 
must undoubtedly be crushed to death by attempting to pass 
through it. It is much more likely that the fish always occupies 
the largest chamber in its shell; that is, that it lives in the cavity 
between the mouth and the first partition, and that it never 
removes out of this; but that all the apparatus of cells, and 
a pipe of communication, which we so much admire, serve 


l9b CURIOSITIES RESPECTING FISHES. 

only to admit occasionally air or water into the shell, in such 
proportion as may serve the creature in its intentions of swim¬ 
ming. 

Some authors call this shell the concha margaritif 'era: but 
this can be only on account of the fine colour on its inside, 
which is more beautiful than any other mother-of-pearl; for 
it has not been observed than this species of fish ever pro¬ 
duced pearls. 

It must be observed, that the polypus is by no means to be 
confounded with the paper-shelled nautilus, notwithstanding 
the great, resemblance in the arms and body of the inclosed 
fish ; nor is the cornu ammonis, so frequently found fossil, 
to be confounded with the thick-shelled nautilus, though the 
concamerations and general structure of the shell are alike in 
both: for there are great and essential differences between all 
these genera. There is a pretty copious and minute account 
of this curious animal in the Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. xxii. 
p. 6, 7, 8, and 301, and vol. xxv. p. 128. 

We now proceed to describe that destructive inhabitant of 
the mighty deep. The Shark. —Sharks, though voracious 
creatures, are seldom destructive in the temperate regions; it 
is in the torrid zone that their ravages are most frequent. In 
the West Indies, accidents happen from them daily. During 
the American war in 1780, while the Pallas frigate was lying 
in Kingston harbour, a young North American jumped over¬ 
board one evening, to make his escape, and perished by a 
shark in a shocking manner. He had been captured in a 
small vessel, lost all his property, and was detained by com¬ 
pulsion in the English navy, to serve in a predatory war 
against his country. But he, animated with that spirit which 
pervaded every bosom in America, resolved, as soon as he 
arrived at some port, to release himself from the mortifying- 
state of employing his life against his country, which, as he 
said when dying, he was happy to lay down, as he could not 
employ it against her enemies. He plunged into the water: 
the Pallas was a quarter of a mile from the shore. A shark 
perceived him, and followed him very quietly, till he came 
near the shore ; where, as he was hanging by a rope that 
moored a vessel to a wharf, scarcely out of His depth, the 
shark seized his right leg, stripped the flesh entirely from the 
bonrs, and took the foot off at the ancle. He still kept his 
hold, and called to the people in the vessel near him, wh > 
were standing on the deck, and saw the affair. The shark 
then seized his other leg, which the man by his struggling 
disengaged from his teeth, but with the flesh cut through 
down to the bone, into a multitude of narrow slips. The 
people in the vessel threw billets of wood into the water, and 


TERRIBLE ADVENTURE WITH A SHARK 





























































































































































































































































THE SHARK. 


199 

frightened the shark away. The young man was brought on 
shore. Dr. Mosely was called to him; but he had lost so 
much blood before any assistance could be given him, that he 
expired before the mangled limbs could be taken off. A few 
weeks before this, a shark of twelve feet in length was caught 
in the harbour; and on being opened, the entire head of a 
man was found in his stomach- The scalp and flesh cf the 
face were macerated to a soft pulpy substance ; which, on 
being touched, separated entirely from the bones. The bones 
were somewhat softened, and the sutures loosened.—(Moseley 
on Tropical Diseases.) 

A very extraordinary instance of intrepidity and friendship 
is given by M. Hughes, in his Natural History of Barbadoes. 
It happened about the end of Queen Anne’s wars, at Barba¬ 
does.—The sailors of the York Merchant, having ventured 
into the sea to wash themselves, a large shark made towards 
them ; upon which they swam back, and all reached the boat 
except one, whom the monster overtook, and, griping him by 
the small of his back, soon cut him asunder, and swallowed 
the lower part of his body; the remaining part was taken up 
and carried on board, where was a comrade of the deceased, 
between whom friendship had been long reciprocal. When 
he saw the severed trunk of his friend, with a horror and 
emotion too great for words to paint, he vowed that he would 
make the devourer disgorge, or be swallowed himself in the 
same grave, and plunged into the deep, armed with a sharp- 
pointed knife. The shark no sooner saw him, than he made 
furiously toward him : both were equally eager, the one of his 
prey, the other of revenge. The moment the shark opened 
his rapacious jaws, his adversary dexterously diving, and 
grasping him with his left hand somewhat below the upper 
fins, successfully employed his knife in his right hand, giving 
him repeated stabs in the belly. The enraged shark*, after 
many unavailing efforts, finding himself overmatched in his 
own element, endeavoured to disengage himself, sometimes 
plunging to the bottom, then, mad with pain, rearing his un¬ 
couth form, now stained with his own streaming blood, above 
the foaming waves. The crews of the surrounding vessels 
saw the doubtful combat, uncertain from which of the com¬ 
batants the streams of blood issued ; till at length the shark, 
much weakened by the loss of blood, made towards the shore, 
and with him his conqueror; who, now assured of victory, 
pushed his foe with redoubled ardour, and, by the help of an 
ebbing tide, dragged him on shore, ripped up his bowels, and 
united and buried the severed carcase of his friend. 

‘ It lb evident, (says Dr. Moseley,) that digestion in these 
animals is not performed by trituration, nor by the muscular 
action of the stomach : though nature has furnished them 

1 O 


200 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING FISHES. 

with a stomach of wonderful force and thickness, and far 
exceeding that of any other creature. Whatever their force 
of digestion is, it has no effect upon their young ones, which 
always retreat into their stomachs in time of danger, lhat 
digestion is not performed by heat in fish, is equally evident. 
The coolness of the stomach of these fishes is far greater than 
the temperature of the water out of which they are taken ; or 
of any other part of the fish, or of any other substance of ani¬ 
mated nature 1 ever felt. On wrapping one of them round 
my hand, immediately on being taken out of the fish, it 
caused so much aching and numbness that 1 could not endure 
it long. Of these voracious sea monsters, there are thirty 
three species.” 

The Torpedo. —The torpedo inhabits the Mediterranean 
and the North Seas, and grows to the weight of twenty pounds 
This fish possesses a strong electrical power, and is capable 
of giving a very considerable shock through a number of per¬ 
sons forming a communication with it. This power was 
known to the ancients, but exaggerated by them with all the 
fables natural to ignorance ; and it is only recently that the 
power has been ascertained to be truly electric. It is con¬ 
ducted by the same substances as electricity, and intercepted 
by the same. In a minute and a half, no fewer than fifty 
shocks have been received from this animal, when insulated. 
The shocks delivered by it in air, are nearly four times as 
strong as those received from it in water. This power appears 
to be always voluntarily exercised by the torpedo, which oc 
casionally may be touched and handled without its causing 
the slightest agitation. When the fish is irritated, however 
this quality is exercised with proportional effect to the degree 
of irritation; and its exercise is stated, in every instance, to be 
accompanied by a depression of the eyes. When that animal 
exerts the benumbing power, from which it derives its name, 
and when it operates by separate and repeated efforts, this is 
always the case. Both in the continued, and in the instan¬ 
taneous process, the eyes, which are at other times prominent, 
are withdrawn into their sockets; a circumstance very natu¬ 
rally attaching both to the condensation and discharge of the 
subtle fluid. Specimens have been known of this fish weigh 
ing fifty, and even eighty pounds. It commonly lies in forty 
fathoms of water, and is supposed to stupify its prey by this 
extraordinary faculty. It is sometimes nearly imbedded in 
the sands of shallows; and it is stated, in these cases, to give 
to any who happens to tread upon it, an astonishing and over¬ 
whelming shock. On dissection, it was found to exhibit no 
material difference from the general structure of the ray, 
excepting with respect to the electric or galvanic organs, 


air-bladder. 201 

which have been minutely examined and detailed by the cele¬ 
brated anatomist, John Hunter: he states them *•' to be 
placed on each side of the cranium and gills, reaching thence 
to each great fin, and extending longitudinally from the ante¬ 
rior extremity of the animal, to the transverse cartilage which 
divides the thorax from the abdomen/’ 

From the whole description, it appears that these organs, 
as Mr. Shaw observes, constitute a pair of galvanic batteries, 
disposed in the form of perpendicular hexagonal columns; 
while, in the gymnotus electricus, the galvanic battery is 
disposed lengthwise on the lower part of the animal. It is 
stated, that the torpedo, in its dying state, communicates 
shocks in more than usually rapid succession, but in propor¬ 
tional weakness ; and in seven minutes, in these circumstances, 
three hundred and sixty small shocks were distinctly felt. 
On the same authority (that of Spallanzani) it is reported, 
that the young torpedo can exercise this power at the mo¬ 
ment after its birth, and even possesses it while a foetus, 
several of these having been taken from the parent fish, and 
being found to communicate perceivable shocks, which, how¬ 
ever, were most distinctly felt when these animals were insu¬ 
lated on a plate of glass. 

A very curious object is. The Air-Bladder in Fishes.— 
There is no doubt that fishes extract air from water by means 
of their gills, since it is through them that they renew the air 
of their air-bladder. This bladder is an oblong bag, consisting 
of two or three membranes easily separated ; sometimes it has 
only a single lobe or cavity, as in the case of pikes, whitings, 
trouts, &c.; at other times it has two lobes, as in the case of bar¬ 
bel and carp ; three, as in that of the sea tench; or four, as in the 
Chinese gold fish. It is by expanding or compressing this blad¬ 
der, that the fish occupies more or less space in the water, be¬ 
comes more or less heavy, and ascends or descends as it chooses. 
The division of the bladder into different lobes has proceeded 
from a very sufficient reason. When the bladder has only one 
cavity, as in the case of fishes of prey, the motion of ascent or 
descent takes place slowly, and without a break ; because, as 
they compress the whole bladder at once, the whole body is 
moved horizontally, upwards or downwards, as the case may be; 
a circumstance which has the effect of lessening, in conse¬ 
quence of the resistance of the water, the swiftness of those 
tyrants of the deep. When the bladder has two lobes, as in 
the case of the carp, which lives on insects, that fish, by ex¬ 
pand ng the anterior and compressing the posterior lobe, 
rises rapidly with the head foremost to the surface of the 
water, or sinks to the bottom with equal expedition, by com¬ 
pressing its two lobes in different ways. The consequence is, 
1). 2 C! 


202 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING FISHES. 


an increased promptitude of movement, and additional means 
of escaping from its enemies. When the bladder has four 
lobes, as in the case of the gold fish, that fish is thus en¬ 
abled to vary greatly its contractions and expansions. It rises, 
sinks, bends, erects, or turns itself in a thousand ways, and 
plays in the water, like a bird in the air. It displays all the 
richness of the colours of gold, silver, or purple, with which 
Nature has adorned it. Its attitudes are so graceful, and its 
movements so varied, that the Chinese, from whom we origi¬ 
nally received it, are said to pass whole days in looking at it, 
in the basins of the fountains in their gardens, or in crystal 
vessels. It is evidently indebted for the ease and grace of its 
motions, to the modulations consequent on the four divisions 
of its air-bladder. 

Another subject of curiosity is. The Respiration in 
Fishes. —Fish derive air from the water which they are inac- 
cessantly swallowing through the mouth, and throwing out 
by the gills. The gills are formed with infinite skill, and may 
be called a delicate kind of sieve, adapted for separating air 
from water. Their operation proves the radical difference 
between these two elements, and leads to the conclusion, that 
they are not joined even when mixed. The gills are placed in 
the back part of the sides of the head, and are contained in 
a cavity adapted for them. They are a kind of red and flexi¬ 
ble leaflets, consisting of a row of thin plates, like the blade of 
a knife, pressed against each other, and forming a succession of 
barbs or fringed substances, similar to those on the side of a 
goose-quill. These gills are covered with a small lid, and 
with a membrane, supported by cartilaginous threads. Both 
are capable of being raised and lowered ; and, by being thus 
opened, they afford a passage to the water swallowed by the 
animal. A prodigious number of muscles give motion to 
these minute particles. It'may appear almost incredible, that 
the number pf particles connected with the respiration of the 
carp is not fewer than 4386. Of these, sixty-nine are mus¬ 
cles ; while the arteries of the gills, in addition to eight prin¬ 
cipal branches, throw forth 4320 smaller ramifications, while 
each of the latter gives birth to a number of cross arteries. 
Add to this, that the quantity of nerves is not smaller than 
that of the arteries; and that the veins are divided and 
. subdivided, like the arteries, inasmuch as they do not give 
rise to any transverse capillary vessels. In this manner the 
blood flowing from the heart of the fish is spread over all the 
plates or blades of which the gills are composed; so that a 
very small quantity of blood is exposed to the action of the 
water, for the purpose, no doubt, that each part may be easily 
penetrated by the particles of air detached from the water. 


SHOWER OF FISHES. 


'20c 


It is not easy to explain in what manner these particles are 
detached from the water by the operation of the gills; but 
there seems no doubt of the fact, nor of the redness of the 
gills being a consequence of the operation of the air. That 
redness is exactly similar to the vermilion of the blood in the 
veins of animals with lungs, a vermilion considerably brighter 
than that of the arteries. 

We shall conclude this chapter with an account of a 
Shower of Fishes. —In the Philosophical Transactions for 
1698, Mr. Robert Conny gives the following account of a 
phenomenon of this kind. 

On Wednesday before Easter, anno 1666, a pasture field at 
Cranstead, near Wrotliam, in Kent, about two acres, which 
is far from any part of the sea, or branch of it, and a place 
where there are no fish-ponds, but a scarcity of water, was all 
overspread with little fishes, conceived to be rained down, 
there having been at that time a great tempest of thunder and 
rain : the fishes were about the length of a man’s little finger, 
and judged by all who saw them to be young whitings. 
Many of them were taken up, and shewed to several persons. 
The field belonged to one Ware, a yeoman, who was at that 
Easter sessions one of the grand inquest, and who carried some 
of the fish to the sessions of Maidstone, in Kent, and shewed 
them, among others, to Mr. Lake, a bencher of the Middle 
Temple, who procured one of them, and brought it to London 
The truth of it was averred by many that saw the fishes lie 
scattered all over the field. There were none in the other 
fields adjoining : the quantity of them was estimated to be 
about a bushel. 

It is probable that these fishes were absorbed from the sur¬ 
face of the water by the electric power of a water-spout"; o: 
brushed off by the violence of a hurricane. The phenomenon, 
though surprising, has occurred in various countries, and 
occasionally in situations far more remote from the coast than 
that before us. 


204 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING FISHES. 


CHAP. XVII. 

curiosities respecting fishes.— ( Concluded.) 

The Whale—*Whale Fishery—The Kralien* 

“ --The whales 

Toss in foam their lashing tails. 

Wallowing unwieldly, enormous in their gait, 

They seem a moving land, and at their gills 
Draw in, and at their trunk spout out, a sea ’ 

The following accountof the great Northern, or Greenland 
Whale, was first published by Mr. W. Scoresby, jun. M.W. S 
in the Memoirs of the Wernerian Society, vol. I. 

“The whale, when fullgrown, is from50 to 65 feet in length, 
and from 30 to 40 in circumference, immediately before 
the fins. It is thickest a little behind the fins, and from 
thence gradually tapers towards the tail, and slightly towards 
the neck. It is cylindrical from the neck until near the junc 
tion of the tail and body, where it becomes rigid. 

“ The head has a triangular shape. The bones of the head 
are very porous, and full of a fine kind of oil. When the oil 
is drained out, the bone is so light as to swim in water. The 
jaw-bones, the most striking portions of the head, are from 
20 to 25 feet in length, are curved, and the space between 
them is 9 or 10 feet, by 18 or 20. They give shape to the 
under part of the head, which is almost perfectly flat, and is 
about 20 feet in length by 12 in breadth. The tongue is of 
great size, and yields a ton or more of oil. The lips, which 
are at right angles to the flat part of the base of the head, are 
firm and hard, and yield about two tons of oil. 

“ To the upper jaw is attached the substance called whalebone, 
which is straight in some individuals, and in others convex. 
The laminae, or blades, are not all of equal length: neither are 
the largest exactly in the middle of the series, but somewhat 
nearer the throat; from this point they become gradually 
shorter each way. In each side of the mouth are about 200 
laminae of whalebone. They are not perfectly flat; for besides 
the longitudinal curvature already mentioned, they are curved 
transversely. The largest laminae are from ten to fourteen feet, 
very rarely fifteen feet, in length. The breadth of the largest, 
at the thick ends, or where they are attached to the jaw, is 
about a foot. The Greenland fishers estimate the size of the 
whale by the length of the whalebone : where the whalebone is 
six feet long, then the whale is said to be a size-fish. In 
suckers, or young whales still under the protection of mo 



THE WHALE. 


205 

ther, the whalebone is only a few inches long. The whale¬ 
bone is immediately covered by the two under lips,the edges 
of which, when the mouth is shut, overlap the upper part 
in a squamous manner. 

“On the upper part of the head there is a double opening 
called the spout-holes, or blow-holes. Their external orifices 
are like two slits, which do not lie parallel, but form an acute 
angle with each other. Through these openings the animal 
breathes. 

“ The eyes are very small, not larger than those of an ox; 
yet the whale appears to be quick of sight. They are situated 
about a foot above where the upper and under lip join. 

“In the whale, the sense of hearing seems to be rather obtuse. 

“ The throat is so narrow as scarcely to admit a hen’s egg. 

“ The fins are from four to five feet broad, and eight to ten 
feet long, and seem only to be used in bearing off their young, 
in turning, and giving a direction to the velocity produced by 
the tail. 

“ The tail is horizontal, from 20 to 30 feet in breadth, in 
dented in the middle, and the two lobes pointed and turned 
outwards. In it lies the whole strength of the animal. By 
means of the tail, the whale advances itself in the water 
with greater or less rapidity ; if the motion is slow, the tail 
cuts the water obliquely, like forcing a boat forward by the 
operation of sculling ; but if the motion is very rapid, it is 
effected by an undulating motion cf the rump. 

“The skin in some whales is smooth and shining; in others, 
it is furrowed, like the water-lines in laid paper, but coarser. 

“The colour is black, gray, and white, and a tinge of yellow 
about the lower parts of the head. The back, upper part of the 
head, most of the belly, the fins, tail, and part of the under 
jaw, are deep black. The fore part of the under jaw, and a 
little of the belly, are white, and the junction of the tail with 
the body gray. Such are the common colours of the adult 
whale. I have seen piebald whales. Such whales as are below 
size are almost entirely of a bluish black colour. The skin 
of suckers is of a pale bluish colour. The cuticle, or scarf- 
skin, is no thicker than parchment; the true skin is from 
three-fourths to an inch in thickness all over the body. 

“ Immediately beneath the skin lies the blubber, or fat, from 
10 to 20 inches in thickness, varying in different parts of the 
body, as well as in different individuals. The colour, also, is 
not always the same, being white, red, and yellow ; and it 
also varies in denseness. It is principally for the blubber that 
the Greenland fishery is carried on. It is cut from the body 
in large lumps, and carried on board the ship, and then cut 
into smaller pieces. The fleshy parts, and skin connected with 
the blubber, are next separated from it, and it is again cut 


206 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING FISHES. 

into such pieces as will admit of its being passed into casks 
by the bung-hole, which is only three or four inches in dia¬ 
meter. In these casks it is conveyed home, where it is boiled 
in vessels capable of containing from three to six tons, for the 
purpose of extracting the oil from the fritters, which are ten¬ 
dinous fibres, running in various directions, and containing 
the oil or rather connecting together the cellular substance 
which contains it. These fibres are finest next the skin, thin¬ 
nest in the middle, and coarsest near the flesh. 

“The whales, according to their size, produce from two to 
twenty tons of oil. The flesh of the young whale is of a fine 
red colour ; that of the old approaches to black, and is coarse, 
like that of a bull, and is said to be dry and lean when boiled, 
because there is little fat intermixed with the flesh. 

“ The food of the whale is generally supposed to consist of 
different kinds of sepise, medusae, or the clio limacina of 
Linnaeus ; but I have great reason to believe, that it is chiefly, 
if not altogether, of the squill or shrimp tribe; for, on exa¬ 
mining the stomach of one of large size, nothing else was 
found in it; they were about half an inch long, semi-trans¬ 
parent, and of a pale red colour. I also found a great quan¬ 
tity in the mouth of another, having been apparently vomited 
by it. When the whale feeds, it swims with considerable velo¬ 
city under water, with its mouth wide open ; the water enters 
by the forepart, but is poured out again at the sides, and the 
food is entangled and sifted as it were by the whalebone, 
which does not suffer any thing to escape. 

“ It seldom remains longer below the surface than twenty to 
thirty minutes; when it comes up again to blow, it will per¬ 
haps remain ten, twenty, or thirty minutes at the surface of 
the water, when nothing disturbs it. In calm weather, it 
sometimes sleeps in this situation. It sometimes ascends with 
so much force, as to leap entirely out of the water; when swim¬ 
ming at its greatest velocity, it moves at the rate of seven 
to nine miles an hour. 

“ Its maternal affection deserves notice. The young one 
is frequently struck for the sake of its mother, which will 
soon come up close by it, encourage it to sw T im off, assist it 
by taking it under its fin, and seldom deserts it while life re¬ 
mains. It is then very dangerous to approach, as she loses 
all regard for her own safety in anxiety for the preservation of 
her cub, dashing about most violently, and not dreading to 
rise even amidst the boats. Except, however, when the whale 
has young to protect, the male is in general more active and 
dangerous than the female, especially males of about nine 
feet bone.” 

To the above account of Mr. Scoresby’s, we shall add the 
following particulars: 


THE WHALE. 


207 

The fidelity of whales to each other exceeds whatever we 
are told even of the constancy of birds. Some fishers, as 
Anderson informs us, having struck one of two whales, a male 
and a female, that were in company together, the wounded 
fish made a long and terrible resistance ; it struck down a boat 
with three men in it, with a single blow of its tail, by which 
all went to the bottom. The other still attended its companion, 
and lent it every assistance; till, at last, the fish that was 
struck sunk under the number of its wounds ; while its faith¬ 
ful associate, disdaining to survive the loss, with great bel 
lowing stretched itself upon the dead fish, and share d its 
fate. 

Inoffensive as the whale is, it is not without enemies. There 
is a small animal, of the shell-fish kind, called the whale- 
louse, that sticks to its body, as we see shells sticking to the 
foul bottom of a ship. This insinuates itself chiefly under 
the fins ; and whatever efforts the great animal makes, it still 
keeps its hold, and lives upon the fat, which it is provided 
with instruments to arrive at. 

The sword-fish is, however, the whale’s most terrible enemy 
At the sight of this little animal, the whale seems agitated in 
an extraordinary manner, leaping from the water as if with 
affright, whenever it appears ; the whale perceives it at a dis¬ 
tance, and flies from it in the opposite direction. The whale 
has no instrument of defence except the tail; with that it 
endeavours to strike the enemy, and a single blow taking 
place would effectually destroy its adversary; but the sword¬ 
fish is as active as the other is strong, and easily avoids the 
stroke ; then bounding into the air, it falls upon its enemy, 
and endeavours not to pierce with its pointed beak, but to cut 
with its toothed edges. The sea all about is soon dyed with 
blood, proceeding from the wounds of the whale ; while the 
enormous animal vainly endeavours to reach its invader, and 
strikes with its tail against the surface of the water with 
impotent fury, making a report at each blow louder than the 
noise of a cannon. 

There is still another powerful enemy of this fish, which is 
called the oria, or killer. A number of these are said to sur¬ 
round the whale in the same manner as dogs get round a bull. 
Somp attack it with their teeth behind ; others attempt it be¬ 
fore ; until, at last, the great animal is torn down, and its 
tongue is said to be the only part they devour, when they 
have made it their prey. 

But of all the enemies of these enormous fishes, man is the 
greatest and most formidable; he alone destroys more in 
a year than the rest in an age, and actually has thinned theii 
numbers in that par* of the world where they are chiefly 
sought 


208 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING FISHES. 

The reader will be interested in the following account of 
The Whale Fishepy. 

As when enclosing harpooners assaii, 

In hyperborean seas, the slumbering whale; 

Soon as their javelins pierce the scaly side, 

He groans, he darts impetuous down the tide; 

And rack’d all o’er with lacerating pain, 

He Hies remote beneath the flood in vain. Falconer . 

Whales are chiefly caught in the North Sea : the largest sort 
are found about Greenland, or Spitzbergen. At the first 
discovery of this country, whales not being used to be dis¬ 
turbed, frequently came into the very bays, and were accord¬ 
ingly killed almost close to the shore, so that the blubber being 
cutoff, was immediately boiled into oil on the spot. The ships., 
in those times, took in nothing but the pure oil and the fins, 
and all the business was executed in the country ; by which 
means, a ship could bring home the product of many more 
whales, than she can according to the present method of con¬ 
ducting this trade. The fishery also was then so plentiful, 
that they were obliged sometimes to send other ships to fetch 
off the oil they had made, the quantity being more than the 
fishing ships could bring away. But time and change of cir¬ 
cumstances have shifted the situation of this trade. The ships 
coming in great numbers from Holland, Denmark, Hamburgh, 
and other northern countries, all intruders upon the English, 
who were the first discoverers of Greenland, disturbed the 
whales, which gradually, as other fish often do, forsaking the 
place, were not to be killed so near the shore as before; but 
they are now found, and have been so ever since, in the open¬ 
ings and spaces among the ice, where they have deep water, 
and where they go sometimes a great many leagues from the 
shore. 

The whale fishery begins in May, and continues all June 
and July; but whether the ships have good or bad success, 
they must come away, and get clear of the ice by the end of 
August, so that in the month of September, at farthest, they 
may be expected home ; but a ship that meets with a fortu¬ 
nate and early fishery in May, may return in June or July. 

The manner of taking whales at present is as follows : As 
soon as the fishermen hear the whale blow, they cry out. Fall! 
fall! and every ship gets out its long-boat, in each of which 
there are six or seven men, who row till they become pretty 
near the whale ; then the harpooner strikes it with the har¬ 
poon : this requires great dexterity, for through the bone of 
his head there is no striking, but near his spout there is a 
soft piece of flesh, into which the iron sinks with ease. As 
soon as he is struck, they take care to give him rope enough, 
otherwise, when he goes down, as he frequently does, he would 


THE WIT ALE FISHERY > 

The engraving represents the lancing of the whale, who has already been harpooned, and is in a dying state,, In hiu 

last struggles he has broken one of the whalers’ boats. 




































































































































































































































































































































































*■ 






















THE WHALE FISHERY. 209 

inevitably sink the boat: this rope he draws with such vio¬ 
lence, that, if it were not well watered, it would, by its friction 
against the sides of the boat, be soon set on fire. The line 
fastened to the harpoon is six or seven fathoms long, and is 
called the fore-runner ; it is made of the finest and softest 
hemp, that it may slip the easier : to this they join a heap of 
lines of 90 or 100 fathoms each, and when there are not 
enough in one long-boat, they borrow from another. The man 
at the helm observes which way the rope goes, and steers the 
boat accordingly, that it may run exactly out before ; for the 
whale runs away with the line with so much rapidity, that he 
would overset the boat if it were not kept straight. When 
the whale is struck, the other long-boats row before, and ob¬ 
serve which way the line stands, and sometimes pull it: if 
they feel it stiff, it is a sign the whale still pulls in strength ; 
but if it hangs loose, and the boat lies equally high before and 
behind upon the water, they pull it in gently, but take care to 
coil it, that the whale may have it again easily, if he recovers 
strength : they take care, however, not to give him too much 
line, because he sometimes entangles it about a rock, and 
pulls out the harpoon. The fat whales do not sink as soon as 
dead, but the lean ones do, and come up some days after¬ 
wards. As long as they see whales, they lose no time in cut¬ 
ting up what they have taken, yet keep fishing for others: 
when they see no more, or have taken enough, they begin 
with taking off the fat and whiskers in the following manner. 
The whale being lashed alongside, they lay it on one side, 
and put two ropes, one at the head and the other in the place 
of the tail, (which, together with the fins, is struck off as 
soon as he is taken,) to keep those extremities above water. 
On the off-side of the whale are two boats, to receive the 
pieces of fat, utensils, and men, that might otherwise fall into 
the water on that side. These precautions being taken, three 
or four men, with irons at their feet to prevent slipping, get 
on the whale, and begin to cut out pieces of about three feet 
thick and eight long, which are hauled up at the capstan or 
windlass. When the fat is all cut off, they cut off the whis¬ 
kers of the upper jaw with an axe, previously lashing them 
together to keep them firm, which also facilitates the cut¬ 
ting, and prevents them from falling into the sea ; when on 
board, five or six of them are bundled together, and properly 
stowed : and after all is got off, the carcase is turned adrift, 
and devoured by the bears, who are very fond of it. In pro¬ 
portion as the large pieces of fat are cut off, the rest of the 
crew are employed in slicing them smaller, and picking out 
all the lean. When this is prepared, they stow.it under the 
deck, where it lies till the fat of all the whales is on board: 
then cutting it still smaller, they put it up in tubs in the hold, 

2 i) 


210 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING FISHES. 

cramming them very full and close. Nothing now remains 
but to sail homewards, where the fat is to be boiled, and melted 
down into train oil. 

During the summer of 1821, an attempt was made to kill 
whales with Sir William Congreve’s rockets. The trial was 
conducted by William Scoresby, Esq. who took out with him, 
on board of the Fame, in which he sailed, several rockets, by 
way of experiment. Success attended his expectation ; and 
little doubt can remain, if they continue to be skilfully applied, 
that the danger attending the harpoon will be nearly done 
away; and, consequently, this valuable branch of commerce 
will be essentially benefited by the discovery. 

We shall conclude this short sketch of some of the curiosi¬ 
ties respecting fishes, with an account of The Kraken. —This 
is a most amazingly large sea animal, said to be seemingly of a 
crab-like form; the credit of whose existence rests upon the 
evidence produced by Bishop Pontoppidan, in his Natural 
History of Norway. 

“ Our fishermen (says the author) unanimously and invari¬ 
ably affirm, that, when they are several miles from the land, 
particularly in the hot summer days, and, by their distance, 
and the bearings of some points of land, expect from eighty 
to a hundred fathoms depth, and do not find but from twenty 
to thirty,—and especially if they find a more than usual 
plenty of cod and ling,—they judge the kraken to be at the 
bottom : but if they find by their lines that the water in the 
same place still shallows on them, they know he is rising to 
the surface, and row off with the greatest expedition till they 
come into the usual soundings of the place ; when, lying on 
their oars, in a few minutes the monster emerges, and shews 
himself sufficiently, though the whole body does not appear. 
Its back or upper part, which seems an English mile and a 
half in circumference, (some have affirmed, considerably more 
than this,) looks at first like anumber of small islands, surround¬ 
ed with something that floats like sea-weeds ; at last several 
bright points of horns appear, which grow thicker the higher 
they emerge, and sometimes stand up as high and large as 
the masts of middle-sized vessels. In a short time it slowly 
sinks, which is thought as dangerous as its rising; as it 
causes such a swell and whirlpool as draws every thing down 
with it, like that of Maelstrom.” 

The Bishop justly regrets the omission of probably the only 
opportunity that ever has or maybe presented of surveying it 
alive, or seeing it entire when dead. This, he informs 11 s, 
once did occur, on the credit of the Rev. Mr. Friis, minister 
at Nordland, and vicar of the college for promoting Christian 
knc wledge; who informed him, that in 1680, a kraken (perhapsa 


THE KRAKEN. 


211 

young and careless one, as they generally keep several leagues 
from land) came into the waters that run between the rocks 
and cliffs near Alstahong; where, in turning about, some of 
its long horns caught hold of some adjoining trees, which it 
might easily have torn up, but that it was also entangled in 
some clefts of the rocks, whence it could not extricate itself, 
but putrefied on the spot. 

Our author has heard of no person destroyed by this mon¬ 
ster; but he relates a report of the danger of two fishermen, 
who came upon a part of the water full of the creature’s thick 
slimy excrements, (which he voids for some months, as he feeds 
for some other;) they immediately strove to row off, but were 
not quick enough in turning to save the boat from one of the 
kraken’s horns, which so crushed the head of it, that it was 
with difficulty they saved their lives on the wreck, though the 
weather was perfectly calm, the monster never appearing at 
other times. His excrement is said to be attractive of other 
fish on which he feeds ; which expedient was probably neces¬ 
sary, on account of his slow unwieldy motion, to his subsist¬ 
ence ; as this slow motion again may be necessary to the secu¬ 
rity of ships of the greatest force and burden, which must be 
overwhelmed on encountering such an immense animal, if his 
velocity were equal to his weight; the Norwegians supposing, 
that if his arms, on which he moves, and with which lie takes 
his food, were to lay hold of the largest man of war, they 
would pull it down to the bottom. 

In confirmation of the reality of this animal, our learned 
author cites Debes’s Description of Faroe, for the existence 
of certain islands, which suddenly appear and as suddenly 
vanish. Many seafaring people, he adds, give accounts of 
such, particularly in the North Sea; which their superstition 
has either attributed to the delusion of the Devil, or consi¬ 
dered as inhabited by evil spirits. But our honest historian, 
who is not for wronging even the Devil himself, supposes such 
mistaken islands to be nothing but the kraken, called by some 
the soe trolden , or sea-mischief; in which opinion he was 
greatly confirmed by the following quotation of Dr. Hierne, a 
learned Swede, from Baron Grippenheilm; and which is cer¬ 
tainly a very remarkable passage, viz. ** Among tin* rocks 
about Stockholm, there is sometimes seen a tract of land, which 
at other times disappears, and is seen again in another place. 
Buraeus has placed it as an island, in his map. The peasants, 
who call it Gummars-ore , say, that it is not always seen, and 
that it lies out in the open sea; but I could never find it. One 
Sunday, when I was out amongst the rocks, sounding the coast, 
it happened, that in one place I saw something like three 
points of land in the sea, which surprised me a little, and 1 
thought I had inadvertently passed them over before. Upon 


212 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING FISHES. 


this, I called to a peasant, to inquire for Gumms rs-ore; but 
when he came, we could see nothing of it; upon which, the 
peasant said, all was well, and that this prognosticated a storm, 
or a great quantity of fish.” To which our author subjoins, 
“ Who cannot discover that this Gummars-ore, with its points 
and prognostications of fish, was the kraken, mistaken by 
Burseus for an island, which may keep itself about that spot 
where he rises ?” He takes the kraken, doubtless, from his 
numerous tentaculi, which serve him as feet, to be of the 
polypus kind; and the contemplation of its enormous bulk led 
him to adapt a passage from Ecclesiasticus, xliii. 31, 32. to it. 
Whether by it may be intended the “ dragon that is in the sea,” 
mentioned Isaiah xxvii. 1. we refer to the conjecture of the 
reader. 

After paying but a just respect to the moral character, the 
reverend function, and diligent investigations, of our author, 
we must admit the possibility of its existence, as it implies no 
contradiction ; though it seems to encounter a general prepos¬ 
session of the whale's being the largest animal on or in our 
globe, and the eradication of any long prepossession is at¬ 
tended with something irksome to us. But were we to sup¬ 
pose a salmon or a sturgeon the largest fish any number of 
persons had seen or heard of, and the whale had discovered 
himself as seldom, and but in part, as the kraken, it is easy 
to conceive that the existence of the whale had been as indi¬ 
gestible to such persons then, as that of the kraken may be to 
others now. 

Some may incline to think such an extensive monster would 
encroach on the symmetry of nature, and would be over pro¬ 
portionate to the size of the globe itself; as a little calculation 
will inform us, that the breadth of what is seen of him, sup¬ 
posing him nearly round, must be full 2600 feet, fif more 
oval, or crab-like, full 2000 feet,) and his thickness, which 
may rather be called altitude, at least 300 feet; our au¬ 
thor declaring he has chosen the least circumference men¬ 
tioned of this animal, for the greater certainty. These vast 
dimensions, nevertheless, we apprehend will not argue con¬ 
clusively against the existence of the animal, though consi¬ 
derably against a numerous increase or propagation of it. 
In fact, the great scarcity of the kraken, his confinement to 
the North Sea, and perhaps to equal latitudes in the south; 
the small number propagated by the whale, which is vivipa¬ 
rous ; and by the largest land animals, of which the elephant 
is said to go nearly two years with young; all induce us to con¬ 
clude, from analogy, that this creature is not numerous ; which 
coincides with a passage in a manuscript ascribed to Svere, 
king of Norway, and it is cited by 01. Wormius, in his Mu¬ 
seum, p. 280, in Latin, which we shall exactly translate :— 


THE SCORPION. 


« 


213 


“ There remains one kind, which they call hasgufe, whose 
magnitude is unknown, as it is seldom seen. Those who affiim 
they have seen its body, declare, it is more like an island than 
a beast, and that its carcase was never found; whence some 
imagine that there are but two of the kind in nature.” 

Whether the vanishing island Lemair, of which captain 
Rodney went in search, was a kraken, we submit to the fancy 
of our readers. In fine, if the existence of the creature is 
admitted, it will seem a fair inference, that he is the scarcest 
as well as the largest in our world ; and that if there are larger 
in the universe, they probably inhabit some sphere or planet 
more extended than our own, and such we have no pretence to 
limit; but that fiction can devise a much greater than this, is 
evident from the cock of Mahomet, and the whale in the Bava 
Bathra of the Talmud, which were intended to be credited; 
and to either of which, our kraken is a very shrimp in di¬ 
mensions. 

We conclude this account in the words of Goldsmith : “To 
believe all that has been said of these animals, would be too 
credulous; and to reject the possibility of their existence, 
vould be a presumption unbecoming mankind.” 


CHAP. XVIII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING SERPENTS AND WORMS . 

The Scorpion—The Boa Constrictor—The American Sea Ser¬ 
pent—Fascinating Serpents—The Caterpillar — Caterpillar- 
Eaters—The Silk- Worm—The Tape-Worm—The Ship-Worn. 
—The Lizard imbedded in Coal. 

THE SCORPION. 

Their flaming crests above the waves they shew, 

Their bellies seem to burn the seas below; 

Their speckled tails advance to steer their course, 

And on the sounding shore the flying billows force. 

And now the strand and now the plain they held; 

Their ardent eyes with bloody streaks are fill’d ; 

Their nimble tongues they brandish’d as they came, 

And lick’d their hissing jaws that sputter’d flame. Dryde Jt. 

Of all the classes of noxious insects, the scorpion is the 
most terrible. Its shape is hideous ; its size among the insects 
is enormous; and its sting is generally fatal. Happily for 
Britain, the scorpion is entirely unknown among us. In se¬ 
veral parts of the continent of Europe, it is too well known, 
though it seldom grows above four inches long; but in the 





214 CURIOSITIES-SERPENTS AND WORMS. 

warm tropical climates, it is seen a foot in length, and in 
every respect as large as a lobster, which it somewhat resem¬ 
bles in shape. There have been enumerated nine different 
kinds of this dangerous insect, including species and varie¬ 
ties, chiefly distinguished by their colour ; there being scor¬ 
pions yellow*, brown, and ash-coloured ; others that are the 
colour of rusty iron, green, pale yellow, black, claret colour, 
white, and gray. There are four principal parts distinguish¬ 
able in this creature; the head, the breast, the belly, and the 
tail. The scorpion’s head seems, as it were, jointed to the 
breast, in the middle of which are seen two eyes; and a little 
more forward, two eyes more, placed in the fore part of the 
head ; these eyes are so small, that they are scarcely per¬ 
ceivable, and it is probable the creature has but little occa¬ 
sion for them. The mouth is furnished with two jaws ; the 
undermost is divided into two, and the parts notched into each 
other, which serve the creature as teeth, and with which it 
breaks its food, and thrusts it into its mouth ; these the scor¬ 
pion can at pleasure pull back into its mouth, so that no part 
of them can be seen. On each side of the head are two arms, 
each composed of four joints; the last of which is large, with 
strong muscles, and made in the manner of the claw of a 
lobster. Below the breast are eight articulated legs, each 
divided into six joints; the two hindmost of which are each 
provided with two crooked claws, here and there covered with 
hair. The belly is divided into seven little rings; from the 
lowest of which is continued a tail, composed of six joints, 
which are bristly, and formed like little globes, the last being 
armed with a crooked sting. This is that fatal instrument 
which renders this insect so formidable; it is long, pointed, 
hard, and hollow ; it is pierced near the base with two small 
holes, through which, when the creature stings, it ejects a 
drop of poison, which is white, caustic, and fatal. The 
reservoir in which this poison is kept, is a small bladder near 
the tail, into which the venom is distilled by a peculiar appa¬ 
ratus. If this bladder be greatly pressed, the venom will be 
seen issuing out through the two holes above mentioned; it 
therefore appears, that when the creature stings, the bladder is 
pressed, and the venom issues through the two apertures into 
the wound. 

There are few animals more formidable, or more truly mis¬ 
chievous, than the scorpion. As it takes refuge in a small 
place, and is generally found sheltering in houses, it must 
frequently sting those among whom it resides. In some of 
the towns of Italy, and in France, in the ci-devant province 
of Languedoc, it is one of the greatest pests that torment man¬ 
kind ; but. its malignity in Europe is trifling, when compared to 
what the natives of Africa and the East are known to experience 


THE SCORPION. 


215 

In Batavia, where they grow twelve inches long, there is no 
removing any piece of furniture without the utmost danger of 
being stung by them. Bosnian assures us, that along the 
Gold Coast they are often found larger than a lobster, and 
that their sting is inevitably fatal. 

In Europe, however, they are by no means so large, so ve¬ 
nomous, or so numerous. The general size of this animal 
does not exceed two or three inches, and its sting is very 
seldom fatal. No animal in the creation seems endued with 
such an irascible nature; they have often been seen, when 
taken and put into a place of security, to exert all their rage 
against the sides of the glass vessel that contained them. 
They will attempt to sting a stick when put near them, and 
attack a mouse or a frog, while these animals are far from of¬ 
fering any injury. Maupertuis put three scorpions and a 
mouse into the same vessel together, and they soon stung the 
little animal in different places. The mouse, thus assaulted, 
stood for some time upon the defensive, and at last killed 
them all, one after another. He tried these experiments, in 
order to see w r hether the mouse, after it had killed, would eat 
the scorpions; but the little quadruped seemed satisfied with 
the victory, and even survived the severity of the wounds it 
had received. 

Wolkemar tried the courage of the scorpion against the 
large spider, and inclosed several of both kinds in glass ves¬ 
sels for that purpose. The success of this combat was very 
remarkable. The spider at first used all his efforts to entangle 
the scorpion in his web, which it immediately began spinning; 
but the scorpion rescued itself from the danger, by stinging 
its adversary to death ; and soon after cut off, with its claws, 
all the legs of the spider, and then sucked all the internal 
parts at its leisure. If the scorpion’s skin had not been so 
hard, Wolkemar is of opinion that the spider would have 
obtained the victory; for he had often seen one of these spi¬ 
ders destroy a toad. 

The fierce spirit of this animal is equally dangerous to its own 
species, for scorpions are the cruellest enemies to each other. 
Maupertuis put about a hundred of them together in the 
same glass ; and they scarcely came in contact before they 
began to exert all their rage in mutual destruction : there was 
nothing to be seen but one universal carnage, without any 
distinction of age or sex ; so that in a few days there remained 
only fourteen, which had killed and devoured all the rest. 
But their unnatural malignity is still more apparent, in their 
cruelty to their offspring. He inclosed a female scorpion, 
big with young, in a glass vessel, and she was seen to devour 
them as fast as they were excluded ; there was but one of 
the. number that escaped the general destruction, by taking 


216 


CURIOSITIES-SERPENTS \ND WORMS. 


refuge on the back of its parent; and this soon after revenged 
the cause of its brethren, by killing the old one in its turn. 
Such is the terrible and unrelenting nature of this insect, that 
it is asserted, when driven to an extremity, that the scorpion 
will even destroy itself. The following experiment was inef¬ 
fectually tried by Maupertuis : “ But (says Mr. Goldsmith) l 
am so well assured of it by many eye-witnesses, who have seen 
it both in Italy and America, that I have no doubt remaining 
of its veracity. A scorpion newly caught is placed in the 
midst of a circle of burning charcoal, and thus an egress pre¬ 
vented on every side ; the scorpion, as I am assured, runs about 
a minute round the circle, in hopes of escaping, but finding 
that impossible, it stings itself on the back of the head, and 
in this manner the undaunted suicide instantly expires.” 

It is happy for mankind that these animals are so destructive 
to each other ; since otherwise they would multiply in so great 
a degree as to render some countries uninhabitable. The male 
and female of this insect are very easily distinguishable ; the 
male being smaller, and less hairy. The female brings forth 
her young alive, and perfect in their kind. Redi having bought 
a quantity of scorpions, selected their females, and, putting 
them in separate glass vessels, kept them for some days with¬ 
out food. In about five days one of them brought forth thirty- 
eight young ones, well shaped, and of a milk-white colour, 
which changed every day more and more into a dark rusty hue. 
Another female, in a different vessel, brought forth twenty- 
seven of the same colour ; and the day following, the young 
ones seemed all fixed to the back and belly of the female. For 
near a fortnight all these continued alive and well, but after¬ 
wards some of them died daily; until, in about a month, they 
all died, except two. Were it worth the trouble, these animals 
might be kept living as long as curiosity should think proper. 
Their chief food is worms and insects; and upon apropersup- 
ply of these, their lives might be lengthened to their natural 
extent : how long that may be we are not told ; but, if we 
may argue from analogy, it cannot be less than seven or eight 
years, and perhaps, in the larger kind, double that duration. 
As they have somewhat the form of a lobster, so they resem¬ 
ble that animal in casting their shell ; or, more properly, their 
skin, since it is softer by far than the covering of the lobster, 
and set with hairs, which grow from it in great abundance, 
particularly at the joinings. The young, prior to their birth, 
lie each covered up in its own membrane to the number of forty 
or fifty, and united to each other by an oblong thread, so as to 
exhibit altogether the form of a chaplet. 

Such is the manner in which the common scorpion produces 
its young ; but there is a scorpion of America, produced from 
the egg, in the manner of the spider. The eggs are no larger 


THE BOA CONSTRICTOR. 


217 


than pin’s points; and they are deposited in a web, which 
they spin from their bodies, and carry about with them till 
they arc hatched. As soon as the young ones are excluded 
from the shell, they get upon the back of the parent, who turns 
her tail over them, and defends them with her sting. It seems 
probable, therefore, that captivity produces that unnatural 
disposition in the scorpion, which induces it to destroy its 
young; since, at liberty, it is found to protect them with such 
unceasing assiduity. 

Another subject of curiosity belonging to this class, is, The 
Boa Constrictor. —A serpent very remarkable for its vast 
size ; some of the principal species of which are met with in In¬ 
dia, Africa, and South America, and have been seen between 
thirty and forty feet long, possessed of so much strength as to be 
able to kill cattle by twisting around them, and crushing them 
to death by pressure, after which they devour them, eating till 
they are almost unable to move ; and in that state they may 
be easily shot. Dr. Shaw observes,that these gigantic serpents 
are become less common, in proportion to the increased popu¬ 
lation of the parts where they are found ; they are, however, 
still to be seen, and they will approach the abodes of man in 
the vicinity of their residence. This species is beautifully varie¬ 
gated with rhombic spots; the belly is whitish ; it is of vast 
strength, and from thirty to thirty-six feet long. With respect 
to age, sex, and climate, it is subject to great variations. 

It is supposed that an individual of this species once diffused 
terror and dismay through a whole Roman army; a fact 
alluded to by Livy in one of the books that have not coine to 
us, but which is quoted by Valerius Maximus, in words to 
the following effect: “ Since we are on the subject of uncom¬ 
mon phenomena, we may here mention the serpent so elo¬ 
quently recorded by Livy, who says, that near the river Ba- 
grada, in Africa, a snake was seen of such enormous magni¬ 
tude, as to prevent the army of Attilius Regulus from the use 
of the river ; and after snatching up several soldiers with its 
enormous mouth, and devouring them, and killing several 
more by striking and squeezing them with the spires of its tail, 
it w T as at length destroyed by assailing it with all the force of 
military engines and showers of stones, after it had withstood 
the attack of their spears and darts ; that it was regarded by 
the whole army as a more formidable enemy than even Car¬ 
thage itself; and that the whole adjacent region being tainted 
w r ith the pestilential effluvia proceeding from its remains, and 
the waters with its blood, the Roman army w r as obliged to 
remove its station. The skin of the monster was 120 feet long, 
and was sent to Rome as a trophy.” 

Another account says, that ** it caused so much trouble to 

2 E 


218 CURIOSITIES-SERPEN 1 S AND WORMS. 

Regulus, that he found it necessary to contest the possession 
of the river with it, by employing the whole force of the army, 
during which a considerable number of soldiers were lost, 
while the serpent could neither be vanquished nor wounded; 
the strong armour of its scales easily repelling the force of all 
the weapons that were directed against it: upon which re¬ 
course was had to battering engines, with which the animal 
was attacked in the manner of a fortified tower, and was thus 
at length overpowered. Several discharges were made against 
it without success, till its back being broken by an immense 
stone, the monster began to lose its powers, and was with 
difficulty destroyed, after having diffused such a horror among 
the army, that they confessed they would rather attack Car¬ 
thage itself, than such another monster.” 

The flesh of the serpent is eaten by the Indians and Negroes 
of Africa, and they make its skin into garments. 

The following account of The American Sea Serpent, 
is given in the words of an eye-witness :—" I, the undersigned 
Joseph Woodward, captain of the Adamant schooner, of Hing- 
ham, being on my rout from Penobscot to Hingham, steering 
W. N.W., and being about ten leagues from the coast, per¬ 
ceived, last Sunday, at two p. m. something on the surface of 
the water, which seemed to me to be of the size of a large 
boat. Supposing that it might be part of the wreck of a ship, 
I approached ; but when I was within a few fathoms of it, it 
appeared, to my great surprise, and that of my whole crew, 
that it was a monstrous serpent. When I approached nearer, 
it coiled itself up, instantly uncoiling itself again, and with¬ 
drew with extreme rapidity. On my approaching again, it 
coiled itself up a second time, and placed itself at the distance 
of sixty feet at most, from the bow of the ship. 

“ I had one of my guns loaded with a cannon ball and mus¬ 
ket bullets. I fired it at the head of the monster; my crew 
and myself distinctly heard the ball and bullets strike against 
the body, from which they rebounded, as if they had struck 
against a rock. The serpent shook his head and tail in an 
extraordinary manner, and advanced toward the ship with 
open jaws. I had caused the cannon to be reloaded, and 
pointed it at his throat; but he had come so near, that all the 
crew were seized with terror, and we thought only of getting 
out of his way. He almost touched the vessel, and had not I 
tacked as I did, he would certainly have come on board. He 
dived; but in a moment we saw him appear again, with his 
head on one side of the vessel, and his tail on the other, as 
if he was going to lift us up and upset us. However, we did 
not feel any shock. He remained five hours near us, only 
going backward and forward. 


A SEA SERPENT 













































































































































































































































































































































































































0 


4 



FASCINATION OF SERPENTS.-THE CATERPILLAR. 219 

“ The fears with which he at first inspired us having sub¬ 
sided, we were able to examine him attentively. I estimate, 
that his length is at least twice that of my schooner, that is 
to say, 130 feet; his head is full twelve or fourteen; the dia¬ 
meter of the body below the neck, is not less than six feet; 
the size of the head is in proportion to that of the body. He 
is of a blackish colour, his ear-holes, (ornes,) are about twelve 
feet from the extremity of his head. In short, the whole has 
a terrible look. When he coils himself up, he places his tail 
in such a manner, that it aids him in darting forward with 
great force: he moves in all directions with the greatest faci¬ 
lity and astonishing rapidity. 

(Signed,) Joseph Woodward.” 

“ Hingham, May 12, 1818.” 

This declaration is attested by Peter Holmes and John 
Mayo, who made affidavit of the truth of it before a justice 
of peace. 

On the Fascinating Power of Serpents.— Major 
Alexander Garden, of South Carolina, has, in a paper read 
to the New York Historical Society, attributed the supposed 
power of fascination possessed by serpents, to a vapour which 
they can spread around them, and to objects at a little dis¬ 
tance, at pleasure. He first reduces the exaggerated idet 
which has been entertained of this power, and then adduces 
instances of the effect of a sickening and stupifying vapour, 
perceived to issue from the animal. A negro is mentioned, 
who, from a very peculiar acuteness in smell, could discover 
the rattlesnake at a distance of two hundred feet, when in the 
exercise of this power; and on following this indication, always 
found some animal suffering from its influence. 

We shall now give some curiosities respecting Worms ; ana 
first, of The Caterpillar. —The larvae of butterflies are uni¬ 
versally known by the name of caterpillars, and are extremely 
various in their forms and colours, some being smooth, others 
beset with either simple or ramified spines, and some are ob¬ 
served to protrude from their front, when disturbed, a pair of 
short tentacula, or feelers, somewhat analogous to those of a 
snail. A caterpillar, when grown to its full size, retires to 
some convenient spot, and, securing itself properly by a smal! 
quantity of silken filaments, either suspends itself by the tail, 
hanging with its head dowmwards, or else in an upright posi¬ 
tion, with the body fastened round the middle by a numbei 
of filaments. It then casts off the caterpillar-skin, and com¬ 
mences chrysalis, in which slate it continues till the butterfly 
is ready for birth, which, liberating itself from the skin of the 
"hrysalis, remains till its wings, which are at first short, weak. 



220 CURIOSITIES-SERPENTS AND WORMS. 

and covered with moisture, are fully extended; this happena 
in about a quarter of an hour, when the animal suddenly quits 
the state of inactivity to which it had been so long confined, 
and becomes at pleasure an inhabitant of the air. 

It will now be proper to give some account of The Cater¬ 
pillar-Eaters. —Caterpillar-eaters are a species of worms 
bred in the body of the caterpillar, and which eat its flesh. 
These are produced by a certain kind of fly, that lodges her 
eggs in the body of this insect; and they, after their proper 
changes, become flies like their parents. Mr. Reaumur has 
given us, in his History of Insects, some very curious parti¬ 
culars respecting these little worms. Each of them spins 
itself a very beautiful case, of a cylindric figure, of a very 
strong sort of silk, in which this animal spends its state of 
chrysalis ; and they have a mark by which they may be known 
from all other animal productions of this kind, which is, that 
they have always a broad stripe or band surrounding their 
middle, which is black when the rest of the case is white, 
and white when that is black. Mr. Reaumur has had the pa¬ 
tience to find out the reason of this singularity. The whole 
shell is spun of a silk produced out of the creature’s body; 
this at first runs all white, and towards the end of the spin¬ 
ning turns black. The outside of the case must necessarily 
be formed first, as the creature works from within ; conse¬ 
quently this is truly white all over, but it is transparent, and 
shews the last spun, or black silk, through it. It might be 
supposed that the whole inside of the shell should be blacky 
but this is not the case : the whole is fashioned before this black 
silk comes ; and this is employed by the creature, not to line 
the whole, but to fortify certain parts only; and therefore is 
all applied either to the middle,—or to the two ends, omitting 
the middle,—or a blackness at both ends, leaving the white in 
the middle to appear. It is not uncommon to find a sort of 
small cases, in garden walks, which appear to move of them¬ 
selves; when these are opened, they are found to contain a small 
living worm. This is one of the species of these caterpillar- 
eaters ; which, as soon as it comes out of the body of that 
animal, spins itself a case for its transformation, and lives in 
it without food till that change comes on, when it becomes a 
fly, like that to which it owed its birth. 

In the next place we shall introduce a subject of great curio¬ 
sity, well known by the name of The Silk-worm. —The 
silk-worm is a species of caterpillar, and, like it, is formed of 
several moveable rings, and is well furnished with feet and 
cHws, to rest and fix itself where it pleases. It has two rows 
of teeth, which do not move upwards and downwards, but 





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y*/"w~*V«< y^VS^VT^SiW* 

k jr& >Mli 


wJ3$awz 










THE SILK-WORM. 


22 ) 


from right to left, which enables it to press, cut, and tear the 
leaves in every direction. Along the whole length of its back 
we perceive through its skin a vessel which performs the func¬ 
tions of a heart. On each side of this insect are nine orifices, 
which answer to as many lungs, and assist the circulation of 
the chyle, or nutritive juice. Under the mouth it has a kind of 
reel with two holes, through which pass two drops of the 
gum with which its bag is filled ; they act like two distaffs, 
continually furnishing it with the materials of which it makes 
its silk. The gum which distils through the two holes takes 
their form, lengthens into a double thread, which suddenly 
loses the fluidity of the liquid gum, and acquires the consist¬ 
ence necessary to support or to envelope the worm. When 
that time arrives, it joins the two threads together, by gluing 
them one over the other with its fore feet. This double thread 
is not only very fine, but also very strong, and of great length. 
Each bag has a thread which is nearly five hundred ells long; 
and as this thread is double, and joined together throughout 
its length, each bag will be found to contain a thousand ells 
of silk, though the whole weight does not exceed two grains 
and a half. 

The life of this insect in its vermiform state is very short, 
and it passes through different states till it gradually arrives 
at its greatest degree of perfection. When it first emerges 
from the egg, it is extremely small, perfectly black, and its 
head of a still brighter black than the rest of its body: in a 
few days it begins to grow white, or of an ash colour; its 
coat becomes dirty and ruffled ; it casts it off, and appears in 
a new dress; it becomes larger and much whiter, though a 
little tinged with green, from feeding upon green leaves. 
After a few more days (the length of time varying according 
to the degree of heat and quality of its nourishment) it ceases 
to eat, and sleeps for about two days ; it then agitates and 
frets itself extremely, becoming red with the efforts it makes; 
its skin wrinkles and shrivels up, and it throws it off a second 
time, together with its feet. Within the space of three weeks 
or a month, we see it fresh dressed three times. It now begins 
to eat again, and might be taken for a different creature, so 
much is the appearance of its head, colour, and figure, altered. 
After continuing to eat for some days, it falls again into a 
lethargic state; on recovering from which, it once more 
changes its coat, which makes the third since it issued from 
its shell. It continues to eat for some time, then, entirely 
ceasing to take any nutriment, prepares for itself a retreat, 
and draws out a silken thread, which it wraps round its body 
in the same manner as we might wind thread round an oval 
piece of wood. It remains quietly in the bag it has formed, 
and at the end of fifteen days would pierce it, to issue forth, 


222 


CURIOSITIES—SERPENTS AND WORMS, 


if it was not killed by being exposed to the heat of the sun, 
or shut up in an oven. The silk-bags are thrown into hot 
water, and stirred about with birch twigs to draw out tne 
heads or beginning of the threads, and the silk is afterwards 
wound upon reels made for the purpose. Thus we are in¬ 
debted to this little insect for our greatest luxury in clothing : 
a reflection which ought to humble our pride ; for how can 
we be vain of the silk which covers us, when we reflect to 
what we are indebted for it, and how little we are instru¬ 
mental in the formation of those beauties in our clothing, of 
which we are vain? Thus we find the most insignificant and 
despicable objects are the instruments of ornament and ad¬ 
vantage to man; an insect that we scarcely condescended to 
look at, becomes a blessing to thousands of human beings, 
forms an important article of trade, and is the source of great 
riches. 


Our next subject is. The Tape-worm. —This genus of 
worms is destined to feed on the juices of various animals, 
and they inhabit the internal parts of almost every species of 
living beings. The structure and physiology of the taenia are 
curious, and it may be amusing as well as instructive to con¬ 
sider it with attention. The taenia appears destined to feed 
upon such juices of animals as are already animalized ; and 
it is therefore most commonly found in the alimentary canal, 
and in the upper part, where there is the greatest abundance of 
chyle, for chyle seems to be the natural food of the taenia. 
As it is thus supported by food which is already digested, it 
is destitute of the complicated organs of digestion. As the 
taenia solium is most frequent in this country, it may be proper 
to describe it more particularly. 

It is from three to thirty feet long; some say sixty feet. It 
is composed of a head, in which are a mouth adapted to drink 
up fluids, and an apparatus for giving the head a fixed situa¬ 
tion. The body is composed of a great number of distinct 
pieces articulated together, each joint having an organ by 
which it attaches itself to the neighbouring part of the inner 
court of the intestine. The joints nearest the head are always 
small, and they become gradually enlarged as they are farther 
removed from it; but towards the tail a few of the last joints 
again become diminished in size. The extremity of the body 
is terminated by a small semicircular joint, which has no 
opening in it. 

The head of this animal is composed of the same kind of 
materials as the other parts of its body; it has a rounded 
opening at its extremity, which is considered to be its mouth 
This opening is continued by a short duct into two canals , 
these canals pass round every joint of the animal’s body, and 


THE TAPE-WORM. 


223 


convey the aliment. Surrounding the opening of the mouth, 
are placed a number of projecting radii, which are of a fibrous 
texture, and whose direction is longitudinal. These radii appear 
to serve the purpose of tentacula, for fixing the orifice of the 
mouth, from their being inserted along the brim of that open¬ 
ing. After the rounded extremity or head has been narrowed 
into the neck, the lower part becomes flatted, and has two 
small tubercles placed on each flatted side; the tubercles are 
concave in the middle, and appear destined to serve the purpose 
of suckers, for attaching the head more effectually. The 
internal structure of the joints composing the body of this 
animal is partly vascular and partly cellular; the substance 
itself is white, and somewhat resembles in its texture the 
coagulated lymph of the human blood. The alimentary canal 
passes along each side of the animal, sending a cross canal 
over the bottom of each joint, which connects the two lateral 
canals together. 

Mr. Carlisle injected, with a coloured size, at a single 
push with a small syringe, three feet in length of these canals, 
in the direction from the mouth downwards. He tried the 
injection the contrary way, but it seemed to be stopped with 
valves. The alimentary canal is impervious at the extreme 
joint, where it terminates without any opening analogous to 
an anus. Each joint has a vascular joint occupying the mid¬ 
dle part, which is composed of a longitudinal canal, from 
which a great number of lateral canals branch off at right 
angles. These canals contain a fluid like milk. 

The taenia seems to be one of the simplest vascular animals 
in nature. The way in which it is nourished is singular; the 
food being taken in by the mouth, passes into the alimentary 
canal, and is thus made to visit in a general way the different 
parts of the animal. As it has no excretory ducts, it would 
appear that the whole of its alimentary fluid is fit for nourish¬ 
ment; the decayed parts probably dissolve into a fluid, which 
transudes through the skin, which is extremely porous. 

This animal has nothing resembling a brain or nerves, and 
seems to have no organs of sense, but those of touch. It is 
most probably propagated by ova, which may easily pass 
along the circulating vessels of other animals. YVe cannot 
otherwise explain the phenomena of worms being found in the 
eggs of fowls, and in the intestines of a foetus before birth, 
except by supposing their ova to have passed through the cir¬ 
culating vessels of the mother, and by this means to have been 
-conveyed to the foetus. 

The chance of an ovum being placed in a situation where it 
will be latched, and the young find convenient subsistence, 
must be very small; hence the necessity for their being very 
prolific. If they had the same powers of fecundity which 


224 CURIOSITIES — SERPENTS AND WORMS. 

they now possess, and their ova were afterwards very readily 
hatched, then the multiplication of these animals would be 
immense, and become a nuisance to the other parts of the 
creation. 

Another mode of increase allowed to taenia, (if we may call 
it increase,) is by an addition to the number of their joints. 
If we consider the individual joints as distinct beings, it is 
so; and when we reflect upon the power of individuality given 
to each joint, it makes this conjecture the more probable. 
We can hardly suppose that an ovum of a taenia, which at its 
full growth is thirty feet long, and composed of four hundred 
joints, contained a young taenia composed of this number of 
pieces; but we have seen young taenia not half a foot long, 
and not possessed of fifty joints, which still were entire worms. 
We have also many reasons to believe, that when a part of 
this animal is broken off from the rest, it is capable of forming 
a head for itself, and of becoming an independent being. The 
simple construction of the head makes its regeneration a much 
more easy operation than that of the tails and feet of lizards, 
which are composed of bones and complicated vessels ; but 
this last operation has been proved by the experiments of 
Spallanzani, and many other naturalists. 

An article of great curiosity is. The Ship-worm. —This 
worm has a very slender, smooth, cylindrical shell; it inhabits 
the Indian seas, whence it w r as imported into Europe. It 
penetrates easily into the stoutest oak planks, and produces 
dreadful destruction to the ships, by the holes it makes in 
their sides : and it is to avoid the effects of this insect that 
vessels require sheathing. 

The head of this creature is coated with a strong armour, 
and furnished with a mouth like that of the leech. A little 
above this it has two horns, which seem a kind of continua¬ 
tion of the shell; the neck is furnished with several strong 
muscles ; the rest of the body is only covered by a very thin 
transparent skin, through which the motion of ti e intestines is 
plainly seen by the naked eye. This creature is wonderfully 
minute when newly excluded from the egg, but it grows to 
the length of four or six inches, and sometimes more. When 
the bottom of a vessel, or any piece of wood which is con¬ 
stantly under water, is inhabited by these worms, it is full of 
small holes ; but no damage appears till the outer parts are 
cutaway. Then their shelly habitations come into view, in 
which there is a large space for inclosing the animal, and 
surrounding it with water. There is an evident care in these 
creatures never to injure each other’s habitations; by which 
means each case or shell is preserved entire. These worms 
will appear, on a very little consideration, to be most impor- 


THE SILK-WORM. 


22t 

lant beings in the great chain of creation, and pleasing demon¬ 
strations of the infinitely wise and gracious Power, which 
formed, and still preserves the whole, in such wonderful order 
and beauty ; for if it were not for the rapacity of these and such 
animals, tropical rivers, and indeed the ocean itself, would 
be choked with the bodies of trees which are annually carried 
down by the rapid torrents, as many of them would last for 
ages, and probably be productive of evils, of which, happily, 
we cannot in the present state of things form any idea; whereas, 
being consumed by these animals, they are more easily 
broken in pieces by the waves; and the fragments which are 
not devoured become specifically lighter, and are conse¬ 
quently more readily and more effectually thrown on shore, 
where the sun, wind, insects, and various other instruments, 
speedily promote their entire dissolution. 

We shall conclude this chapter with an account of a singu¬ 
lar curiosity that was found in a colliery. It is A living 
Lizard, imbedded in Coal. —This animal, preserved in 
spirits, is now in the possession of Mr. James Scholes, engi¬ 
neer to Mr. Fenton's colliery, near Wakefield. It is about 
five inches long ; its back of a dark brown colour, and it 
appears rough and scaly; its sides are of a lighter colour, and 
spotted with yellow ; the belly yellow, streaked with bands 
of the same colour as the back. Mr. S. related to me the 
following circumstances of its being found. In August last, 
they were sinking a new pit or shaft, and after passing through 
measures of stone, gray-bind, and blue stone, and some thin 
beds of coal, to the depth of one hundred and fifty yards, they 
came upon that intended to be worked, which is about four 
feet thick. When they had excavated about three inches of 
it, one of the miners (as he supposed) struck his pick, or 
mattock, into a crevice, and shattered the coal around into 
small pieces; he then discovered the animal in question, and 
immediately carried it to Mr. S.: it continued very brisk and 
lively fur about ten minutes, then drooped and died. About 
four inches above the coal in which the animal was found, 
numbers of muscle-shells, in a fossil state, lay scattered in 9 
loose gray earth. 




226 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BIRD3. 


CHAP. XIX 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BIRDS. 

The Common Peacock—The Egyptian Vulture—The Secretary 
Vulture—The Stork—The Great Pelican—The Bird of Para¬ 
dise — The Ostrich—The Mocking-Bird of America — 1 he 
Social Grosbeak—The Bengal Grosbeak—The Humming-Bird 
—The Golden Eagle. 

THE PEACOCK. 

How rich the peacock ! what bright glories run 
From plume to plume, and vary in the sun ! 

He proudly spreads them to the golden ray, 

And gives his colours to adorn the day ; 

With conscious state the spacious round displays, 

And slowly moves amid the waving blaze. Young. 

This very beautiful and interesting bird has a compressed 
crest and solitary spurs. It is about the size of a turkey \ 
the length from the top of the bill to the end of the tail being 
three feet eight inches. The bill is nearly two inches long, 
and is of a brown colour. The irides are yellow. On the 
crown there is a sort of crest, composed of twenty-four fea¬ 
thers, not webbed, except at the ends, which are gilded green. 
The shafts are of a whitish colour ; and the head, neck, and 
breast, are of a green gold colour. Over the eye there is a 
streak of white, and beneath there is the same. The back and 
rump are of a green gold colour, glossed over with copper; 
the feathers are distinct, and lie over each other like shells 
Above the tail springs an inimitable set of long beautiful fea¬ 
thers, adorned with a variegated eye at the end of each ; these 
reach considerably beyond the tail, and the longest of them 
in many birds are four feet and a half long. This beau¬ 
tiful train, or tail, as it is improperly called, may be expanded 
in the manner of a fan, at the will of the bird. The true 
tail is hid beneath this group of feathers, and consists of 
eighteen gray-brown feathers, one foot and a half long, marked 
on the sides with rufous gray ; the scapulars, and lesser wing 
coverts, are reddish cream colour, variegated with black ; the 
middle coverts deep blue, glossed with green gold ; the great¬ 
est and bastard wing, rufous ; the quills are also rufous, some 
of them variegated with rufous, blackish, and green; the belly 
and vent are greenish black, the thighs yellowish, the legs 
stout, those of the male furnished with a strong spur, three- 
quarters of an inch in length, the colour of which is gray- 
brown. 


THE PEACOCK. 


22 ? 


Th ese birds, now so common in Europe, are of Eastern 
origin. They are found wild in the islands of Ceylon and 
Java, in the East Indies; and at St. Helena, Barbuda, and 
other West India islands. They are not natural to China ; but 
they are found in many places in Asia and Africa. They are, 
however, no where so large or so fine as in India, in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of the Ganges, whence they have spread into all 
parts, increasing in a wild state in the warmer climates, but 
requiring care in the colder regions. In ours, this species 
does not come to its full plumage till the third year. The fe¬ 
male lays five or six grayish white eggs ; in hot climates twenty, 
the size of those of a turkey. These, if let alone, she lays 
in some secret place, at. . distance from the usual resort, to 
prevent their being broken by the male, which he is apt to do 
if he find them. The time of sitting is from twenty-seven to 
thirty days. The young may be fed with curds, chopped leeks, 
barley-meal, &c. moistened ; and they are fond of grasshop¬ 
pers, and some other insects. In five or six months they will 
feed as the old ones, on wheat and barley, with what else they 
can pick up in the circuit of their confinement. They seem 
to prefer the most elevated places to roost on during the night; 
such as high trees, tops of houses, and the like. Their cry 
is loud and inharmonious,—a perfect contrast to their external 
beauty. They are caught Hi India, by carrying lights to the 
trees where they roost, and having painted representations of 
the bird presented to them at the same time; when they put 
out the neck to look at the figure, the sportsman slips a noose 
over the head, and secures his game. In most ages they have 
been esteemed a salutary food. Hortensius gave the example 
at Rome, where it was counted the highest luxury, and sold 
dear , and a young peacock is thought a dainty, even in the 
present times. The life of these birds is reckoned by some 
at about twenty-five years ; by others a hundred. 

So beautiful a species of birds as the peacock could not 
long remain unknown : so early as the days of Solomon, we 
find, among the articles imported in his Tarshish navies, apes 
and peacocks. iElian relates, that they were brought into 
Greece from some barbarous country ; and that they were held 
in such high esteem, that a male and female were valued at 
Athens at 1000 drachmae, or £32. 5s. lOd. At Samos they were 
preserved about the temple of Juno, being sacred to that god¬ 
dess ; and Gellius, in his hoctes Atlica, c. xvi. commends the 
excellency of the Samian peacocks. When Alexander was in 
India, he found vast numbers of wild ones on tin* banks of the 
Hyarotis; and was so struck with their beauty, as to appoint a 
severe punishment on any person that killed them. IVncocks 
crests, in ancient times, were among the ornaments of the kings 
of England. Ernald de Aclent was fined to king Join in one 


228 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BIRDS. 


hundred and forty palfreys, with sackbuts, lorams, gilt spurs { 
and peacocks" crests, such as would be lor his credit. 

We shall now introduce The Egyptian Vulture. —The 
appearance of this bird is as horrid as can well be imagined. 
The face is naked and wrinkled ; the eyes are large and black ; 
the beak black and hooked ; the talons large, and extended, 
ready for prey; and the whole body polluted with filth: these 
are qualities enough to make the beholder shudder with hor¬ 
ror. Notwithstanding this, the inhabitants of Egypt cannot 
be thankful enough to Providence for this bird. All the places 
round Cairo are filled with the dead bodies of asses and camels, 
and thousands of these birds fly about and devour the car¬ 
cases before they putrefy, and fill the air with noxious exhala¬ 
tions. The inhabitants of Egypt say, (and after them Maillet, 
in his description of Egypt,) that they yearly follow the 
caravan to Mecca, and devour the filth of the slaughtered 
beasts, and the carcases of the camels which die on the jour¬ 
ney. They do not fly high, nor are they afraid of men. If 
one of them is killed, all the rest surround it in the same 
manner as do the Royston crows ; they do not quit the places 
they frequent, though frightened by the explosion of a gun, 
but immediately return. 

The Secretary Vulture. —This is a most singular spe¬ 
cies, being particularly remarkable from the great length of 
its legs, which at first sight would induce us to think it 
belonged to waders : but the characters of the vulture are so 
strongly marked throughout, .4s to leave no doubt to which 
class it belongs. This bird, when standing erect, is full three 
feet from the top of the head to the ground. The bill is black, 
sharp, and crooked, like that of an eagle; the head, neck, 
breast, and upper parts of the body, are of a bluish ash-colour; 
the legs are very long, stouter than those of a heron, and of 
a brown colour ; claws shortish, but crooked, not very sharp, 
and of a black colour. From behind the head spring a number 
of long feathers, which hang loose behind, like a pendent 
crest; these feathers rise by pairs, and are longer as they 
are lower down on the neck; this crest, the bird can erect or 
depress at pleasure; it is of a dark colour, almost black ; the 
webs are equal on both sides, and rather curled, and the fea¬ 
thers, when erected, somewhat incline towards the neck ; the 
two middle feathers of the tail are twice as long as any of the 
rest. This singular species inhabits the internal parts ol 
Africa, and is frequently seen at the Cape of Good Hope. It 
is also met with in the Philippine islands. As to the manners 
of this bird, it is on all hands allowed that it principally feeds 
on rats, lizaids, snakes, and the like; and that it will become 


THE STORK.-THE PELICAN. 


229 


familiar; whence Sonnerat is of opinion, that it might be 
made useful in some of our colonies, if encouraged, towards 
the destruction of those pests. They call it at the Cape of 
Good Hop e,Jiang-eater, i. e. snake-eater. A great peculiarity 
belongs to it, perhaps observed in no other, which is, the fa¬ 
culty of striking forwards with its legs, never backwards. Dr. 
Solander saw one of these birds take up a snake, small tor¬ 
toise, or such like, in its claws ; when, dashing it against the 
ground with great violence, if the victim were not killed at 
first, it repeated the operation till that end was answered ; 
after which it ate it up quietly. Dr. J. R. Forster mentioned 
a further circumstance, which he says was supposed to be pe¬ 
culiar to this bird,—that should it by any accident break the 
leg, the bone would never unite again. 

The curious reader will be interested by the following sin¬ 
gular particulars respecting The Stork. —The veneration 
shewn by the Germans for storks, is a very remarkable super¬ 
stition. The houses which these birds light upon, are consi¬ 
dered as under the special favour of Heaven. It is usual to 
contrive a small flat square spot on the top of the roof, for 
them to rest upon, and build their nests. Catholic curates, 
as well as Protestant ministers, endeavour to allure them to 
their churches. “ I observed (says a French traveller) four 
or five steeples dignified by such visitors. There are people 
so lucky as to attract some of them into their poultry-yard, 
where they stalk about with the hens, but without yielding up 
any particle of their freedom. Were any one to kill a stork, 
he would be pursued like an Egyptian of old for killing an 
ibis, or for fricaseeing a cat.” 

In a fire, by which the town of Delft in Holland was burnt 
to ashes, a stork, which had built her nest upon a chimney, 
strove all she could to save her little ones : she was seen 
spreading her wings around them, to keep off the sparks and 
burning embers. Already the flame began to seize upon her, 
but, unmindful of herself, she cared only for her offspring, 
bemoaning their loss, and at length fell a prey to the fire, 
under the eyes of a sympathizing crowd; prefering death with 
the pledges of her love, to life without them. This interest¬ 
ing anecdote was celebrated by a Flemish poet, who lived in 
1503, in an effusion bearing the title of the “ Stork of Delft; 
or, the Model of Maternal Love.” 

The Great Pelican. —This bird is sometimes of the 
weight of twenty-five pounds, and of the width, between the 
extreme points of the wings, of fifteen feet; the skin, between 
the sides of the upper mandible, is extremely dilatable, reach¬ 
ing moie than half a foot down the neck, and capable of con- 


VZ30 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BIRDS. 

taining many quarts of water. The skin is often used by sailors 
for tobacco-pouches, and has been occasionally converted into 
ladies’ elegant work bags. About the Caspian and Black 
seas, these birds are very numerous; and they are chiefly to 
be found in the warmer regions, inhabiting almost every 
country of Africa. They build in the small isles of lakes, far 
from the habitations of man. The nest is a foot and a half in 
diameter; and the female, if molested, will remove her eggs 
into the water till the cause of annoyance is removed, and then 
return them to her nest of reeds and grass. These birds, 
though living principally upon fish, often build in the midst 
of deserts, where that element is rarely to be found. They 
are extremely dexterous in diving for their prey, and, after 
having filled their pouch, will retire to some rock, and swal¬ 
low what they have taken at their leisure. They are said to 
unite with other birds in the pursuit of fish. The pelicans 
dive, and drive the fish into the shallows; the cormorants 
assist by flapping their wings on the surface, and, forming a 
crescent, perpetually contracting, they at length accomplish 
their object, and compel vast numbers into creeks and shal¬ 
lows, where they gratify their voracity with perfect ease, and 
to the most astonishing excess. 

Another curiosity is. The Bird of Paradise. —In natural 
history, a genus of birds of the order Picae. Generic charac¬ 
ter: bill covered at the base with downy feathers; nostrils 
covered by the feathers ; tail of ten feathers, two of them, in 
some species, very long; legs and feet very large and strong. 
These birds chiefly inhabit North Guinea, whence they emigrate 
in the dry season to the neighbouring islands. Their feathers 
are used in these countries as ornaments for the head-dress; 
and the Japanese, Chinese, and Persians, import them for 
the same purpose. The rich and great among the latter attach 
these brilliant collections of plumage, not only to their own 
turbans, but to the housings and harnesses of their horses. 
They are found only within a few degrees of the equator. 
Gmelin enumerates twelve species, and Latham eight. P. apo- 
da, or the greater Paradise bird, is about as large as a thrush. 
They pass in companies of thirty or forty together, headed 
by one whose flight is higher than that of the rest. They are 
often distressed by means of their long feathers, in sudden 
shiftings of the wind, and unable to proceed in their flight; 
are easily taken by the natives, who catch them with bird¬ 
lime, and shoot them with blunted arrows. They are sold at 
Aroo for an iron nail each, and at Banda for half a rix-dollar. 
Their food is not ascertained, and they cannot be kept alive 
in confinement. The smaller bird of Paradise is supposed, by 
Latham, to be a mere variety of the above. It is found only 


THE OSTRICH. 


231 

in the Papuan islands, where it is caught by the natives often 
by the hand, and exenterated and seared with a hot iron in 
the inside, and then put into the hollow of a bamboo, to 
secure its plumage from injury. 

The following account of the curiosities of The Os¬ 
trich, is taken from Lichtenstein’s Travels in South Africa, 
vol. II.—“ The habits of the ostrich are so remarkable, and 
have been so imperfectly described by travellers in general, 
that I cannot forbear bringing together here all the knowledge 
I acquired upon the subject, both in this and subsequent jour¬ 
neys. I have noticed, on a former occasion, a large flock of 
ostriches, which we met in the neighbourhood of Komberg. 
In that country, the drought and heat sometimes compel 
these gigantic birds to leave the plains, and then they pursue 
their course together in large flocks to the heights, where they 
find themselves more commodiously lodged. At the time of 
sitting, there are seldom more than four or five seen together, 
of which only one is a cock, the rest are hens. These hens 
lay their eggs all together in the same nest, which is nothing 
more than a round cavity made in the clay, of such a size 
as to be covered by one of the birds, when sitting upon 
it. A sort of wall is scraped up round with their feet, against 
which the eggs in the outermost circle rest. Every egg stands 
upon its point in the nest, that the greatest possible number 
may be stowed within the space. When ten or twelve eggs 
are laid, they begin to sit, the hens taking their turns, and 
relieving each other during the day; at night the cock alone 
sits, to guard the eggs against the jackals and wild cats, who 
will run almost any risk to procure them. Great numbers of 
these smaller beasts of prey have often been found crushed to 
death about the nests; a proof that the ostrich does not fight 
with them, but knows very well how to conquer them at once 
by her own resistless power; for it is certain, that a stroke of 
her large foot trampling upon them, is enough to crush any 
such animal. 

“ The hens continue to lay during the time they are sitting, 
and that, not only till the nest is full, which happens when 
about thirty eggs are laid, but for some time after. The eggs 
laid after the nest is filled are deposited round about it, and 
seem designed by nature to satisfy the cravings of the above- 
mentioned enemies, since they very much prefer the new-laid 
eggs to those which have been brooded. But they seem also 
to have a more important designation, that is, to assist in the 
nourishment of the young birds. These, when first hatched, 
are as large as a common pullet, and since their tender sto¬ 
machs cannot digest the hard food eaten by the old ones, the 
spare eggs serve as their first nourishment. The increase of 


‘232 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BIRDS. 


the ostrich race would be incalculable, had they not so many 
enemies, by which great numbers of the young are destroyed 
after they quit the nest. 

“ The ostrich is a very prudent, wary creature, which is not 
easily ensnared in the open field, since it sees to a very great 
distance, and takes to flight upon the least idea of danger. 
For this reason the quaggas generally attach themselves, as it 
were instinctively, to a troop of ostriches, and fly with them, 
without the least idea that they are followed. Xenophon 
relates, that the army of Cyrus met ostriches and w.ld asses 
together, in the plains of Syria. 

“ The ostriches are particularly careful to conceal, if possible, 
the places where their nests are made. They never go directly 
to them, but run round in a circle at a considerable distance 
before they attempt to approach the spot. On the contrary, they 
always run directly up to the springs where they drink, and the 
impressions they make on the ground, in the desolate places 
they inhabit, are often mistaken for the footsteps of men. The 
females, in sitting, when they are to relieve each other, eithei 
both remove awhile to a distance from the nest, or chang 
hastily, that any one who might by chance be spying about, 
could never see both at once. In the day-time, they occa¬ 
sionally quit the nest entirely, and leave the care of warming 
the eggs to the sun alone. If at any time they find that the 
place of their nest is discovered, that either a man or a beast 
of prey has been at it, and has disturbed the arrangement of 
the eggs, or taken any away, they immediately destroy the 
nest themselves, break all the eggs to pieces, and seek out 
some other spot to make a new one. When the colonist there¬ 
fore finds a nest, he contents himself with taking one or two 
of the spare eggs that are lying near, observing carefully to 
smooth over any footsteps which may have been made, so that 
they may not be perceived by the birds. Thus visits to the 
nest may be often repeated, and it may be converted into a 
storehouse of very pleasant food, where, every two or three 
days, as many eggs may be procured as are wanted to regale 
the whole household. 

“ An ostrich’s egg weighs commonly near three pounds, and 
is considered as equal in its square contents to twenty-tour 
hen’s eggs. The yolk has a very pleasant flavour, yet, it must 
be owned, not the delicacy of a hen’s egg. It is so nourish¬ 
ing and so soon satisfies, that no one can eat a great deal at 
once. Four very hungry n^rsana would be requisite to eat a 
whole ostrich’s egg; and eight, Africans, who are used to so 
much harder living, might make a meal of it. These eggs 
will keep for a very long time : they are often brought to the 
Cape Town, whers they are sold at the price of half a dollar 
each. 


i'HE OSTRICH.-THE MOCKING-BIRD. 


233 


“ In the summer months of July, August, and September, the 
greatest number of ostriches’ nests are to be found; but the 
leathers, which are always scattered about the nest at the 
time of sitting, are of very little value. I have, however, at 
all times of the year, found nests with eggs that have been 
brooded : the contrasts of the seasons beino; much less forci- 
ble in this part of the world than in Europe, the habits of 
animals are consequently much less fixed and regular. The 
ostrich sits from thirty-six to forty days before the young are 
hatched. 

“ It is well known that the male alone furnishes the beautiful 
white feathers which have for so long a time been a favourite 
ornament in the head-dress of our European ladies. They are 
purchased from the people who collect them, for as high as three 
or four shillings each ; they are, however, given at a lower 
price, in exchange for European wares and clothing. Almost 
all the colonists upon the borders have a little magazine of 
th ese feathers laid by, and when they would make a friendly 
present to a guest, it is generally an ostrich’s feather. Few 
of them are, however, prepared in such a manner as to be 
wholly fit for the use of the European dealers. The female 
ostriches are entirely black, or rather, in their youth, of a very 
dark gray, but have no white feathers in the tail. In every 
other respect, the colour excepted, their feathers are as good 
as those of the males. It is very true, as Mr. Bar ow says, 
that small stones are sometimes found in the ostrich’s eggs; 
jt is not, however, very common ; and, among all that I ever 
saw opened, I never met with one.” 

We must not omit to give some account of The Mocking- 
Bird of America. —Those who have not heard the mocking¬ 
bird, can have no conception of his great superiority of song: 
he seems the merryandrew among birds, and the most serious 
and laboured efforts of the best performers appear to him only 
sport: he performs an antic dance to the sound of his own 
music ; like jack-pudding, too, he seems to make game of his 
audience, for often, when he has secured the attention by the 
most delightful warblings, he will stop suddenly, and surprise 
them by the quack of a duck, the hiss of a goose, the mon¬ 
strous note of the whip-poor-will, or any other unexpected 
sound : he possesses also the power of a ventriloquist, in 
beino; able to deceive his hearers as to the direction of the 
sound. When he is not seen,and while his listeners are looking 
for the enchanter on the roof of their own houses, he is per¬ 
haps playing his antic tricks on the chimney-top of some 
house at a considerable distance. When, however, there are 
no spectators during the stillness of night, he lays aside his 
frolic, and pours his “love-laboured songs;” and surely, if 

2 G 


234 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BIRDS 


there is fascination in sweet sounds, it must be in the scng oi 
this delightful bird, perched on the chimney-top, or on some 
tree near to the dwelling of man. He seems never to tire. 

The next subject of curiosity is The Social Grosbeak.— 
Th is bird inhabits the interior country of the Cape of Good 
Hope, where it was discovered by Mr. Paterson. These birds 
live together in large societies, and their mode of nidification 
is extremely uncommon. They build in a species of mimosa, 
which grows to an uncommon size, and which they seem to 
select for that purpose, as well on account of its ample head, 
and the great strength of its branches, calculated to admit 
and to support the extensive buildings which they have to 
erect, as for the tallness and smoothness of its trunk, which 
their great enemies, the serpent tribe, are unable to climb. 

The method in which the nests themselves are fabricated, 
is highly curious. In the one described by Mr. Paterson, 
there could be no less a number (he says) than from eight 
hundred to a thousand, residing under the same roof. He 
calls it a roof, because it perfectly resembles that of a thatched 
house; and the ridge forms an angle so acute and so smooth, 
projecting over the entrance of the nest below, that it is im¬ 
possible for any reptile to approach them. The industry of 
these birds is almost equal, in his opinion, to that of the bee: 
through* ut the day they appear to be busily employed in 
carrying a fine species of grass, which is the principal material 
they employ for the purpose of erecting this extraordinary 
work, as well as for additions and repairs.—“Though my 
short stay in the country was not sufficient to satisfy me, by 
ocular proof, that they added to their nest as they annually 
increased in numbers, still, from the many trees which I have 
seen borne down with the weight, and others which I have 
observed with their boughs completely covered over, it would 
appear, that this is really the case; when the tree, which is 
the support of this aerial city, is obliged to give way to the 
increase of weight, it is obvious they are no longer protected, 
and are under the necessity of building in other trees. 

“ One of these deserted nests I had the curiosity to break 
down, so as to inform myself of the internal structure of it, 
and found it equally ingenious with that of the external. 
There many entrances, each of which forms a regular street, 
with nests on both sides, at about two inches distant from 
each other. The grass with which they build, is called, the 
Boshman’s grass; and I believe the seed of it to be their prin¬ 
cipal food; though, on examining their nests, I found the 
wings and legs of different insects. From every appearance, 
the nest which 1 dissected had been inhabited for many years ; 
and some parts of it were much more complete than others • 


THE BENGAL GUOSBliAK. 


235 

this therefore I conceive nearly to amount to a proof, that the 
animals added to it at different times, as they found necessary 
from the increase of the family, or rather of the nation or 
community. 

The Bengal Grosbeak. —This is an Indian bird, and 
is thus described by Mr. Latham. “ This little bird (called 
baya , in Hindu; berbera, in Sanscrit; babvli , in the dialect of 
Bengal; cibxi, in Persian; and tenauwit , in Arabic, from its 
remarkably pendent nest) is rather larger than a sparrow, with 
yellow brown plumage, a yellowish head and feet, a light 
coloured breast, and a conic beak, very thick in proportion 
to his body. This bird is exceedingly common in Hindostan; 
he is astonishingly sensible, faithful, and docile, never volun¬ 
tarily deserting the place where his young were hatched, but 
not averse, like most other birds, to the society of mankind, 
and easily taught to perch on the hand of his master. In a 
state of nature, he generally builds his nest on the highest 
tree that he can find, especially on the palmyra, or on the 
Indian fig-tree, and he prefers that which happens to over¬ 
hang a well or rivulet: he makes it of grass, which he weaves 
like cloth, and shapes like a large bottle, suspending it firmly 
on the branches, but so as to rock with the wind, and placing it 
with its entrance downwards, to secure it from birds of prey. 
His nest usually consists of two or three chambers ; and it is 
the popular belief that he lights them with fire-flies, which 
he catches alive at night, and confines with moist clay or 
cow-dung. That such dies are often found in his nest, where 
pieces of cow-dung are also stuck, is indubitable : but ts 
their light could be of little use to him, it seems probable 
that he only feeds on them. He may be taught with ease to 
fetch any small thing that his master points out to him : it is 
an attested fact, that if a ring be dropped into a deep well, 
and a signal be given to him, he will fly down with amazing 
celerity, catch the ring before it touches the water, and bring 
it up with apparent exultation; and it is asserted, that if a 
house or any other place be shewn to him once or twice, he 
will carry a nQte thither immediately on a proper signal. 

“ One instance of his docility, I can myself mention with 
confidence, having often been an eye-witness of it. The 
voun£ Hindoo women at Benares, and in other places, wear 
very thin plates of gold, called ticas, slightly fixed by way of 
ornament between their eye-brows; and when they pass 
through the streets, it is not uncommon for the youthful liber¬ 
tines, who amuse themselves with training bayas, to give them 
a signal, which they understand, and send them to pluck the 
pieces of gold from the foreheads of their mistresses, which 
they bring in triumph to the lovers. The baya feeds naturally 


236 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BIRDS. 

on grasshoppers and other insects, but will subsist, when 
tame, on pulse macerated in water: his flesh is warm and 
drying, and easy of digestion. The female lays many beau¬ 
tiful eggs, resembling large pearls; the white of them, 
when boiled, is transparent, and the flavour is exquisitely 
delicate. When many bayas are assembled on a high tree, 
they make a lively din* but it is rather chirping than singing; 
their want of musical talents is, however, amply supplied by 
their wonderful sagacity, in which they are not excelled by 
any feathered inhabitant of the forest.’' 

Another subject of acknowledged curiosity is. The Hum¬ 
ming Bird. —There are sixty species enumerated by Latham, 
and Gmelin has sixty-five. The birds of this genus are the 
smallest of all birds. These diminutive creatures subsist on 
the juices of flowers, which they extract, like bees, while on 
the w'ing, fluttering over their delicate repast, and making a 
considerable humming sound, from which they derive their 
designation. They are gregarious, and build their nests with 
great neatness and elegance, lining them with the softest ma¬ 
terials they can possibly procure. 

The red-throated hummino-bird is rather more than three 
inches long, and is frequent in various parts of North America. 
Its plumage is highly splendid and varying; it extracts the 
nectar of flowers, particularly those of a long tube, like the 
convolvulus or tulip. They will suffer themselves to be ap¬ 
proached very near, but on observing an effort to seize them, 
dart off* with the rapidity of an arrow. A flower is frequently 
tne subject of oittei conflict between two of tnese birds; they 
will often enter an open window, and, after a short contest, 
retire. They sometimes soar perpendicularly to a considerable 
height, with a violent scream. If a flower which they enter 
furnishes them with no supply, they pluck it, as it were in 
punishment and revenge, from its stalk. They have been kept 
alive in cages for several weeks, but soon perish for want of 
the usual food, for which no adequate substitute has yet been 
found. Latham, however, mentions a curious circumstance 
of their being preserved alive by Captain Davies for four 
months, by the expedient of imitating tubular flowers with 
paper appropriately painted, and filling the bottom of the 
tubes with sugar and water as often as they were emptied. 
They then took their nourishment in the same manner as when 
unconfined, and soon appeared familiarized and happy. They 
build on the middle of the branch of a tree, and lay two eggs 
Hi an extremely small and admirably constructed nest. 

The smallest of all the species is said, when just killed, to 
weigh no more than twenty grains. Its total length is an inch 
and a quarter. It is found in the West Indies and South Ame- 



HUMMING BIRDS 







































































































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THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 237 

rica, and is exceeded both in weight and magnitude by several 
species of bees. 

We shall close this chapter with an account of Th e Golden 
Eagle. —This bird weighs above twelve pounds, and is about 
three feet long, the wings, when extended, measuring seven 
feet four inches. The sight and sense of smelling are very 
acute ; the head and neck are clothed with narrow, sharp- 
pointed feathers, of a deep brown colour, bordered with tawny ; 
the hind part of the head is of bright rust colour. These birds 
are very destructive to fawns, lambs, kids, and all kinds of 
game, particularly in the breeding season, when they bring 
a vast quantity of prey to their young. Smith, in his History 
of Kerry, relates, that a poor man in that country got a com¬ 
fortable subsistence for his family, during a summer of famine, 
out of an eagle’s nest, by robbing the eaglets of the food the 
old ones brought, whose attendance he protracted beyond the 
natural time, by clipping the wings and retarding the flight 
of the former. It is very unsafe to leave infants in places 
where eagles frequent; there having been instances in Scot 
land of two being carried off by them; but, fortunately, the 
thefts were discovered in time, and the children were restored 
unhurt out of the eagles’ nests. In order to extirpate these 
pernicious birds, there is a law in the Orkney isles, which en¬ 
titles every person that kills an eagle to a hen out of every 
house in the parish where it was killed. Eagles seem to give 
the preference to the carcases of dogs and cats. People who 
make it their business to kill those birds, lay one of these car- 
cases by way of bait; and then conceal themselves within 
gun-shot. Thay fire the instant the eagle alights; for she 
that moment looks about before she begins to prey. Yet, 
quick as her sight may be, her sense of hearing seems still 
more exquisite. If hooded crows or ravens happen to be 
nearer the carrion, and resort to it first, and give a single croak, 
the eagle instantly repairs to the spot. These eagles are re¬ 
markable for their longevity, and for sustaining a long absti¬ 
nence from food. Mr. Keysler relates, that an eagle died at 
Vienna after a confinement of 104 years. This pre-eminent 
length of days is alluded to by the Psalmist, “Thy youth is 
renewed like the eagle’s.” 

One of this species, which was nine years in the possession 
of Owen Holland, Esq. of Conway, lived thirty-two years 
with the gentleman who made him a present of it; but what 
its age was, when the latter received it from Ireland, is un¬ 
known. The same bird also furnishes us with a proof of the 
truth of the other remark ; having once, through the neglect 
of servants, endured hunger for twenty-one days without any 
sustenance whatever. 


238 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BIRDS 


Here it is proper to take notice of a very singular var ety 
of the Golden Eagle, described by Mr. Bruce, in his Travels 
in Abyssinia ; for, whether it properly belongs to this species 
or not, we do not find that it has been, as yet, either arranged 
under any other, or ranked as a different genus, (which indeed 
it appears to be,) by Mr. Kerr, or any other ornithologist. 
Mr. Bruce says, it is not only the largest of the eagle kind, 
but the largest bird that flies. By the natives it is vulgarly 
called abort duchem, or, father long-beard. It is not an object, 
of any chase, nor stands in need of any stratagem to bring it 
within reach. Upon the highest top of mount Lamalmon, 
while Mr. Bruce’s servants were refreshing themselves aftei 
their toilsome ascent, and enjoying the pleasure of a most de¬ 
lightful climate, eating their dinner in the open air, with seve¬ 
ral large dishes of boiled goat’s flesh before them, thrs eagle 
suddenly made its appearance ; he did not stoop rapidly from a 
height, but came flying slowly along the ground, and sat down 
close to the meat, within the ring the men had made around it. 
A great shout, or rather cry of distress, which they raised, 
made the bird stand for a minute as if to recollect himself; but 
while the servants ran for their lances and shields, his atten¬ 
tion was fully fixed upon the flesh. He put his foot into the 
pan., where was a large piece in water nearly boiling ; but feel¬ 
ing the smart, he withdrew it, and forsook the piece which he 
held. There were two large pieces, a leg and a shoulder, lying- 
on a wooden platter: into these he struck his claws, and carried 
them off, skimming slowly along the ground, as he had come, 
till he disappeared behind a cliff*. But being observed, at his 
departure, to look wistfully at the large piece which remained 
in the warm water, it was concluded that he would soon return ; 
in expectation of which, Mr. Bruce loaded a rifle gun with 
ball, and sat down close to the platter by the meat. It was 
not many minutes before he came ; and a prodigious shout was 
raised by the attendants, “He is coming, he is coming!” 
enough to have discouraged a less courageous animal. Whe¬ 
ther he was not quite so hungry as at his first visit, or sus¬ 
pecting something from Mr. Bruce’s appearance, he made a 
small turn, and sat down about ten yards from him, the pan 
with the meat being between them. In this situation Mr. Bruce 
fired, and shot him with the ball through the middle of his body, 
about two inches below the wing, so that he lay down upon 
the grass without a single flutter. Upon laying hold of his 
monstrous carcase, our author was not a little surprised at 
seeing his hands covered and tinged with yellow dust. Upon 
turning him upon his belly, and examining the feathers of his 
back, they produced a brown dust, the colour of the feathers 
there. The dust was not in small quantities, for, upon striking 
his breast, the yellow powder flew in a greater quantity than 


THE GOLDEN EAGLE. 


239 


from a hair-dresser’s powder-puff. The feathers of the belly 
and breast, which were of a gold colour, did not appear to have 
any thing extraordinary in their formation, but the large fea¬ 
thers in the shoulders and wings seemed apparently to be fine 
tubes, which, upon pressure, scattered the brown dust upon 
the finer part of the feathers. Upon the side of the wing, the 
ribs, or hard part of the feather, seemed to be bare, as if worn, 
or, in our author’s opinion, were rather renewing themselves, 
having before failed in their function. What the reason is of this 
extraordinary provision of nature, Mr. Bruce does not attempt 
to determine. But as it is an unusual one, it is probably meant, 
he thinks, for a defence against the climate in favour of those 
birds, which live in those almost inaccessible heights of a 
country, doomed even in its lower parts to several months’ of 
excessive rain. 

This bird, from wing tc wing, was eight feet four inches; 
md from the tip of his tail to the point of his beak, four 
feet seven inches. He was remarkably short in the legs, being 
only four inches from the foot to the junction of the leg with 
the thigh ; and from that to the body six inches. The thickness 
of his thigh was little less than four inches; it was extremely 
muscular, and coveied with flesh. His middle claw was about 
two inches and a half long, not very sharp at the point, but ex¬ 
tremely strong. From the root of the bill to the point was 
three inches and a quarter, and one inch and three-quarters in 
breadth at the root. A forked brush of strong hair, divided 
at the point into two, proceeded from the cavity of his lower 
jaw at the beginning of his throat. His eye was remarkably 
small in proportion to his bulk, the aperture being scarcely 
half an inch. The crown of his head, and the front, where the 
bill and skull jo ned, were bald. 


240 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BIRDS* 


CHAP. XX 

curiosities respecting birds.— (Continued.) 


The Cuckoo—The Cormorant—The Great Bustard—The Alarm," 
Bird—The Carrier , or Courier , Pigeon—The Wild Pigeon , 
its multiplying Power—Singular Bind, inhabiting a Volcano 
in Guadaloupe—Curious Adventure of an Owl—Curious Fads 
in Natural History—The Chick in the Fgg- 

The Cuckoo.— We shall introduce this curious bird, with 
file following well-known beautiful piece of poetry 

Hail, beauteous stranger of the wood. 

Attendant on the spring ! 

Now heav n repairs thy rural seat, 

And woods thy welcome sing. 

Soon as the daisy decks the green, 

Thy certain voice we hear: 

Hast thou a star to guide thy path, 

Or mark the rolling year? 

Delightful visitant! with thee 
I hail the time of flow’rs, 

When heaven is fill’d with music sweet 
Of birds among the bow’rs. 

The school-boy, wand’ringin the wood. 

To pull the flow'rs so gay, 

Starts, thy curious voice to hear, 

And imitates thy lay. 

Soon as the pea puts on the bloom. 

Thou fly’st thy vocal vale. 

An annual guest, in other lands. 

Another spring to hail. 

Sweet bird ! thy bow’r is ever green, 

Thy sky is ever clear; 

Thou hast no sorrow in thy song, 

No winter in thy year! 

O could I fly, I'd fly with tnee; 

We’d make, with social wing 

Our annual visit o’er the globe, 

Companions of the spring 

This bird is described, in natural history, as a genus of the 
order of Picae. Generic character : bill smooth, somewhat 
bending and weak; nostrils surrounded by a small rim; tongue 
short and arrowed ; toes, two forward and two backward ; tail 
wedge-formed, of ten soft feathers. Gmelin enumerates fifty- 



BIRDS IN THE TROPICS 























































































A 



. 















. .. 






























THE CUCKOO. 


241 


live species, and Latham forty-six. The following are the 
most general characteristics of the Cuckoo :— 

This bird is about fourteen inches long'. It is found in 
Europe, Asia, and Africa. Its food consists of insects and 
the larvae of moths, but when domesticated, which it may be 
without much difficulty, it will eat bread, fruits, eggs, and 
even flesh. When fattened, it is said to be excellent for the 
table. It is in this country a bird of passage, appearing first 
about the middle of April, and cheering the vicinity of its 
habitation with that well-known note, with which so many 
exquisite ideas and feelings are associated. This note is used 
only by the male bird, and this is the intimation of love. 
It has been heard, (though very rarely,) like the song of 
the nightingale, in the middle of the night. About the close of 
June this note ceases, but the cuckoo remains in England till 
towards the end of September. It is imagined sometimes to 
continue in the country for the whole of the year, as it has 
occasionally been seen here so early as February. Cuckoos 
are supposed to winter in Africa, as they are seen twice a year 
in the island of Malta. 

With the history of these birds have been blended much fable 
and superstition ; their manners, however, are unquestionably 
very curious ; and fable in this, as in many other cases, is in 
a great degree connected with fact. It is almost universally 
agreed by naturalists, that the cuckoo does not hatch its own 
eggs, but deposits them in the nest of some other bird. Buf- 
fon mentions the names of twenty birds, or more, on which 
the cuckoo passes this fraud. Those most frequently duped 
by it, however, in this manner, are the yellow-hammer, the 
water-wagtail, and the hedge-sparrow; and of these three, by 
far more than the other two, the hedge-sparrow. The most 
minute and attentive examiner into this extraordinary peculi¬ 
arity, is Mr. Edward Jenner; from whose observations on this 
interesting subject we shall select a few of the most impor¬ 
tant. 

He states, that the hedge-sparrow is generally four or five 
days in completing her number of eggs, during which time the 
cuckoo finds an opportunity of introducing one of its own into 
the nest, leaving the future management of it to the hedge- 
sparrow ; and that, though it frequently occurs that the latter 
is much discomposed by this intrusion, and several of the 
eggs are injured by her, and obliged to be removed from the 
nest, yet the egg of the cuckoo is never of this number. 
When the usual time of incubation is completed, and the 
young sparrows and cuckoo are disengaged from the eggs, 
the former are ejected from the nest, and the stranger obtains 
exclusive possession. A nest, built in a situation extremely 
convenient for minute observation, fell under the particular 

2 H 


242 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BIRDS. 


examination of this gentleman, and was found on the first day 
to contain a cuckoo’s and three hedge-sparrows’ eggs. On the 
day following, he observed a young cuckoo and a hedge-spar¬ 
row, and as he could distinctly perceive every thing passing, 
he was resolved to watch the events which might take place. 
He soon, with extreme surprise, saw the young cuckoo, hatched 
only the day before, exerting itself with its rump and wings 
to take the young sparrow on its back, which it actually 
accomplished, and then climbed backwards with its burden 
to the verge of the nest, from which, with a sudden jerk, it 
clearly threw off its load; after which it dropped back into 
the nest, having first, however, felt about with the extremi¬ 
ties of its wings, as if to ascertain whether the clearance were 
completely effected. Several eggs were afterwards put in to 
the young usurper, which were all similarly disposed of.—He 
observes, that in another instance, two cuckoos and a hedge- 
sparrow were hatched in the same nest, and one hedge-spar¬ 
row’s egg remained unhatched. Within a few hours, a conflict 
began between the two cuckoos for the possession of the 
nest, which was conducted with extreme spirit and vigour, 
and in which each appeared occasionally to have the advan¬ 
tage, lifting its adversary to the very brink of the nest, and 
then, from exhaustion of strength, sinking with it again to 
the bottom. These vicissitudes of success were repeated and 
reiterated; but towards the close of the following day, the 
contest was decided by one of them, which was rather 
the larger of the two, completely expelling his rival; after 
which, the egg and the young hedge-sparrow were dislodged 
with extreme facility. The infant conqueror was brought up 
by the step-mother with the most assiduous affection. The 
sagacity of the female cuckoo appears not inconsiderable, in her 
introducing her egg into the nests of birds whose young are 
inferior in size and strength to the young cuckoo, and which 
the latter is consequently able to exclude without difficulty 
from its usurped dominions. 

We shall now call the reader’s attention to The Cormo¬ 
rant. —This bird, which is nearly as large as a goose, is found 
in many places both of the old and the new world; it is to 
be met with in the northern parts of this island, and one of 
diem, not very long since, was shot while perched on the 
castle of Carlisle. These birds are shy and crafty, but fre¬ 
quently eat to so great an excess, as to induce a species of 
lethargy, in which they are caught by nets thrown over them 
without their making an effort to escape. They are trained 
by the Chinese to fish for them. By a ring placed round their 
necks, they are prevented from swallowing what they take, 
and, when their pouches are filled, they unload them, and 






















* 


THE GREAT BUSTARD. OSTRICHES OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

Found in Europe, Asia, and Africa, but in no part of the They are so fleet as easily to distance the swiftest horse. 

New World. 









































































THE GREAT BUSTARD.— THE ALARM-BIRD. 243 

at the command of their owners, renew their divings. Two 
will sometimes be seen combining their efforts to secure a 
fish too large for the management of one only. When their 
work is finished to the employer’s satisfaction, the birds have 
a full allotment of the spoil, for their reward and encourage¬ 
ment. In Macao, also, these birds are thus domesticated, 
taking extreme delight in the exercise, and constituting a 
source of very considerable profit to their owners. They were 
formerly trained, and used in the same manner in England; 
and Charles I. had an officer of his household, called maste. 
of the cormorants. 

The next curiosity among birds which we shall introduce, 
is. The Great Bustard. —This bird is found in the plains 
of Europe, Asia, and Africa, but it has never been observed 
in the New Continent. In England, it is occasionally met 
with on Salisbury Plain, and on the wolds of Yorkshire, and 
formerly it was not uncommonly seen in flocks of forty or 
fifty. It is the largest of British land birds, weighing often 
twenty-five or thirty pounds. It runs with great rapidity, so 
as to escape the pursuit of common dogs, but falls speedily a 
victim to the greyhound, which often overtakes it before it 
has power to commence its flight, the preparation for which, 
in this bird, is slow and laborious. The female lays her eggs 
on the bare ground, never more than two in number, in a hole 
scratched by her for the purp* e, and if these are touched or 
soiled during her occasional absence, she immediately aban¬ 
dons them. The male is distinguished by a large pouch, begin¬ 
ning under the tongue, and reaching to the breast, capable of 
holding, according to Linnseus, seven quarts of water. This is 
sometimes useful to the female during incubation, and to the 
young before they quit their nest; and it has been observed 
to be eminently advantageous to the male bird himself, who, 
on being attacked by birds of prey, has often discomfited his 
enemies by the sudden and violent discharge of water upon 
them. These birds are solitary and shy, and feed principally 
upon grasses, worms, and grain. They were formerly much 
hunted with dogs, and considered as supplying no uninterest¬ 
ing diversion. They swallow stones, pieces of metal, and 
other hard substances. Buffon states, that one was opened 
by the academicians of France, which contained in its sto¬ 
mach ninety doubloons, and various stones, all highly smoothed 
by the attrition of the stomach. 

The following deserves to be ranked among the curiosities 
of the feathered tribe; The Alarm-Bird. —Near the Copper- 
mine Biver, which falls into Hudson’s Bay, live a tribe of 
Indians, who traverse the immense and dreary solitudes that 


244 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING .JIRHS. 

surround them, in pursuit of deer or other game, from which 
they derive their only subsistence. The animals, however, 
taught by experience to shun the haunts of men, and instinct¬ 
ively led to conceal themselves in the most sequestered spots, 
would with difficulty be discovered, were it not for one of the 
winged tribe of the owl genus, called the alarm-bird. 

No sooner does this bird descry man or beast, than it directs 
its flight towards them, and, hovering over them, forms gyra¬ 
tions round their head. Should two objects at once arrest its 
attention, it flies from one to the other alternately, with a 
loud screaming, resembling the crying of a child ; and in this 
manner it will follow travellers, or attend a herd of deer, for 
the space of a day. 

By means of this guide, whose qualities so well correspond 
with its name, the Copper Indians are apprised of the approach 
of strangers, or directed to the herds of deer and musk-oxen, 
which otherwise they would frequently miss. Is it to be 
wondered at, then, that they hold the alarm-bird in the highest 
veneration? It seems, indeed, to have been intended by 
Providence for the solace and friend of the miserable inhabit¬ 
ants of those wild and sterile regions; and will furnish 
a new evidence of that superintending care which watches 
over all. 

The Cuculus Indicator, so celebrated in the warmer climates 
for detecting the treasures of the bees, in the deep recesses 
of the woods, within the hollow trunks of trees, has, or may 
be thought to have, a view and an object in its services. It 
feels the want of human assistance, to enable it to enjoy the 
fruits of its discoveries, and therefore instinctively calis for 
it, in hopes of being recompensed with a share of the honey, 
which, we are told, the natives readily allow it; but the 
alarm-bird appears perfectly disinterested in its labours, it 
answers no purpose of its own, and therefore may be consi¬ 
dered as one of the bounties of Heaven, to a people and a 
country almost shut out from the participation of the common 
blessings of life. It confers benefits without the prospect 
of a reward; and, for this reason, is entitled to the greater 
regard. 

To contemplate the various animals that are dispersed over 
the globe, and the various blessings and advantages of dif¬ 
ferent climates, will naturally lead us to the Source and 
Dispenser of all; and though some parts of the works of 
Creation are more conspicuously beneficial, and cannot escape 
the most common observer, yet we may, from analogy and 
reason, conceive that nothing was made in vain. 

A subject of great curiosity, and pleasing admiration, is, 
The Carrier, or. Courier Pigeon. —These birds, though 


THE COURIER PIGEON.-THE WILD PIGEON. 245 

carried, hoodwinked, twenty, thirty, or even a hundred miles, 
will find their way in a very little time to the place where 
they were bred. They are trained to this service in Turkey 
and Persia; and are carried first, while young, short flights 
of half a mile, afterwards more, till at length they will return 
from the farthest part of the kingdom. Every bashaw has a 
basket of these pigeons bred in the seraglio, which from a 
distance, upon any emergent occasion, (as an insurrection, or 
the like,) he dispatches, with letters braced under their wings, 
to the seraglio ; which proves a more speedy method, as well 
as a more safe one, than any other : he sends out more than 
one pigeon, however, for fear of accidents. Lithgow assures 
us, that one of these birds will carry a letter from Babylon to 
Aleppo, which is thirty days' journey, in forty-eight hours. 
This practice is very ancient: Hirtius and Brutus, at the siege 
of Modena, held a correspondence by pigeons; and Ovid 
tells us, that Taurosthenes, by a pigeon stained with purple, 
gave notice to his father of his victory at the Olympic games, 
sending it to him at TEgina. In modern times, the most 
noted were the pigeons of Aleppo, which served as couriers 
at Alexandretta and Bagdad. But this use of them has been 
laid aside for the last thirty or forty years, because the Curd 
robbers killed the pigeons. The manner of sending advice by 
them, was this: they took pairs which had young ones, 
and carried them on horseback to the place whence they 
wished them to return, taking care to let them have a full 
view. When the news arrived, the correspondent tied a billet 
to the pigeon’s foot, and let her loose. The bird, impatient 
to see its young, flew off like lightning, and arrived at Aleppo 
in ten hours from Alexandretta, and in two days from Bagdad. 
It was easy for them to find their way back, as Aleppo may 
be discovered at an immense distance. This pigeon has no¬ 
thing peculiar in its form, except its nostrils, which, instead 
of being smooth and even, are swelled and rough. 

It is presumed it will not be out of place to insert the fol¬ 
lowing curious particulars respecting the Multiplying 
Power of the Wild Pigeon. —The following account is 
extracted from Janson’s Stranger in America. Mr. Richard 
Hazen, a land-surveyor, who, in 1741, drew the line which 
divides Massachusetts from Vermont, gives an interesting 
account of the multiplying power of nature in the wild pigeon • 
“ For three miles together, (says he,) the pigeons’ nests were 
so thick, that five hundred might be reckoned on beech-trees 
at one time, and, could they have been counted on the hem¬ 
locks a© well, he did not doubt that five thousand might be 
seen at one turn round. Twenty-five nests were frequently 
found in one beech-tree, in New England. The earth was 


246 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BIRDS. 


covered with these trees and with hemlocks, thus loaded with 
the nests of pigeons. For one hundred acres together, the 
ground was covered with their dung, to the depth of two 
inches. Their noise in the evening was extremely troublesome, 
an 1 sc sn it, hat the tra *dler could not get any sleep where 
tiieu neats abounded. About an hour before sun-rise they 
rose in such quantities as to darken the air. When the young 
pigeons were grown to a proper size, it was common for the 
first settlers to cut down the trees, and gather a horse-load in 
a few minutes. The markets at this season, even at Philadel¬ 
phia, are often overstocked with them ; a score of them have 
lately been purchased for sixpence. But as the land becomes 
settled, they retire into the back forests, where they are at 
this day in equal numbers ! In North Carolina, wild pigeons 
or doves pass over the country in such numbers as to darken 
the air, devouring all kinds of grain in their progress. A large 
musket, loaded with small shot, fired among them, has killed 
scores ; and boys knock them down with sticks and stones. 
I did not see this destructive phenomenon; but was credibly 
informed at Edenton, that it occurs once in seven, and some¬ 
times in ten years. During my residence in that state, I cut 
holes in the top of my barn, and, by placing food on the roof, 
soon enticed about half a dozen from the adjacent woods. In 
a short time they became domesticated, and fed with the fowl, 
affording a constant and an agreeable food. When I left my 
residence, they had, notwithstanding the use I made of the 
young ones, increased to many scores. They grew so familiar, 
that they would watch my appearance in the morning, and 
perch upon me, in hopes of obtaining food, with which it was 
my practice to supply them. They distinguished me from my 
domestics, whom they would not suffer to approach them. 
They would permit me to go into their dovecot, without re¬ 
treating ; but the dam would often oppose my taking her 
young ones.” 


The following account of a singular Bird inhabiting 
a Volcano in Guadaloupe, is taken from a respectable 
source. 

Father Dutertre, in his Description of Guadaloupe, the best 
and most beautiful, in his opinion, of all the Leeward islands, 
speaks of an extraordinary bird which inhabits its volcanic 
mountain, called La Souffriere. This creature, called the 
Devil by the inhabitants, on account of its deformity, is both 
a night and sea bird. During the day, its vision appears to be 
indistinct, and it takes refuge near the top of the mountain, 
where it has its nest in the ground, and where it hatches its 
eggs. During the night, it flies about, and goes to prey on 
fish. Its flesh is so delicate, (adds Father Dutertre.) that no 


A I) V 1C N I' U K 1£ () V AN O VV L. 


247 


huntsman returns from the Souffriere without ardently desiring 
to have a dozen of these birds suspended at his neck. Labat, 
the colleague of Dutertre, confirms and adds to the account 
of the latter. “ The bird called the Devil, of La SoufFriere, 
has the says) membranes at his feet like a duck, and claws 
like a bird of prey, u sharp and curved beak, large eyec, which 
cannot bear the light of day, or discern almost any object, so 
that when surprised in the day-time, at a distance from his 
nest, he runs against every thing in his way, and falls to the 
ground ; but during the night he is active in extracting his 
prey from the sea.” He adds, that “ he is a bird of passage, 
and is considered a kind of petrel. I have taken pleasure in 
occasionally observing fishermen catch fish during the night 
by the light of a straw torch; but here we have a sea-bird of 
much greater ingenuity, which fishes by the light of a volcano, 
and hatches his eggs by the warmth of its sulphureous 
discharge.” 

The following story is recorded in history as a fact, under 
the title of A curious Adventure of an Owl. 

In a council held at Rome by Pope John XXIII. at the first 
session, happened the Adventure of the Owl.—“ After the mass 
of the Holy Ghost, all being seated, and John sitting on his 
throne, suddenly a frightful owl came screaming out of his 
hole, and placed himself just before the pope, staring earn¬ 
estly upon him. The arrival of this nocturnal bird in the 
day-time, caused many speculations : some took it for an ill 
omen, and were terrified; others smiled, and whispered to 
each other. As to the Pope, he blushed, was in a sweat, arose, 
and brake up the assembly. But at the next session, the owl 
took his place again, fixing his eyes upon John ; who was more 
dismayed than before, and ordered the bird to be driven away. 
A pleasant sight it was, to behold the prelates occupied in 
hunting him, for he would not decamp ! At last they killed 
him, as an incorrigible heretic, by throwing their canes at 
him.”— Jortin’s Ecclesiastical History, vol. v. p. 485, 486. 

We shall next record some Curious Facts in Natural 
History. —We often meet in our aviaries with what are called 
mule canary birds, that is, the offspring of the gray linnet and 
the canary. “ In the country, where the domestic fowls are 
accustomed to wander to a considerable distance from the farm¬ 
yard, I believe it is no uncommon occurrence for a chicken 
to make its appearance, that is evidently the offspring of the 
partridge and common hen. Indeed, I am inclined to think 
that the breed between fowls of the same genus are oftener 
crossed than we are aware of.” 

It is a common practice in the country, to set a hen, as it is 


248 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BIRDS. 

called, with ducks’ eggs; and the agony which she suffers, 
when she sees her young charge first take to their natural 
element, the water, has often been observed with sympathy. 
The following anecdote may be relied upon, as the circum 
stance was observed by a gentleman of science :— 

A hen, which was employed to hatch some ducks’ eggs in 
the neighbourhood of a dyer’s mill, where there was a small 
pond, was observed to exhibit the usual symptoms of terror 
and alarm when the ducklings first took to the water; but 
by degrees she became quite reconciled to their habits, and 
was accustomed to enjoy herself, in great quietness, on the 
banks, while they gamboled in the pool. For two or three 
years she uniformly brought out ducklings, and at last, as 
regularly led them to the water as their natural dam would 
have done. 

In the course of time, however, she brought out a brood of 
chickens. These she immediately led to the side of the pool 
also ; but, on finding they did not enter the water, she became 
quite uneasy, invited them close to it, made every motion 
for them to enter it, flew over the pond, and then called them 
to follow, but all to no purpose. When she found that nothing 
would entice them to enter the water, she actually seized 
upon one or two of them, and threw them into it; and, if she 
had not been prevented, it is believed she would have drowned 
her whole progeny. This shews how much the native 
habits, even of fowls, may be changed by circumstances; and 
proves, in some degree, the existence of memory without 
judgment in the feathered tribes. 

Some years ago, a farmer in the lower district of Annandale, 
took it into his head to rob a wild duck of her eggs, and to 
place them under one of his tame ducks, that was sitting at 
that time. The young brood (twelve in number) came 
into the world at the usual period, but one only continued 
with her stepdame. This extraordinary bird, however, never 
perfectly acquired the habits or dispositions of her new sister¬ 
hood : she never would associate with the tame drakes, but 
every spring left the farm-yard, and proceeded to the wilds in 
quest of mates; and, what was remarkably singular, she seemed 
to have a malicious pleasure in leading them into a snare, 
and was at great pains to draw them into such situations as 
admitted of their being easily shot, or otherwise destroyed. 
She always hatched her young in a peat moss, at some dis¬ 
tance from the house, but never failed to bring them to the 
farm-yard, as soon as they were able to follow her. When 
this duck was about four years old, the owner was visited b Y 
a kinsman from Fife, who was so much taken up with her, 
that he begged for, and obtained her, as a present. She was 
put into a cage, and by him conveyed to his house near Kin- 


THE CHICK IN THE EGG. 


249 


ross. She was kept in confinement for a night and a day; 
when, seeming perfectly contented, she was let out into the 
yard, where she set about adjusting herself for some time; 
she then suddenly took wing, and in the course of a few hours 
was among her old companions in Annandale. She was a 
second time conveyed to Fife, and her wings clipped. 

She continued perfectly happy, to appearance, till her fea¬ 
thers grew, when she again bade her new friends farewell. 
She was shot in the neighbourhood of Biggar, by a gentleman, 
who communicated the circumstance to the owner, whose 
name he learned from the collar that was found about her 
neck, containing his name and place of abode. 

Formation of the Chick in the Egg.— Scarcely has 
the hen sat upon the eggs twelve hours, before some lineaments 
of the head and body of the chick are discernible in the em¬ 
bryo ; at the end of the second day, the heart begins to beat, 
but no blood is to be seen. In forty-eight hours we may 
distinguish two vesicles with blood, the pulsation of which 
is evident; one of them is the left ventricle, the other, the 
root of the great artery; soon after, one of the auricles of the 
heart is perceptible, in which pulsation may be remarked as 
well as in the ventricle. So early as the seventh hour, the 
wings may be distinguished, and on the head two globules 
for the brain, one for the beak, and two others for the front 
and hind part of the head. Towards the end of the fourth 
day, the two auricles, now distinctly visible, approach nearer 
the heart than they did before. About the fifth day the liver 
may be perceived ; at the end of one hundred and thirty-eight 
hours, the lungs and stomach become visible ; and in a few 
hours more, the intestines, veins, and upper jaw. On the 
seventh day, the brain begins to assume a more consistent 
form. One hundred and ninety hours after incubation, the 
beak opens, and flesh appears on the breast. In two hundred 
and ten, the ribs are formed, and the gall bladder is visible. 
The bile, in a few hours more, is seen of a green colour; and 
if the chick be separated from its coverings, it will be seen 
to move. The feathers begin to shoot towards the two hun¬ 
dred and fortieth hour, and at the same time the skull becomes 
cartilaginous; in twenty-four hours more, the eyes appear; 
at the two hui dred and eighty-eighth, the ribs are perfected; 
and at the three hundred and thirty-first, the lungs, the sto¬ 
mach, and the breast, assume their natural appearance. On 
the eighteenth day of incubation, the first faint piping of the 
chick is heard. It then continually increases in size and in 
strength till it emerges from its prison. 

By so many different gradations does the adorable wisdom 
of God conduct these creatures into life; all their progressive 

2 I 


2 5b 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BIRDS. 


evolutions are arranged with order, and there arc none with¬ 
out sufficient cause. If the liver is always formed on the fifth 
day, it is from the preceding state of the chick.- No part of 
its body could appear sooner or later, without some injury to 
the embryo, and each of its members appears at the most 
convenient moment. The wise and invariable order in the 
production of this little body, is evidently the work of super¬ 
nal power; and we shall be more convinced of it, if we consi¬ 
der the manner in which the chick is formed from the parts 
which compose the egg. 

How admirable is that principle of life, the source of a new 
being, contained in the egg; all the parts of the animal being 
invisible till they become developed by warmth! What a 
wonderful order and regularity is observed in this amazing 
process,—the same evolutions taking place at once in twenty 
eggs! Neither does changing the position of the egg at all 
injure the embryo, or retard the formation of the chick; 
which, at the time when it breaks the shell, is found to be 
heavier than the whole egg was at first. These, however ad¬ 
mirable, are far from being all the wonders displayed in the 
progress of incubation. The microscope, and the penetrating- 
investigations of the curious, have only discovered what conies 
more immediately under the observation of our senses ; whilst 
the discovery of many things remains for those who are to 
follow us, or perhaps they may never be known in this state 
of our existence. Much might be asked concerning the mys¬ 
tery connected with the formation of animal bodies, which at 
present is impenetrable to our researches; but let not this 
discourage us; let us only endeavour to improve, and make 
a good use of, the little knowledge we are permitted to acquire, 
and we shall have a sufficiency to discover at every step the 
wisdom and power of God, and enough to employ for the 
benefit of our fellow-creatures. 


BIRDS NESTS. 


251 


CHAP. XXI 

curiosities respecting birds.— ( Concluded.) 

Birds' Nests—Migration of Birds—Curious Method of Bird- 
Catching in the Faro Isles—Song of Birds. 

birds’ n ests. 

-It wins my admiration, 

To view the structure of that litile work, 

A bird’s nest: mark it well within, without; 

No tool had he that wrought, no knife to cut, 

No nail to fix, no bodkin to insert, 

No glue to join ! his little beak was all; 

And yet how neatly finish’d ! Hui dis. 

The structure of Bird’s Nests discovers to us many curious 
objects, which cannot be uninteresting to the reflecting mind. 
And who does not admire those little regular edifices com¬ 
posed of so many different materials, collected and arranged 
with so much pains and skill, and constructed with so much 
industry, elegance, and neatness, with no other tools than 
a bill and two feet ? That men can erect great buildings 
according to certain rules of art, is not surprising, when we 
consider that they enjoy the reasoning faculty, and that they 
possess tools and instruments of various kinds, to facilitate 
their work ; but that a delicate little bird, in want of almost 
every thing necessary for such an undertaking, with only its 
bill and claws, should know how to combine so much skill, 
regularity of form, and solidity of composition, in constructing 
its nest, is truly wonderful, and never enough to be admired. 
We shall therefore consider it more minutely. 

Nothing is more curious than the nest of a goldfinch or a 
chaffinch. The inside of it is lined with cotton, wool, and 
fine silky threads, while the outside is interwoven with 
thick moss; and that the nest may be less remarkable, and 
less exposed to the eye of observers, the colour of the moss 
resembles that of the bark of the tree, or of the hedge, where 
the nest is built. In some nests, the hair, the down, and the 
straws, are curiously laid across each other, and interwoven 
together. There are others, all the parts of which are neatly 
joined and fastened together by a thread which the bird makes 
of flax, horse or cow hair, and often of spiders’ webs. Other 
birds, as the blackbird and the lapwing, after having con¬ 
structed their nest, plaster the outside with a thin coating ol 
mortar, which cements and binds together all the lower parts, 
and which, with the help of some cow-hair or moss, stuck to 



262 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BIRDS. 

it whilst the plaster is wet, keeps it compact and warm. The 
nests of swailows are differently constructed from the rest. 
They use neither sticks, straws, nor strings; but they com¬ 
pose a sort of cement, with which they make themselves nests, 
perfectly neat, secure, and convenient. To moisten the dust 
of which they form their nests, they frequently skim over the 
surface of some lake or river, and, dipping their breasts into 
the water, shake their wet feathers upon the dust till it is 
sufficiently moist, and then knead it up into a kind of clay 
with their bills. 

But the nests most worthy of our admiration are those of 
certain Indian birds, which suspend them with great art from 
the branches of trees, that they may be secure from the pur¬ 
suit of several animals and insects. In general, each species 
of bird has a peculiar mode of fixing its nest; some build them 
on houses, others in trees, some in the grass, others on the 
ground, and always in that way which is most adapted for 
the rearing of their young, and the preservation of their 
species. Such, therefore, is the wonderful instinct of 
birds, even in the structure and disposition of their nests 
alone, that we may safely conclude they cannot be mere ma¬ 
chines. But is it not also apparent, that in all their works 
they propose to themselves certain ends? They construct 
their nests hollow, forming the half of a sphere, that the heat 
may be more concentric. The nest is covered without by 
substances more or less coarse, not only to serve as a foun¬ 
dation, but to prevent the wind and insects from entering. 
Within, it is lined with the most delicate materials, such as 
wool and feathers, that the nestlings may be soft and warm. 
Is it not something nearly approaching to reason, which 
teaches the bird to place its nest in such a manner as to be 
sheltered from rain, and out of the reach of destructive ani¬ 
mals ? Where have they learned that they are to produce 
eggs, which will require a nest to prevent them from being 
broken, and to keep them in the necessary temperature ? 
that the heat would not be sufficiently concentrated if the 
nest were larger 5 and that, if it were smaller, all the young 
ones could not be contained in it? Who has taught them 
not to mistake the time, but to calculate so exactly, that the 
eggs are not laid before the nest is finished? These ques 
tions have never been satisfactorily answered, neither can this 
mystery in nature be clearly explained ; all we can do is, to 
refer it to an instinct, which some animals seem to possess in 
a manner almost equal to reason : and instinct to them is 
much more happy and beneficial than reason would be; for 
they seem to enjoy all the sweets of life without their moments 
being imbittered by the consideration of their inferior rank 
in the creation, and without the pain of anticipating evil. 



I N D 


AN BIRD’S N E S T. 


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migration of birds. 253 

The following account is principally abridged from that 
very interesting work. The Contemplative Philosopher. The 
present compiler acknowledges his obligations to that work 
on many occasions, and gives it his warmest recommenda¬ 
tions to the public. 

Migration of Birds.— The migration of birds has been 
justly considered as one of the most wonderful exhibitions of 
nature. This migration, which is common to the quail, the stork, 
the crane, the fieldfare, the woodcock, the cuckoo, the martin, 
the swallow, and various others, is, indeed, a very curious 
article in natural history, and furnishes a very striking in¬ 
stance of a powerful instinct impressed by the Creator. Dr. 
Derham observes two circumstances remarkable in this migra¬ 
tion : the first, that these untaught, unthinking creatures, 
should know the proper times for their passage, when to come 
and when to go ; as also, that some should come when others 
retire. No doubt, the temperature of the air as to heat and 
cold, and their natural propensity to breed their young, are 
the great incentives to these creatures to change their 
habitations. But why should they at all change their habi¬ 
tations? And why is some certain place to be found, in all 
the terraqueous globe, that, all the year round, can afford 
them convenient food and habitation ?—The second remark¬ 
able circumstance is, that they should know which way to 
steer their course, and whither to go. What instinct is it 
that can induce a poor foolish bird to venture over vast tracts 
of land and sea. If it be said, that by their high ascents into 
the air, they can see across the seas ; yet what shall instruct 
or persuade them, that another land is more proper for their 
purpose than this? that Great Britain, for instance, should 
afford them better accommodation than Egypt, the Canaries, 
Spain, or any of the other intermediate countries?— Physico - 
Theology , book vii. chap. 3. 

Birds of passage, moreover, are all peculiarly accommo¬ 
dated, by the structure of their parts, for long flights; and it 
's remarked, that in their migrations, they observe a wonder¬ 
ful order and polity : they Ay in troops, and steer their course, 
without the aid of a compass, to vast unknown regions. The 
flight of the wild geese, in a wedge-like figure, has been often 
observed ; to which it is added, by the natural historian of 
Norwav, that the three foremost, who are the soonest tired, 
retreat behind, and are relieved by others, who are again 
succeeded by the rest in order. But this circumstance has 
been observed, many ages before, by Pliny, who describes 
certain birds of passage flying in the form of a wedge, and 
spreading wider and wider; those behind resting upon those 
before, till the leaders being tired, are, in their turn, received 
into the rear. 


254 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BIRDS. 


“Wild ducks and cranes (says Abbe de la Pluche) fly, at 
the approach of winter, in quest of more favourable climates. 
They all assemble at a certain day, like swallows and quails. 
They decamp at the same time, and it is very agreeable to 
observe their flight. They generally range themselves in a 
long column like an I, or in two lines united in a point like a 
> reversed.” And thus, as Milton says 

“ Rang’d in figure, wedge the way.” 

“ The duck or quail that forms the point (adds the Abbe) 
cuts the air, and facilitates a passage to those that follow : but 
he is charged with this commission only for a certain time, at 
the conclusion of which he wheels into the rear, and another 
takes his post.” And thus again, as Milton says, 

“-With mutual wing 

Easing their flight.” 

It has been observed of the storks, that for about the space 
of a fortnight before they pass from one country to another, 
they constantly resort together, from all the circumjacent 
parts, to a certain plain, and there forming themselves once 
every day into a dou-wanne, (according to the phrase of the 
people,) are said to determine the exact time of their depar¬ 
ture, and the places of their future abode. 

Mr. Biberg, an ingenious naturalist of Sweden, has observed, 
that " the starling, finding, after the middle of summer, that 
worms are less plentiful in that country, goes annually into 
Scania, Germany, and Denmark. The female chaffinches, 
every winter, about Michaelmas, go in flocks to Holland ; but 
as the males stay in Sweden, the females come back next 
spring. In the same manner, the female Carolina yellow- 
hammer, in the month of September, while the rice on which 
she feeds is laid up in granaries, goes towards the south, and 
returns in the spring to seek her mate. Our aquatic birds 
(continues he) are forced by necessity to fly toward the south 
every autumn, before the water is frozen. Thus we know, 
that the lakes of Poland and Lithuania are filled with swans 
and geese every autumn, at which time they go in great flocks, 
along many rivers, as far as the Euxine Sea. But in the be¬ 
ginning of spring, as soon as the heat of the sun molests 
them, they return back, and go again to the northern ponds 
and lakes, in order to lay their eggs. For there, and espe¬ 
cially in Lapland, there is a vast abundance of gnats, which 
afford them excellent nourishment, as all of this kind live in 
the water before they get their wings.”—Mr. Biberg proceeds 
to enumerate many other birds that migrate to different regions; 
and he then adds : “ By these migrations, birds become useful 
to many iifferent countries, and are distributed almost over 



MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 


256 

all the globe; and I cannot here forbear expressing my admi¬ 
ration, that all of them exactly observe the times of coming 
and going, and that they never mistake their way .”—Bibergoii 
the Eco)iomy of Nature , in Stillingfeet's Misc. Tracts. 

The principal food of the birds of passage, while in Great 
Britain, is the fruit of the whitethorn, or haws, which hang 
on our hedges in winter in prodigious plenty; but where they 
breed, and seem to be most at ease, as in Sweden, &c. there 
are no haws ; nor indeed in many of the countries through 
which they journey on their way : so that it is evident they 
change their food in their passage. 

The manner in which the birds of passage journey to their 
southern abodes is supposed to vary, according to the different 
structure of their bodies, and their power of supporting them¬ 
selves in the air. The birds with short wings, such as the red¬ 
start, black-cap, 8cc. though they are incapable of such long 
flights as the swallow, or of flying with such celerity, yet may 
pass to less distant places, and by slower movements. Swal¬ 
lows and cuckoos may perform their passage in a very short 
time; but there is for them no necessity for speed, since every 
day's passage affords them an increase of warmth ; and a conti¬ 
nuance of food. 

Swallows are often observed, in innumerable flocks, on 
churches, rocks, and trees, previous to their departure hence ; 
and Mr. Collinson proves their return here, perhaps in equal 
numbers, by two curious relations of undoubted credit; the 
one communicated to him by Mr. Wright, the master of a 
ship, and the other by Admiral Sir Charles Wager.—“ Re¬ 
turning home, (says Sir Charles,) in the spring of the year, 
as 1 came into soundings in our channel, a great flock of swal¬ 
lows came and settled on my rigging; every rope was covered; 
they hung on one another, like a swarm of bees ; the decks 
and awning were filled with them. They seemed almost fa¬ 
mished and spent, and were only feathers and bones; but, 
being recruited with a night's rest, they took their flight in 
the morning.” This apparent fatigue proves that they must 
have had a long journey, considering the amazing swiftness of 
these birds ; so that, in all probability, they had crossed the 
Atlantic Ocean, and were returning from the shores of Sene¬ 
gal, or other parts of Africa. 

Naturalists are much divided in their opinion concerning 
the periodical appearance and disappearance of swallows.— 
Some assert, that they remove from climate to climate, at those 
particular seasons when winged insects, their natural food, 
fail in one country and are plentiful in another, where they 
likewise fin 1 a temperature of air better suited to their con¬ 
stitution. In support of this opinion, we have the testimony 
of Sir Chari es Wager, and of Mr. Adamson, who, in the ac- 


256 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BIRDS. 


count of his voyage, informs us, that, about fifty leagues from 
the coast of Senegal, four swallows settled upon the ship, on 
the 6th day of October; that these birds were taken ; and that 
he knew them to be the true swallow of Europe, which he con¬ 
jectures were then returning to the coast of Africa. 

But Mr. Daines Barrington, in a curious essay on this sub¬ 
ject, has adduced many arguments and facts, to prove that no 
birds, however strong and swift in their flight, can possibly 
fly over such large tracts of ocean as has been commonly sup¬ 
posed. He is of opinion, therefore, that the swallows men¬ 
tioned by Mr. Adamson, instead of being on their passage 
from Europe, were only fluttering from the Cape de Verde 
islands to the continent of Africa ; a much nearer flight, but 
to which they seemed to be unequal, as they were obliged, 
from fatigue, to alight upon the ship, and fall into the hands 
of the sailors. And Mr. Ivalm, another advocate for the tor¬ 
pidity of swallows during the winter, having remarked, how¬ 
ever, that he himself had met with them nine hundred and 
twenty miles from any land ; Mr. Barrington endeavours to 
explain these, and similar facts, by supposing that birds dis¬ 
covered in such situations, instead of attempting to cross 
large branches of the ocean, have been forcibly driven from 
some coast by storms, and that they would naturally perch 
upon the first vessel they could see. 

In a word, Mr. Barrington is further of opinion, with some 
other naturalists, that the swallows do not leave this island at 
the end of autumn, but that they lie in a torpid state, till the 
beginning of summer, in the banks of rivers, in the hollows 
of decayed trees, the recesses of old buildings, the holes of 
sand-banks, and in similar situations. Among other facts, 
Mr. Barrington communicated one to Mr. Pennant, that 
“ numbers of swallows have been found in old dry walls, and 
in sand-hills, near the seat of the late Lord Belhaven, in East 
Lothian ; not once only, but from year to year ; and that, when 
they were exposed to the warmth of a fire, they revived.” 

These, and other facts of the same kind, are allowed to be 
incontrovertible; and Mr. Pennant, in particular, infeis from 
them, that “ we must divide our belief relative to these two so 
different opinions, and conclude, that one part ©f the swallow 
tribe migrate, and that others have their winter quarters near 
home.” 

But there are still more wonderful facts related. Mr. Kalm 
remarks, that “ swallows appear in the Jerseys about the begin¬ 
ning of April ; that, on their first arrival, they are wet, because 
they have just emerged from the sea or lakes, at the bottom 
of which they had remained, in a torpid state, during the whole 
winter. 7 Other naturalists have asserted, that swallows pass 
the winter immersed under the ice, at the bottom of lakes, or 


MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 


257 


beneath the waters of the sea. Olaus Magnus, archbishop of 
Upsal, seems to have been the first who adopted this opinion. 
He informs us, that “ swallows are found in great clusters at 
the bottoms of the northern lakes, with mouth to mouth, wing 
to wing, foot to foot, and that in autumn they creep down the 
reeds to their subaqueous retreats.” In other instances, Mr. 
Pennant remarks, the good archbishop did not want credulity. 
But the submersion of the swallows under water does not rest 
upon his testimony alone. Klein asserts the same ; and gives 
the following account of the manner of their retiring, which 
he had from some countrvmen : 

“ They asserted, that the swallows sometimes assembled in 
numbers on a reed, till it broke, and sunk them to the bottom; 
that their immersion was preceded by a kind of dirge, which 
lasted more than a quarter of an hour ; that others united, laid 
hold of a straw with their bills, and plunged down in society; 
that others, by cfrnging together with their feet, formed a large 
mass, and in this manner committed themselves to the deep.” 
Bishop Pontoppidan asserts, that clusters of swallows, in their 
torpid winter state, have sometimes been found by fishermen, 
among reeds and bushes in lakes ; and be charges Mr. Edwards 
with having, in his Natural History of Birds, groundlessly 
contradicted this incontestable truth. And Mr. Heerkens, a 
celebrated Dutch naturalist, in a poem on the birds of Fries¬ 
land, speaks in positive terms of the torpid state, and submer¬ 
sion, of the swallows : 

“ Ere winter his somnif’rous power exerts, 

Six dreary months the swallow-tribes are seen 
In various haunts conceal’d ; in rocks, and caves, 

And structures rude, by cold benumb’d, asleep ; 

Bill within bill inserted, clustering thick : 

Or solitary some, of mate bereft. 

But, wonderful to tell! some lie immers'd, 

Inanimate, beneath the frigid waves, 

.As if a species of the finny kinds/’ 

Mr. Heerkens, after reciting many instances, and producing 
in his notes many authorities, of swallows having been found 
in a torpid state, proceeds, in his poem, to describe, very mi¬ 
nutely, their ascent out of the water. The drowsy birds appear 
on the shore, as if unconscious still of life. Some inhale 
the soft breeze, like one of the finny tribe exiled from its 
stream. Some begin to adjust their dishevelled wings.—• 
Others, almost revived, essay, with busy bill, to assist their 
aged companions. All, at length, restored to the unre¬ 
strained use of their wings, range, in numerous flights, the 
aerial way. 

Two reasons have been adduced to prove this supposed sub¬ 
mersion of swallows impossible. “ In the first place, (says 

2 K 


258 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BIRDS. 

Mr. Smellie,) no land animal can exist so long without some 
degree of respiration. The otter, the seal, and water fowls 
of*all kinds, when confined under the ice, or entangled in 
nets, soon perish ; yet it is well known, that animals of this 
kind can remain much longer under water than those who are 
destitute of that peculiar structure of the heart, which is ne¬ 
cessary for any considerable residence beneath that penetrating 
element.” 

Mr. John Hunter, in a letter to Mr. Pennant, informs us, 
“ that he had dissected many swallows, but found nothing in 
them different from other birds, as to the organs of respira 
tion; that all those animals which he had dissected, of the 
class that sleep during the winter, such as lizards, frogs, 8tc. 
had a very different conformation as to those organs ; that 
all those animals, he believes, do breathe in their torpid 
state, and, as far as his experience reaches, he knows they 
do; and that, therefore, he esteems it a very wild opinion, 
that terrestrial animals can remain any long time under water 
without drowning.” Another argument against their submer¬ 
sion arises from the specific gravity of the animals themselves. 
Of all birds, the swallow tribes are perhaps the lightest. 
Their plumage, and the comparative smallness of their weight, 
indicates that Nature destined them to be almost perpetually 
on the wing, in quest of food. From this specific lightness, 
the submersion of swallows, and their continuing for months 
underwater, amount to a physical impossibility. Even water 
fowls, when they wish to dive, are obliged to rise and plunge 
with considerable exertion, in order to overcome the resist¬ 
ance of the water. Klein’s idea of swallows employing reeds 
and straws as means of submersion, is rather ludicrous ; for 
these light substances, instead of being proper instruments 
for assisting them to reach the bottom, would infallibly con¬ 
tribute to support them on the surface, and prevent the very 
object of their intention. Besides, admitting the possibility 
of their reaching the bottom of lakes and seas, and supposing 
they could exist for several months without respiration, what 
would be the consequence? The whole would soon be devoured 
by otters, seals, and fishes, of various kinds. Nature is al¬ 
ways anxious for the preservation of its species. But if the 
swallow tribes were destined to remain torpid during the 
winter months, at the bottom of lakes and seas, she would act 
in opposition to her own intentions ; for, in a season or two, 
the whole genus would be annihilated. 

This reasoning is very ingenious, but, on the other hand, 
the facts related above are very stubborn ; and the celebrated 
Buffon does not hesitate to yield to the force of such strong 
and concurrent evidence. He had procured some chimney- 
swallows, and kept them some time in an icehouse, in order 


MIGRATION OI BIRDS 


269 


to ascertain whether they were of the torpid kind, and he thus 
relates the result of his experiments. “ None of them fell 
into the torpid state ; the greater part died, and not one of 
them revived by being moved into the warmth of the sun. 
Th ose that had not long suffered the cold of the icehouse, had 
all their movements, and went out briskly. From these expe¬ 
riments I thought I might conclude, that this species of the 
swallow was not liable to that state of torpor ai insensibility, 
which supposes, notwithstanding, and very necessarily, the 
fact of their remaining at the bottom of the water during the 
winter. Having had recourse, moreover, to the most credit¬ 
able travellers, I found them agreed as to the passage of 
swallows over the Mediterranean. And Mr. Adamson has 
positively assured me, that during the long stay he made 
in Senegal, he observed the long-tailed swallow, the same 
with the chimney-swallow we are now speaking of, arrive 
constantly in Senegal about the time it leaves France, 
and as constantly leave Senegal in the spring. It cannot, 
therefore, be doubted, that this species of the swallow passes 
from Europe into Africa in the autumn, and from Africa to 
Europe in the spring ; of consequence, it neither sleeps nor 
hides itself in holes, nor plunges into the water on the ap¬ 
proach of winter. There is, besides, another well authenti¬ 
cated fact, which comes in proof here, and shews that this 
swallow is not reduced to a torpid state by cold, which it can 
bear to a certain degree, (and if that degree is exceeded, it 
dies,) for if we observe these birds towards the end of the warm 
season, w'e shall see them, a little before their departure, 
flying together in families, the father, the mother, and the 
young brood. Afterwards several families unite, and form 
themselves into flocks, more or less numerous in proportion 
as the time of their departure draws near. At last they go all 
together, three or four days before the end of September, or 
about the beginning of October. Still, however, some remain, 
and do not set oft* till a week, a fortnight, or three weeks 
after the rest: and some too there are which do not go at all, 
but stay and perish under the first rigours of the cold. These 
swallows that delay their flight, or never undertake it, are 
such as find their young too weak to follow them ; such as 
have had the misfortune to have their nests destroyed after 
laying, and have been obliged to rebuild them a second or 
a third time. They stay for the love of their little ones, 
and choose rather to endure the rigour of the season, than to 
abandon their offspring. Thus they remain some time after 
the rest for the purpose of taking their young with them ; and 
if they are unable to carry them off in the end, they perish 
with them. 

‘ These facts then plainly demonstrate (concludes Mr. Buf* 


260 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BIRDS. 

fon) that the chimney-swallows pass successively and alter¬ 
nately from our climate to another that is warmer; that they 
spend their summer here, and their winter there; and of 
consequence never fall into a state of insensibility. But, on 
the other hand, what have we to oppose to the precise testi¬ 
mony of those, who, on the approach of winter, have seen 
these swallows in troops throw themselves into the water; 
nay, not only this, but have seen them taken out in nests 
from beneath the ice ? What answer shall we make to those 
who have beheld them in the torpid state, and seen them 
gradually recover motion and life, when they were brought 
into the warmth, and moved cautiously towards a fire? I know 
but of one means of reconciling these facts: we must sup¬ 
pose that the sleeping and travelling swallow are of different 
species, though the difference, for want of attention, has not 
been observed.” 

Thus this great philosopher concurs with Mr. Pennant, in 
his solution, already mentioned, of the difficulty, by supposing 
two species—the migrating, and the sleeping swallow. With 
respect to the principal objects of this wonderful instinct, that 
teaches such various kinds of the feathered race to migrate to 
different countries, it is obvious, from what has already been 
said, that they are governed by their food, temperature of air, 
and convenient situations for breeding. 

We shall now give an account of the Curious Method 
of Bird-Catching in the Faro Isles. —The manner of 
bird-catching in the Faro Islands, is exceedingly strange and 
hazardous. Necessity compels man to wonderful attempts. 
The cliffs which contain the objects of their search, are often 
two hundred fathoms in height, and are attempted both from 
above and below. In the first case, the fowlers provide them¬ 
selves, with a rope eighty or a hundred fathoms in length. 
The fowler fastening one end about his waist, and between 
his legs, recommends himself to the protection of the Almighty, 
and is lowered down by six others, who place a piece of 
timber on the margin of the rock, to preserve the rope from 
wearing against the sharp edge. They have, besides, a small 
line fastened the body of the adventurer, by which he gives 
signals, that they may lower or raise him, or shift him from 
place to place. The last operation is attended with great 
danger, by the loosening of the stones, which often fall on 
his head, and would infallibly destroy him, were he not pro¬ 
tected by a strong thick cap ; but even this is found unequal 
to save him against the weight of the larger fragments of rock. 
The dexterity of the fowlers is amazing; they will place their 
feet against the front of the precipice, and dart themselves 
tome fathoms from it; with a cool eye survey the places where 


PERILOUS ADVENTURE OF A BIRD-CATCHER 


#i-W 



The engraving represents 
the situation of a bird-catch¬ 
er at St. Kilda. A tale is 
told of one of these men who 
had entered such a cavern, 
and in the excitement pro¬ 
duced by finding its floor all 
strewn over with eggs, forgot 
the rope and loosened his 
hold: in a moment it was 
gone, and as he turned he 
saw it swinging at the mouth 
of the cavern. In vain he 
tried to reach it, it was be¬ 
yond his grasp ; he tried 
again and again, but all to 
no purpose, while, as if in 
mockery of his dismay, it 
swung idly in the air, just 
passing beyond his reach. 
What was he to do ? A pro¬ 
jection of rock concealed him 
from the observation of those 
above, while the roar of the 
sea prevented their hearing 
his cries. If they drew up 
the rope and found him not 
there, he knew they would 
conclude he had lost his hold and dropped into the sea, and he would then be left to 
starve in the cave. The rope still kept passing backwards and forwards, as if tantalizing 
him with the hope of escape. Every minute now seemed an age ; at length, almost wild 
with despair, he formed the desperate resolution to spring at the rope as it passed 
by him. He watched for a favorable opportunity and leaped from the aave : fortunately 
he was successful in catching it with a firm grasp, and was safely drawn again to the 



















































































































































BIRD-CATCHING.-SONG OF BIRDS. 26l 

the birds nestle, and again shoot into their haunts. In some 
places the birds lodge in deep recesses. The fowler will alight 
there, disengage himself from the rope, fix it to a stone, and 
at his leisure collect the booty, fasten it to his girdle, and 
resume his pendulous seat. At times he will again spring 
from the rock, and in that attitude, with a fowling-net placed 
on a staff*, catch the old birds that are flying to and from their 
retreats. When he has finished his dreadful employ, he 
gives a signal to his friends above, who pull him up, and 
share his hard-earned profit. The feathers are preserved for 
exportation : the flesh is partly eaten fresh, but the greater 
part is dried for winter’s provision. 

The fowling from below has also its share of danger. The 
party goes on the expedition in a boat; and when it has at¬ 
tained the base of the precipice, one of the most daring, having 
fastened a rope about his waist, and furnished himself with a 
long pole, with an iron hook at one end, either climbs or is 
thrust up by his companions, who place a pole under his 
breech, to the next footing spot he can reach. He, by means 
of the rope, brings up one of the boat’s crew; the rest are 
drawn up in the same manner, and each is furnished with his 
rope and fowling-staff. They then continue their progress 
upwards in the same manner, till they arrive at the regions of 
the birds, and waudei about the face of the cliff* in search of 
them. They then act in pairs; one fastens himself to the end 
of his associate’s rope, and, in places where the birds have 
nestled beneath his footing, he permits himself to be lowered 
down, depending for his security on the strength of his com¬ 
panion, who has to haul him up again; but it sometimes 
happens that the person above is overpowered by the weight, 
and both inevitably perish. They fling the fowl into the 
boat, which attends their motions, and receives the booty. 
They often pass seven or eight days in this tremendous em¬ 
ploy, and lodge in the crannies which they find in the face 
of the precipice. 


We shall close this division of our work with A curious 
Account of the Song of Birds. —We introduce the sub¬ 
ject by the following poetical quotations ; which, we have no 
doubt, will interest everv admirer of nature, and nature’s 
God. 


-Every copse 

Deep-tangled, tree irregular, and bush 
Bending with dewy moisture, o’er the heads 
Of the coy choristers that lodge within, 

Are prodigal of harmony. Thomson 


—-Each bird, 

Or high in air, or secret in the shade, 
Rejoicing, warbles wild his grateful hymn. 


Mallet 




262 


CURIOS TIES RESPECTING BIRDS 


From branch to branch the smaller birds with song 
Solace the woods, and spread their yainted wings 
Till even; nor then the solemn nightingale 
Ceases to warble: in shadiest covert hid, 

She all the night tunes her soft lays. Milton. 

Again :— 

-The sweet poet of the vernal groves 

Melts all the night in strains of am’rous woe. Armstrong 

Again :— 

-When the spring renews the flow’ry field, 

And warns the pregnant nightingale to build, 

She seeks the safest shelter of the wood, 

Where she may trust her little tuneful brood. 

Fond of the chosen place, she views it o’er, 

Sits there, and wanders through the grove no more: 

Warbling, she charms it each returning night ;— Rows. 

And gives the pensive mind a calm delight. 

The lark, that shuns on lofty boughs to build 
Her humble nest, sits silent in the field ; 

But if the promise of a cloudless day, 

(Aurora smiling,) bids her rise and play. 

Then straight she shews ’twas not for want of voice, 

Or pow’r to climb, she made so low a choice ; 

Singing she mounts, her airy wings are stretch’d 

Towards heaven, as if from heav’n her note she fetch’d. Wallt*. 

-Birds of sweetest song 

Attune from native boughs their various lay, 

And cheer the forest; those of brighter plume 
With busy pinion skim the glitt’ring wave, 

Or tempt the sun, ambitious to display 

Their several merit. Shenstone. 

The Song of Birds is defined, by the Hon. Daines Barring¬ 
ton, to be a succession of three or more different notes, which 
are continued without interruption, during the same interval, 
with a musical bar of four crotchets, in an adagio movement, or 
whilst a pendulum swings four seconds. It is affirmed, that 
the notes of birds are no more innate than language in man, 
and that they depend upon imitation, as far as their organs 
will enable them to imitate the sounds which they have fre¬ 
quent opportunities of hearing : and their adhering so steadily, 
even in a wild state, to the same song, is owing to the nestling 
attending only to the instruction of the parent bird, whilst 
they disregard the notes of all others that may be singing 
around them. Birds in a wild state do not usually sing above ten 
weeks in the year; whereas birds that have plenty of food in 
a cage, sing the greatest part of the year : the female of no 
species of birds ever sings. This is a wise provision, because 
her song would discover her nest. In the same manner, we 
may account for her inferiority of plumage. The faculty of 
singing is confined to the cock birds; and accordingly Mr. 
Hunter, in dissecting birds of several species, found the mus- 





263 


\ 

THE SONG OF BIRDS. 

cies of the larynx to be stronger in the nightingale than in any 
other bird of the same size ; and in all those instances where 
he dissected both cock and hen, the same muscles were 
stronger in the cock. 

It is an observation as ancient as the time of Pliny, that a 
capon does not crow. Some ascribe the singing of the cock 
in the spring solely to the motive of pleasing his mate during 
incubation ; others, who allow that it is partly for this end v 
believe it is partly owing to another cause, viz. the great abun¬ 
dance of plants and insects in spring, which are the proper 
food of singing birds at that time of the year, as well as seeds. 
Mr. Barrington remarks, that there is no instance of any sing¬ 
ing bird which exceeds our blackbird in size ; and this, he 
supposes, may arise from the difficulty of concealing itself, 
should it call the attention of its enemies, not only by its bulk, 
but by the proportionate loudness of its notes, lie further 
observes, that some passages of the song in a few kinds of 
birds correspond with the intervals of our musical scale, of 
which the cuckoo is a striking arid known instance ; but the 
greater part of their song cannot be reduced to a musical scale • 
partly because the rapidity is often so great, and it is also so 
uncertain when they may stop, that we cannot reduce the pas¬ 
sages to form a musical bar in any time whatsoever; partly 
also, because the pitch of most birds is considerably higher 
than the most shrill notes of those instruments which have the 
greatest compass ; and principally, because the intervals used 
by birds are commonly so minute, that we cannot judge of 
them from the more gross intervals into which we divide our 
musical octave. This writer apprehends, that all birds sing 
in the same key ; and he found by a nightingale, as well as a 
robin which was educated under him, that the notes reducible 
to our intervals of the octave were always precisely the same. 
Most people, who have not attended to the notes of birds, 
suppose, that every species sing exactly the same notes and 
passages : but this is not true ; though there is a general re 
semblance. Thus the London bird-catchers prefer the song of 
the Kentish goldfinches, and Essex chaffinches; and some of 
the nightingale fanciers prefer a Surrey bird to those of Mid¬ 
dlesex. 

Of all singing birds, the song of the nightingale has been 
most universally admired ; and its superiority consists in the 
following particulars : its tone is much more mellow than that 
of any other bird, though, at the same time, by a proper ex¬ 
ertion of its musical powers, it can be very brilliant. An¬ 
other superiority is, its continuance of song without a pause, 
which is sometimes twenty seconds; and when respiration be¬ 
comes necessary, it takes it with as much judgment as an 
opera singer. The skylark, in this particular, as well as in 


264 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BIRDS 


compass and variety, is only second to the nightingale. The 
nightingale also sings with judgment and taste. Mr. Bar* 
rington says, that his nightingale began softly, like the ancient 
orators, reserving its breath to swell certain notes, which thus 
had a most astonishing effect. He adds, that the notes of 
birds which are annually imported from Asia, Africa, and 
America, both singly and in concert, are not to be compared 
to those of European birds. He has also formed a table, to 
exhibit the comparative merits of the British singing birds ; 
wherein twenty being the point of perfection, he states the 
nightingale at nineteen ; the woodlark and skylark at eighteen; 
the blackcap at fourteen ; the titlark, linnet, goldfinch, and 
robin, at twelve ; with some variations respecting mellowness, 
sprightliness, execution, &c. for which, with the proportional 
differences of other birds, we refer to his work. 

We cannot resist the temptation to insert the following well- 
known 


INVITATION TO THE FEATHERED RACE. 

Written at Claverton, near Bath 

Again the balmy zephyr blows, 

Fresh verdure decks the grove ; 

Each bird with vernal rapture glows, 

And tunes his notes to love. 

Ye gentle warblers, hither fly, 

And shun the noontide heat; 

My shrubs a cooling shade supply, 

My groves a safe retreat. 

Here freely hop from spray to spray, 

Or weave the mossy nest. 

Here rove and sing the live-long day, 

At night here sweetly rest. 

Amidst this cool translucent rill, 

That trickles down the glade, 

Here bathe your plumes, here drink your fill 
And revel in the shade. 

No schoolboy rude, to mischief prone 
E’er shows his ruddy face, 

Or twangs his bow, or hurls a stone, 

In this sequester’d place. 

Hither the vocal thrush repairs, 

Secure the linnet sings : 

The goldfinch dreads no slimy snares, 

To clog her painted wings. 

Sad Philomel! ah, quit thy haunt, 

Yon distant woods among. 

And round my friendly grotto chaunt 
Thy sweetly plaintive song. 


TH E H ON E V CEE. 


265 


Let not the harmless redbreast fear, 

Domestic bird, to come 

And seek a sure asylum here. 

With one that loves his home. 

My trees for you, ye artless tribe, 

Shall store of fruit preserve : 

O let me thus your friendship bribe! 

Come, feed without reserve. 

For you these cherries I protect, 

To you these plums belong ; 

Sweet is the fruit that you have pick’d, 

But sweeter far your song. 

Bet then this league betwixt us made, 

Our mutual int’rest guard ; 

Mine be the gift of fruit and shade 
You: songs be my reward. Grot « 


CHAP. XXII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

THE HONEY BEE. 

lo tneir delicious task the fervent bees, 

In swarming millions, tend ; around, athwart. 

Through the soft air the busy nations fly, 

Cling to the bud, and with inserted tube 
Suck its pure essence, its ethereal soul; 

And oft, with bolder wing, they, soaring, dare 
The purple heath, or where the wild thyme grow. 

And yellow load them with the luscious spoil. Thomson « 

What various wonders may observers see 
In a small insect—the sagacious bee ! 

Mark how the little untaught builders squar 
Their rooms, and in the dark their lodgings rear; 

Nature’s mechanics, they unwearied strive 
And fdl, with curious labyrinths, the hive. 

See what bold strokes of architecture shine 

Through the whole frame, what beauty, what design! Blachmore. 

This important insect has been long and justly celebrated 
for its wonderful polity, the neatness and precision with which 
it constructs its cells, and the diligence with which it provides 
during the warmth of summer, a supply of food for the sup 
port of the hive during the rigours of the succeeding winter. 
The general history of this interesting insect has been amply 
detailed by various authors, as Swammerdam, Reaumur, &c. 
&c. Among the most elaborate accounts of later times, may 
be mentioned that of Mr. John Hunter, which made its ap¬ 
pearance in the Philosophical Transactions for the year 1792, 

2 L 








266 CURIOSITIES ftKSi’ECTlMi INSECTS. 

and that of M. Huber, contained in his Nouvellcs Observa¬ 
tions sur les Abeilles, addressed to M. Bonnet, the celebrated 
author of the “ Contemplations de la Nature.” The following 
account drawn principally from Hunter and Huber. 

There are three periods, observes Hunter, at which the 
history of the bee may commence : first, in the spring, when 
the queen begins to lay her eggs ; in the summer, at the com¬ 
mencement of a new 7 colony; or in the autumn, when they go 
into winter-quarters. We shall begin the particular history 
of the bee with the new colony, when nothing is formed. 
When a hive sends off a colony, it is commonly in the month 
of June ; but that will vary according to the season, for, in a 
mild spring, bees sometimes swarm in the middle of May, and 
very often at the latter end of it. Before they come off, they 
commonly hang about the mouth of the hole or door of the 
hive for some days, as if they had not sufficient room within 
for such hot weather, which we believe is very much the case; 
for if cold or w r et weather come on, they stow themselves very 
well, and wait for fine weather. But swarming appears to be 
rather an operation arising from necessity; for they do not 
seem to remove voluntarily, because if they have an empty 
space to fill, they do not swarm; therefore, by increasing the 
size of the hive, the swarming is prevented. This period is much 
longer in some than in others. For some evenings before they 
come off, is often heard a singular noise, a kind of ring, or 
sound of a small trumpet; by comparing it with the notes of 
a piano-forte, it seemed to be the same sound with the lower 
A of the treble. The swarm commonly consists of three 
classes ; a female or females, males, and those commonly 
called mules, which are supposed to be of no sex, and are the 
labourers ; the whole, about two quarts in bulk, making about 
six or seven thousand. It is a question that cannot easily be 
determined, whether this old stock sends off only young of 
the same season, and whether the whole of their young ones, 
or only a part. 

As the males are entirely bred in the same season, part go 
off; but part must stay, and most probably it is so with the 
others. They commonly come off in the heat of the day, 
often immediately after a shower. When one goes off, they 
all immediately follow, and fly about, seemingly in great con¬ 
fusion, although there is one principle actuating the whole. 
They soon appear to be directed to some fixed place ; such as 
the branch of a tree or bush, the cavities of old trees, or holes 
of houses leading into some hollow place; and whenever the 
stand is made, they immediately repair to it till they are all 
collected But it would seem, in some cases, that they had 
not fixed upon any resting-place before they come off, or, if 
they had, that they were either disturbed, if it was near, or 



THE HONEY BEE 










\ 


THE HONEY BKn. 


267 

that it was at a great distance ; for, after hovering some time, 
as if undetermined, they fly away, mount up into the air, and 
go off with great velocity. When they have fixed upon theit 
future habitation, they immediately begin to make their combs 
for they have the materials within themselves. “ I have 
reason,” says Mr. Hunter, “ to believe that they fill then 
crops with honey when they come away, probably from the 
stock in the hive. I killed several of those that came away, 
and found their crops full, while those that remained in the 
hive had their crops not near so full: some of them came away 
with farina on their legs, which I conceive to be rather acci¬ 
dental. I may just observe here, that a hive commonly sends 
off' two, sometimes three swarms in a summer, but that the 
second is commonly less than the first, and the third less than 
the second ; and this last has seldom time to provide for the 
winter. 

“ The materials of their dwelling or comb, which is the wax, 
is the next consideration, with the mode of forming, preparing, 
or disposing of it. In giving a totally new account of the 
wax, I shall first shew it can hardly be what it has been sup¬ 
posed to be. First, I shall observe that the materials, as they 
are found composing the comb, are not to be found in the 
same state (as a composition) in any vegetable, w r here they 
have been supposed to be got. The substance brought in on 
the legs, which is the farina of the flowers of plants, is, in 
common, I believe, imagined to be the materials cf which the 
wax is made, for it is called by most, the wax: but it is the 
farina, for it is always of the same colour as the farina of the 
flower where they are gathering ; and, indeed, we see them 
gathering it, and we also see them covered almost all over 
with it like a dust: nevertheless, it has been supposed to be 
the wax, or that the wax was extracted from it. Reaumur is 
of this opinion. 

“ I made several experiments, to see if there was such a 
quantity of oil in it, as would account for the quantity of wax 
to be formed, and to learn if it was composed of oil. I held 
it near the candle ; it burnt, but did not smell like wax, and 
had the same smell when burning, as farina when it was burnt. 
I observed, that this substance was of different colours on 
different bees, but always of the same colour on both legs of 
the same bee ; whereas a new'-made comb was all of one co 
lour. I observed, that it was gathered with more avidity for 
old hives, where the comb is complete, than for those hives 
where it was only begun, which we could hardly conceive, 
admitting it to be the materials of wax. Also we may observe, 
that at the very beginning of a hive, the bees seldom bring in 
any substance on their legs for tw r o or three days, and after 
that, the farina gatherers begin to increase ; for now some 


2t>8 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

cells are formed to hold it as a store, and some eggs-are laid, 
which, when hatched, will require this substance as food, and 
which will he ready when the weather is wet. 

“ The w T ax is formed by the bees themselves; it may be called 
an external secretion of oil, and I have found that it is formed 
between each scale of the under side of the belly. When I 
first observed this substance, in my examination of the work¬ 
ing bee, 1 was at a loss to say what it was : I asked myself if 
it were scales forming, and whether they cast the old, as the 
lobster, &c. does? but it was to be found only between the 
scales on the lower side of the belly. On examining the bees 
through glass hives, while they were climbing up the glass, I 
could see that most of them had this substance, for it looked 
as if the lower or posterior edge of the scale was double, or 
that there were double scales; but I perceived it was loose, 
not attached. Finding that the substance brought in on their 
legs was farina, intended, as appeared from every circum¬ 
stance, to be the food of the bee, and not to make wax ; and 
not having yet perceived any thing that could give me the 
least idea of wax; I conceived these scales might be it, at 
least I thought it necessary to investigate them. I therefore 
took several on the point of a needle, and held them to a 
candle, where they melted, and immediately formed themselves 
into round globules ; upon which I no longer doubted that 
this was the wax, which opinion was confirmed to me by not 
find in o- those scales but in the building season. 

o C? 

“The cells, or rather the congeries of cells, which compose 
the comb, may be said to form perpendicular plates, or parti¬ 
tions, which extend from top to bottom of the cavity in which 
they build, and work dowmwards ; but if the upper part of 
this vault to which their combs are fixed, is removed, and a 
dome is put over, they begin at the upper edge of the old comb, 
and work up into the new cavity at the top. They generally may 
be guided, as to the directions of their new plates, by forming 
ridges at top, to which they begin to attach their combs. In a 
long hive, if these ridges are longitudinal, their plates of comb 
will be longitudinal; if placed transversely, so will be the plates; 
and if obliquely, the plates of comb will be oblique also. Each 
plate consists of a double set of cells, whose bottoms form 
the partition between each set. The plates themselves are not 
very regularly arranged, not forming a regular plane where 
they might have done so, but are often adapted to the situa¬ 
tion or shape of the cavity in which they are built 

“ The bees do not endeavour to shape their cavity to their 
work, as the wasps do, nor are the cells of equal depths, also 
fitting them to their situation; but as the breeding cells must 
all be of a given depth, they reserve a sufficient number for 
breeding in, and they put the honey into the others, as also 


THE HONEY UEE. 


26<i 

into the shallow ones. The attachment of the comb round 
the cavity is not continued, but interrupted, so as to form 
passages in the middle of the plates, especially if there be 
a cross-stick to support the comb; these allow of bees 
to go across from plate to plate. The substance which 
they use for attaching their combs to surrounding parts, is 
not the same as the common wax; it is softer and tougher, 
a good deal like the substance with which they cover in 
their chrysalis, or the bumblebee surrounds her eggs. It 
is probably a mixture of wax with farina. The cells are 
placed nearly horizontal, but not exactly so; the mouth 
raised a little, which probably may be to retain the honey 
the better: however, this rule is not strictly observed, for 
often they are horizontal, and towards the lower edge of 
a plane of comb they are often declining. The first combs 
that a hive forms are the smallest, and much neater than 
the last or lowermost. Their sides or partitions, between cell 
and cell, are much thinner, and the hexagon is much more 
perfect. The wax is purer, being probably little else but wax, 
and it is more brittle. The lower combs are considerably 
larger, and contain much more wax, or perhaps, more pro¬ 
perly, more materials ; and the cells are at such distances as 
to allow them to be of a round figure ; the wax is softer, and 
there is something mixed with it. I have observed that the 
ceils are not all of equal size, some being a degree larger than 
others; and that the small are the first formed, and of 
course at the upper part, where the bees begin ; and the larger 
are nearer the lower part of the comb, or last made : however, 
in hives of a particular construction, where the bees may 
begin to work at one end, and can work both down and towards 
the other end, we often find the larger cells both on the lower 
part of the combs, and also at the opposite end ; these are 
formed for the males to be bred in: in the hornet and 
wasp combs there are larger cells for the queens to be bred in ; 
these are also formed in the lower tier, and are the last 
formed. 

“ The first comb made in a hive is all of one colour, viz. 
almost white ; but is not so white towards the end of the sea¬ 
son, having then more of a yellow cast/’ 

What follows is principally abridged from Huber, who in 
many instances is more correct than Hunter.—A hive contains 
three kind of bees. 1. A single queen bee, distinguishable 
by the great length of her body, and the proportional short¬ 
ness of her wings. 2. Working-bees, female non-breeders, 
or, as they were formerly called, neuters, to the amount of 
many thousands; these are the smallest bees in the hive, and 
are armed with a sting. 3. Drones, or males, to the number 
ncrhaps of fifteen hundred or two thousand; these are larger 


270 


CUlllUSlTJES RESPECTING INSECTS. 


than the workers, and of a dark colour; they make a great 
noise in flying, and have no sting. The whole labour of the 
community is performed by the workers : they elaborate the 
wax, and construct the cells; they collect the honey, and feed 
the brood. The drones, numerous as they are, serve no other 
purpose than to ensure the increase of the hive, and are regu¬ 
larly massacred by the workers at the beginning of autumn. 

It is the office of the queen-bee to lay the eggs. These re¬ 
main about three days in the cells before they are hatched. 
A small white worm then makes its appearance, (called indif¬ 
ferently, worm, larva, maggot, or grub ;) this larva is fed with 
honey for some days, and then changes into a nymph or pupa. 
After passing a certain period in this state, it comes forth a 
perfect winged insect. 

M. Huber, after noticing the propagation of this industrious 
race, next states the accidental discovery of the very singular 
and unexpected consequences which follow from retarding 
the impregnation of the queen-bee beyond the twentieth or 
twenty-first day of her life. In the natural order of things, or 
when impregnation is not retarded, the queen begins to lay 
the eggs of workers forty-six hours after, and she continues 
for the subsequent eleven months to lay none but these ; “ and 
it is only after this period, that a considerable and uninter¬ 
rupted laying of the eggs of drones commences. When, on 
the contrary, impregnation is retarded after the twenty-eighth 
day, the queen begins, from the forty-sixth hour, to lay the 
eggs of drones ; and she lays no other kind during her whole 
life.” It would be tedious to detail the experiments; they 
were numerous, and the results uniform. “ I occupied myself 
(says M. Huber) the remainder of 1787, and the two subse¬ 
quent years, with experiments on retarded fecundation, and 
had constantly the same results.” It is undoubted, therefore, 
that when the course of natural instinct is retarded beyond 
the twentieth day, only an imperfect generation is produced ; 
as the queen, instead of laying the eggs cf workers and of 
males equally, will lay those of males only 

This discovery is entirely M. Huber’s own : and so difficult 
is it to offer any plausible explanation of the fact, that he him¬ 
self has scarcely attempted it. 

The working-bees had been for ages considered as entirely 
destitute of sex j and hence, in the writings of many authors, 
they are denominated neuters, but from the experiments of 
Schirach and Huber, it seems now to be clearly ascertained, 
that the workers are really of the female sex. 

M Huber confirms the curious discovery of M. Schirach, 
that when bees are by any accident deprived of their queen, 
they have the power of selecting one or two grubs of workers, 
and of converting them into queens; and that they acconv 


THE HONEY BEE. 


271 

plish this by greatly enlarging the cells of those selected ar- 
vae, by supplying them more copiously with food, and with 
that of a more pungent sort than is given to the common 
larvae. 

M. Huber gives the following curious account of the man¬ 
ner in which bees proceed in forming capacious cells for the 
workers* grubs destined to royalty.—“ Bees soon become sen¬ 
sible of having lost their queen, and in a few hours commence 
the labour necessary to repair their loss. First they select the 
young common worms, which the requisite treatment is to 
convert into queens, and immediately begin with enlarging 
the cells where they are deposited. Their mode of proceed¬ 
ing is curious; and the better to illustrate it, I shall describe 
the labour bestowed on a single cell, which will apply to all 
the rest containing worms destined for queens. Having cho¬ 
sen a worm, they sacrifice three of the contiguous cells ; next 
they supply it with food, and raise a cylindrical enclosure 
around, by which the cell becomes a perfect tube, witharhom- 
boidal bottom ; for the parts forming the bottom are left un¬ 
touched. If the bees damaged it, they would lay open three 
corresponding cells on the opposite surface of the comb, and 
consequently destroy their w r orms, which would be an unne¬ 
cessary sacrifice, and nature has opposed it. Therefore, leaving 
the bottom rhomboidal, they are satisfied with raising a cylindri¬ 
cal tube around the worm, which, like the other cells in the comb, 
are horizontal. But this habitation remains suitable to the 
worm called to the royal state, only during the first three days 
of its existence : another situation is requisite for the other 
two days it is a worm. During that time, though so small a 
portion of its life, it must inhabit a cell nearly of a pyramidi- 
cal figure, and hanging perpendicularly. The workers, there¬ 
fore gnaw away the cells surrounding the cylindrical tube, 
mercilessly sacrifice their worms, and use the wax in construct¬ 
ing a new pyramidical tube, which they solder at right angles 
to the first, and work it downwards. The diameter of this 
pyramid decreases insensibly from the base, which is very 
wide, to the point. In proportion as the worm grows, the bees 
labour in extending the cell, and bring food, which they place 
before its mouth, and near its body, forming a kind of cord 
around it. The w'orm, which can move only in a spiral di¬ 
rection, turns ; ncessantly to take the food before its head : it 
insensibly descends, and at length arrives at the orifice of the 
ceil. Now is the time of transformation to a nymph. As any 
further care is unnecessary, the bees close the cell with a pecu¬ 
liar substance appropriated for it, and there the worm under¬ 
goes both its metamorphoses.” 

M. Huber relates some experiments which confirm the sin¬ 
gular discovery of M. Riems, concerning common working 


2 7 2 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

bees that are capable of laying eggs,—which, we may remaik, 
is certainly a most convincing proof of their being of the fe¬ 
male sex. Eggs were observed to increase in number daily, 
in a hive in which there were no queens of the usual appear¬ 
ance ; but small queens considerably resemble workers, and 
to discriminate them, required minute inspection. “ My 
assistant,” (says M. Huber,) then offered to perform an opera¬ 
tion that required both courage and patience, and which I 
could not resolve to suggest, though the same expedient had 
occurred to myself. He proposed to examine each bee in the 
hive separately, to discover whether some small queen had 
not insinuated herself among them, and escaped our first re¬ 
searches. It was necessary, therefore, to seize every one of 
the bees, notwithstanding their irritation, and to examine 
their specific character with the utmost care. This my assist¬ 
ant undertook, and executed with great address. Eleven days 
were employed in it; and, during all that time, he scarcely 
allowed himself any relaxation but what the relief of his eyes % 
required. He took every bee in his hand ; he attentively ex¬ 
amined the trunk, the hind limbs, and the sting ; and he found 
that there was not one without the characteristics of the com¬ 
mon bee, that is, the little basket on the hind legs, the long 
trunk, and the straight sting.” 

When a supernumerary queen is produced in a hive, or is 
introduced into it in the course of experiment, either she or 
the rightful owner soon perishes. The German naturalists, 
Schirach and Riems, imagined that the working bees assailed 
the stranger, and stung her to death. Reaumur considered it 
as more probable, that the sceptre was made to depend on the 
issue of a single combat between the claimants ; and this 
conjecture is verified by the observations of Huber. The same 
hostility towards rivals, and destructive vengeance against 
royal cells, animates all queens, whether they be virgins, or 
in a state of impregnation, or mothers of numerous broods. 
The working bees, it may here be remarked, remain quiet 
spectators of the destruction, by the first-hatched queen, of 
the remaining royal cells; they approach only to share in the 
plunder presented by their havock-making mistress, greedily 
devouring any food found at the bottom of the cells, and even 
sucking the fluid from the abdomen of the nymphs before 
they toss out the carcase. 

The following fact, connected with this subject, is one of 
the most curious perhaps in the whole history of this wonder¬ 
ful insect. Whenever the workers perceive that there are two 
rival queens in the hive, numbers of them crowd around each; 
they seem to be perfectly aware of the approaching deadly 
conflict, and willing to prompt their Amazonian chieftains to 
the battle ; for as often as the queens shew a disinclination 


THE HONEY 1SF.E. 


273 


to fight, or seem inclined to recede from each other, or to flv 
off, the bees immediately surround and detain them; but 
when either combatant shews a disposition to approach her 
antagonist, all the bees forming the clusters instantly give 
way, to allow her full liberty for the attack. It seems strange 
that tlose bees, who in general shew so much anxiety about 
the safety of their queen, should, in particular circumstances, 
oppose her preparations to avoid impending danger,—should 
seem to promote the battle, and to excite the fury of the com¬ 
batants. 

When a queen is removed from a hive, the bees do not 
immediately perceive it; they continue their labours, “ watch 
over their young, and perform all their ordinary occupations. 
But, in a few hours, agitation ensues; all appears a scene 
of tumult in the hive. A singular humming is heard; the 
bees desert their young, and rush over the surface of the 
combs with a delirious impetuosity.” They have now evi¬ 
dently discovered that their sovereign is gone ; and the rapi¬ 
dity with which the bad news spreads through the hive, to 
the opposite side of the combs, is very remarkable. On 
replacing the queen in the hive, tranquillity is almost instantly 
restored. The bees, it is worthy of notice, recognize the 
individual person of their own queen. If another be palmed 
upon them, they seize and surround her, so that she is either 
suffocated, or perishes by hunger; for it is very remarkable, 
that the workers are never known to attack a queen bee with 
their stings. If, however, more than eighteen hours have 
elapsed before the stranger queen be introduced, she has some 
chance to escape : the bees at first seize and confine her, but 
less rigidly; and they soon begin to disperse, and at length 
leave her to reign over a hive, in which she w T as at first treated 
as a prisoner. If twenty-four hours have elapsed, the stranger 
will be well received from the first, and at once admitted to 
the sovereignty of the hive. In short, it appears that the bees, 
when deprived of their queen, are thrown into great agitation; 
that they wait about twenty hours, apparently in hopes of 
her return ; but that, after this interregnum, the agitation 
ceases, and they set about supplying their loss by beginning 
to construct royal cells. It is when they are in this temper, 
and not sooner, that a stranger queen will be graciously re¬ 
ceived ; and upon her being presented to them, the royal 
cells, in whatever state of forwardness they may happen to be, 
are instantly abandoned, and the larvae destroyed. Reaumur 
must therefore have mistaken the result of his own experi 
ments, when he asserts, that a stranger queen is instantly 
w r ell received, though presented at the moment when the other 
is withdrawn. He had seen the bees crowding around her at 
the entrance of the hive, and laying their antennae over her 
12. 2 M 



‘274 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS 

and this he seems to have taken for caressing. The structure 
of the hive^ he employed prevented him from seeing further; 
had he used the leaf-hive, or one of similar construction, he 
would have perceived that the apparent caresses of the guards 
were only the prelude to actual imprisonment 

It is well known, that after the season of swarming, a ge¬ 
neral massacre of the drones is commenced. Several authors 
assert, in their writings, that the workers do not sting the 
drones to death, but merely harass them till they are banished 
from the hive and perish. M. Huber contrived a glass table, 
on which he placed several hives, and he was thus able to see 
distinctly what passed at the bottom of the hive, which is 
generally dark and concealed : he witnessed a real and furious 
massacre of the males, the workers thrusting their stings so 
deep into the bodies of the defenceless drones, that they were 
obliged to turn on themselves as on a pivot, before they could 
extricate them. The work of death commenced in all the 
hi ves much about the same time. It is not, however, by a 
blind or indiscriminating instinct, that the workers are impelled 
thus to sacrifice the males; for if a hive be deprived of its 
queen, no massacre of the males takes place in it, while the 
hottest persecution rages in all the surrounding hives. In this 
case, the males are allowed to survive the winter. Mr. Bon¬ 
ner had observed this fact; he supposed, however, that the 
workers thus tolerated the drones for the sake of the addi¬ 
tional heat they generated in the hive ; but we now see the 
true reason to be, that without them the new queen would 
not be fruitful. The drones are also suffered to exist in hives 
that possess fertile workers, but no proper queen ; and, what 
is remarkable, they are likewise spared in hives governed by 
a queen whose fecundity has been retarded. Here, then, we 
perceive a counter-instinct opposed to that which would have 
impelled them to the usual massacre. 

Upon the subject of swarming, M. Huber commences with 
an interesting account of the hatching of the queen bee. 
When the pupa is about to change into the perfect insect, the 
bees render the cover of the cell thinner, by gnawing away 
part of the wax; and with so much nicety do they perform 
this operation, that the cover at last becomes pellucid, owing 
to its extreme thinness. This must not only facilitate the 
exit of the fly, but, M. Huber remarks, it may possibly be 
useful in permitting the evaporation of the superabundant 
fluids of the nymph. After the transformation is complete, 
the young queens would, in common course, immediately 
emerge from their cells, as workers and drones do; but the 
bees always keep them prisoners for some days in their cells, 
supplying them in the mean time with honey for food ; a small 
hole being made in the door of each cell, through which the 


confined bee extends its proboscis to receive it The royal 
prisoners continually utter a kind of song*, the modulations of 
which are said to vary. The final cause of this temporary 
imprisonment, it is suggested, may possibly be, that they may 
be able to take flight at the instant they are liberated. When 
a young queen at last gets out, she meets with rather an awk¬ 
ward reception; she is pulled, bitten, and chased, as often as 
she happens to approach the other royal cells in the hive. 
The purpose of nature here seems to be, that she should be im¬ 
pelled to go off with a swarm as soon as possible. A curious 
fact was observed on these occasions: when the queen found 
herself much harassed, she had only to utter a peculiar noise, 
(the commanding voice, w*e may presume, of sovereignty,) and 
all the bees were instantaneously constrained to submission 
and obedience. This is, indeed, one of the most marked 
instances in which the queen exerts her sovereign power. 

The conclusions at which M. Huber arrives on the subject 
of swarms are the following:— 

First, “ A swarm is always led off by a single queen, either 
the sovereign of the parent hive, or one recently brought into 
existence. If, at the return of spring, we examine a hive well 
peopled, and governed by a fertile queen, we shall see her 
lay a prodigious number of male eggs in the course of May, 
and tlie workers will choose that moment for constructing 
several royal cells.” This laying of male eggs in May, 
M. Huber calls the great laying; and he remarks, that no 
queen ever has a great laying till she be eleven months old. 
It is only after finishing this laying, that she is able to under¬ 
take the journey implied in leading a swarm ; for, previously 
to this, “ latum trahit alvum,” which unfits her for flying. 
There appears to be a secret relation between the production 
of the male eggs, and the construction of royal cells. The 
great laying commonly lasts thirty days ; and regularly, on the 
twentieth or twenty-first, several royal cells are founded. 

Secondly, “When the larvae hatched from the eggs laid by 
the queen in the royal cells are ready to transform to nymphs, 
this queen leaves the hive, conducting a swarm along with 
her ; and the first swarm that proceeds from the hive is uni¬ 
formly conducted by the old queen.” M. Huber remarks, 
that it was necessary that instinct should impel the old queen 
to lead forth the first swarm ; for, that she being the strongest, 
would never have failed to have overthrown the younger com¬ 
petitors for the throne. An old queen, as has already been 
said, never quits a hive at the head of a swarm, till she has 
finished her laying of male eggs; but this is of importance, 
not merely that she may be lighter and fitter for flight, but 
that she may be ready to begin with the laying of workers’ 
eggs in her new habitation, workers being the bees first needed, 


276 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 


in order to secure the continuance and prosperity of the newly- 
founded commonwealth. 

Thirdly/' After the old queen has conducted the first swarm 
from the hive, the remaining bees take particular care of the 
royal cells, and prevent the young queens, successively 
hatched, from leaving them, unless at an interval of several 
days between each.” Under this head he introduces a number 
of general remarks, some of which may prove useful. “ A 
swarm (he observes) is never seen unless in a fine day, or, to 
speak more correctly, at a time of the day when the sun shines, 
and the air is calm. Sometimes we have observed all the pre¬ 
cursors of swarming, disorder and agitation : but a cloud 
passed before the sun, and tranquillity was restored; the bees 
thought no more of swarming. An hour afterwards, the sun 
having again appeared, the tumult was renewed ; it rapidly 
augmented, and the sw r arm departed.” A certain degree of 
tumult commences as soon as the young queens are hatched, 
and begin to traverse the hive : the agitation soon pervades 
the whole bees; and such a ferment soon rages, that M. Hu¬ 
ber has often observed the thermometer in the hive to rise sud¬ 
denly from about 92° to above 104° : this suffocating heat he 
considers as one of the means employed by nature for urging 
the bees to go off in swarms. In warm weather, one strong 
hive has been known to send off four swarms in eighteen days. 

The cause of the bees, which has been so eloquently and 
pathetically pleaded by the Poet of the Seasons, is supported 
by M. Huber, on a principle more intelligible, perhaps, and 
more persuasive, to most country bee-masters, viz. interest. 
He deprecates the destruction of bees, and recommends to 
the cultivator to be content with a reasonable share of the 
wealth of the hive ; arguing very justly, we believe, that a little 
taken from each of a number of hives, is ultimately much 
more profitable than a greater quantity obtained by a total 
destruction of a few. 

We conclude our observations on this curious insect by two 
poetical quotations. 

“ Of all the race of animals, alone 
The bees have common cities of their own. 

Mindful of coming cold, they share the pain. 

And hoard for winter’s use the summer’s gain. 

Some o’er the public magazines preside, 

And some are sent new forage to provide ; 

These drudge in fields abroad, and those at home 
Lay deep foundations for the labour’d comb ; 

To pitch the waxen flooring some contrive ; 

Some nurse the future nation of the hive. 

Their toil is common, common is their sleep ; 

They shake their wings when morn begins to peep; 

Rush through the city gates without delay, 

Nor ends their work but witli declining day.” 


'I HE HONEY LEE. 


277 


Churchill, alter the following beautiful and picturesque de¬ 
scription, introduces a sovereign, drawing from it, in a soli¬ 
loquy, the most natural reflections on the momentous duties 
if his station. 

<< •* * * * • 

Strength in her limbs, and on her wings dispatch. 

The bee goes forth ; from herb to herb she flies, 

From flow r to ilow’r, and loads her lab’ring thighs 
With treasur’d sweets, robbing those flow’rs, which left. 

Find not themselves made poorer by the theft, 

Their scents as lively, and their looks as fair, 

As if the pillager had not been there. 

Ne’er doth she flit on pleasure’s silken wing, 

Ne’er doth she loit’ring let the bloom of spring 
Unriiled pass, and on the downy breast 
Of some fair flow’r indulge untimely rest. 

Ne’er doth she, drinking deep of those rich dews 
Which chemist Night prepar’d, that faith abuse 
Due to the hive, and, selfish in her toils. 

To her own private use convert the spoils. 

Love of the stock first call’d her forth to roam, 

And to the stock she brings her honey home.” 


CHAP. XXIII 

curiosities respecting insects. — (Continued,) 

WILD BEES. 

The Clothier Bee. — The Carpenter Bee. — The Mason Bee. — The 
Upholsterer Bee. — The Leaf-cutter Bee.—Curious Account oj 
an Idiot Boy and Bees. — Mr. Wild/nan’s Curious Exhibitions 
of Bees explained. 

THE CLOTH! ER BEE. 

Learn each small people’s genius, policies, 

The ants’ republic, and the realm of bees ; 

How those in common all their wealth bestow 
And anarchy without confusion know ; 

And these for ever, though a monarch reign, 

Their separate cells and properties maintain. 

Mark what unvary’d laws preserve each state, 

Laws, wise as Nature, and as fixt as Fate. Pope. 

The following curious account of wild bees is principally 
abridged from Kirby and Spence’s very interesting work on 
entomology. 

The clothier bee is a lively and gay insect. It does not 
excavate holes for their reception, but places them in the 
cavities of old trees, or of any other object that suits its pur¬ 
pose. Sir Thomas Cullum discovered the nest of one in the 
inside of the Jock of a garden gate, in which Mr. Kirby also 


278 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 


since twice found them. It should seem, however, that such 
situations would be too cold for the grubs without a coating 
of some non-conducting substance. The parent bee, therefore, 
after having constructed the cells, laid an egg in each, and 
filled them with a store of suitable food, plasters them with a 
covering of vermiform masses, apparently composed of honey 
and pollen; and having done this, aware (long before Count 
Rumford’s experiments) what materials conduct heat most 
slowly, she attacks the woolly leaves of Stachy’s lanata, Agro- 
stemma coronaria, and similar plants, and with her mandi¬ 
bles industriously scrapes off the wool, which with her fore legs 
she rolls into a little ball, and carries to her nest. This wool 
she sticks upon the plaster that covers her cells, and thus 
closely envelopes them with a warm coating of down, imper¬ 
vious to every change of temperature. 

The Carpenter Bee. —A numerous family of wild bees 
may properly be compared to carpenters, boring with incredi¬ 
ble labour, out of the solid wood, long cylindrical tubes, and 
dividing them into various cells. Amongst these, one of the 
most remarkable is the Apis violacea, L. (Xylacopa, Latr.) a 
large species, a native of southern Europe, distinguished by 
beautiful wings of a deep violet colour, and found commonly 
in gardens, in the upright putrescent espaliers, or vine props, 
of which, and occasionally in the garden seats, doors, and 
window-shutters, she makes her nest. In the beginning of 
spring, after repeated and careful surveys, she fixes upon a 
piece of wood suitable for her purpose, and with her strong 
mandibles begins the process of boring. First proceeding 
obliquely downwards, she soon points her course in a direc¬ 
tion parallel with the sides of the wood, and at length with 
unwearied exertion forms a cylindrical hole or tunnel not less 
than twelve or fifteen inches long, and half an inch broad. 
Sometimes, where the diameter will admit of it, three or four 
of these pipes, nearly parallel with each other, are bored in 
the same piece. Herculean as this task (which is the labour 
of several days) appears, it is but a small part of what our 
industrious bee cheerfully undertakes. As yet she has com¬ 
pleted, but the shell of the destined habitation of her offspring; 
each of which, to the number of ten or twelve, will require 
a separate and distinct apartment. In excavating her tunnel, 
she has detached a large quantity of fibres, which lie on the 
ground like a heap of saw-dust. This material supplies all 
her wants. Having deposited an egg at the bottom of the 
cylinder, along with the requisite store of pollen and honey, 
she next, at the height of about three-quarters of an inch, 
(which is the depth of each cell,) constructs of particles 
of the saw-dust glued together, and also to the sides of 


THE CAHI'ENTEK BEE. 


279 


the tunnel, what may be called an annular stage or scaffolding 
When this is sufficiently hardened, its interior eoge affords 
support for a second ring of the same materials, and thus the 
ceiling is gradually formed of these concentric circles, till 
there remains only a small orifice in its centre, which is also 
closed with a circular mass of agglutinated particles of saw¬ 
dust. When this partition, which serves as the ceiling of the 
first cell, and the flooring of the second, is finished, it is about 
the thickness of a crown piece, and exhibits the appearance of 
as many concentric circles as the animal has made pauses m 
her labour. One cell being finished, she proceeds to another, 
which she furnishes and completes in the same manner, and so 
on, until she has divided her whole tunnel into ten or twelve 
apartments. 

Such a laborious undertaking as the constructing and fur- 
nishino- these cells, cannot be the work of one, or even of two 
days. Considering that every cell requires a store of honey 
and pollen, not to be collected but with long toil, and that a 
considerable interval must be spent in agglutinating the floors 
of each, it will be very obvious that the last egg in the last 
cell must be laid many days after the first. We are certain, 
therefore, that the first egg will become a grub, and conse¬ 
quently a perfect bee, many days before the last. What then 
becomes of it ? It is impossible that it should make its escape 
though eleven superincumbent cells, without destroying the 
immature tenants; and it seems equally impossible that it 
should remain patiently in confinement below them until they 
are all disclosed. This dilemma our heaven-taught architect 
has provided against. With forethought, never enough to be 
admired, she has not constructed her tunnel with one opening 
only, but at the farther end has pierced another orifice, a kind 
of back door, through which the insects produced by the first- 
laid eggs successively emerge into day. In fact, all the young 
bees, even the uppermost, go out by this road ; for, by an ex¬ 
quisite instinct, each grub, when about to become a pupa, 
places itself in its cell, with its head downwards, and thus is 
necessitated, when arrived at its last state, to pierce its cell in 
this direction. 

We shall now describe The Mason-Bee. —There is a 
family of wild bees which carry on the trade of masons, build¬ 
ing their solid houses solely of artificial stone. The first step 
of the mother bee, Apis mururia, Oliv. (Anthophara , F. Me¬ 
gachile, Latr.) is to fix upon a proper situation for the future 
mansion of her offspring. For this she usually selects an angle, 
sheltered by any projection, on the south side of a stone wall. 
Her next care is to provide materials for the structure. The 
chief of these is sand, which she carefully selects, grain by 


2bO CURlOSlTiLS RLSPECT i.SG BEES. 

grain, from such as contain some mixture of earth; these 
grains she glues together with her viscid saliva into masses 
the size of small shot, # and transports by means of her jaws 
to the site of her castle. With a number of these masses, 

« 

which are the artificial stone of which her building is to be 
composed, united by a cement preferable to ours, she first 
forms the basis or foundation of the whole. Next she raises 
the walls of a cell, which is an inch long and half an inch 
broad, and, before its orifice is closed, in form resembles a 
thimble. This, after depositing an egg, and a supply of honey 
and pollen, she covers in, and then proceeds to the erection 
of a second, which she finishes in the same manner, until the 
whole number, which varies from four to eight, is completed. 
The vacuities between the cells, which are not placed in any 
regular order, some being parallel to the wall, others being 
perpendicular to it, and others inclined to it at different angles, 
this laborious architect fills up with the same material of which 
the cells are composed, and then bestows upon the whole 
group a common covering of coarser grains of sand. The 
form of the whole nest, which, when finished, is a solid mass 
of stone, so hard as not to be easily penetrated with the blade 
of a knife, is an irregular oblong, of the same colour as the 
sand, and, to a casual observer, more resembling a splash of 
mud than an artificial structure. These bees sometimes are 
more economical of their labour, and repair old nests, for the 
possession of which they have very desperate combats. One 
would have supposed that the inhabitants of a castle so forti¬ 
fied might defy the attack of an insect marauder. Yet an 
ichneumon, and a beetle (Clerius apiarius, F.) both contrive 
to introduce their eggs into the cells, and the larvae proceed¬ 
ing from them devour their inhabitants.— Reaum. vi. 57, 58 
Mon. Ap. Angl. i. 179. 

Other bees of the same family use different materials in the 
construction of their nests. Some employ fine earth made into 
a kind of mortar made with gluten. Another, (A. carulescens , 
L.) as w r e learn from De Geer, forms its nest of argillaceous 
earth, mixed with chalk, upon stone walls, and sometimes pro¬ 
bably builds in chalk-pits. Apis bicornis , L. selects the 
hollows of large stones for the site of its dwelling; whilst 
others prefer the holes in wood. 

We now proceed to The Upholsterer-Bee. —Such may 
those be denominated which line the holes excavated in the 
earth for the reception of their young, with an elegant coating 

* Reaumur plausibly supposes, that it has been from observing this 
bee thus loaded, that the talc mentioned by Aristotle and Pliny, of the 
hive-bee s ballasting itself with a bit of stone, previous to Hying home in 
« high wind, has arisen. 


TIIE LEAF-CUTTER BEE. 


281 


of flowers or of leaves. Amongst the most interesting of these 
is Apis Papaveris, (Megachile, Lair., Anthophora , F.) a spe¬ 
cies whose manners have been admirably described by Reau¬ 
mur. This little bee, as though fascinated with the coloui 
most attractive to our eyes, invariably chooses for the hang¬ 
ings of her apartments the most brilliant scarlet, selecting 
for its material the petals of the wild poppy, which she dex¬ 
terously cuts into the proper form. Her first process is to ex¬ 
cavate in some pathway a burrow, cylindrical at the entrance, 
but swelled out below, to the depth of about three inches. 
Having polished the walls of this little apartment, she next 
flies to a neighbouring field, cuts out oval portions of the 
flowers of poppies, seizes them between her legs, and returns 
with them to her cell; and though separated from the wrin¬ 
kled petal of a half-expanded flower, she knows how to straighten 
their folds, and, if too large, to fit them for her purpose b^ 
cutting off the superfluous parts. Beginning at the bottom, 
she overlays the walls of her mansion with this brilliant tapestry, 
extending it also on the surface of the ground round the mar- 
gin of the orifice. The bottom is rendered warm by three 01 
four coats, and the sides have never less than two. The little 
upholsterer, having completed the hangings of her apartment, 
next fills it with pollen and honey to the height of about hall 
an inch ; then, after committing an egg to it, she wraps ovei 
the poppy lining, so that even the roof may leave this mate¬ 
rial; and lastly, closes its mouth with a small hillock or earth. 
— Reaum. 6. 139 to 148. The great depth of the cell, c ompared 
with the space which the single egg and the accompanying 
food deposited in it occupy, deserves particular notice. This 
is not more than half an inch at the bottom, the remaining two 
nches and a half being subsequently filled with earth. 

The Leaf-cutter Bee. —There is a species of wild bee, 
that cover the walls of their cells with coatings of sober- 
coloured materials, generally selecting for their hangings the 
leaves of trees, especially of the rose, whence they have been 
known by the name of the leaf-cutter bees. They differ also 
from A. Papaveris in excavating longer burrows, and filling 
them with several thimble-shaped cells, composed of portions 
of leaves so curiously convoluted, that, if we were ignorant 
n what school they have been taught to construct them, we 
hould never credit their being the work of an insect. Their 
entertaining history, so long ago as 1670, attracted the atten¬ 
tion of our countrymen, Ray, Lister, Willoughby, and SirEdw. 
King; but we are indebted for the most complete accoum. of 
the procedure, to Reaumur 

The mother bee first excavates a cylindrical hole eigftf 
or ten inches long, in a horizontal direction, either in the 

2 N 


282 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

ground or u the trunk of a rotten willow-tree, or occasionally 
in other decaying' wood. This cavity she fills with six or seven 
cells, wholly composed of portions of leaf in the shape of a 
thimble, the convex end of one closely fitting into the open 
end of another. Her first process is to form the exterior 
coating, which is composed of three or four pieces, of larger 
dimensions than the rest, and of an oval form. The second 
coating is formed of portions of equal size, narrow at one end, 
but gradually widening towards the other, where the width 
equals half the length. One side of these pieces is the serrate 
margin of the leaf from which it was taken, which, as the 
pieces are made to lap one over the other, is kept on the out¬ 
side, and that which has been cut within. The little animal 
now forms a third coating of similar materials, the middle of 
which, as the most skilful workman would do in similar cir¬ 
cumstances, she places over the margins of those that form the 
first tube, thus covering and strengthening the junctures. 
Repeating the same process, she gives a fourth and some¬ 
times a fifth coating to her nest, taking care, at the closed end 
or narrow extremity of the cell, to bend the leaves so as tc 
foim a convex termination. Having thus finished a cell, her 
next business is to fill it, to within half a line of the orifice, 
with a rose-coloured conserve, composed of honey and pollen, 
usually collected from the flowers of thistles ; and then having 
deposited her egg, she closes the orifice with three pieces of 
leaf so exactly circular, that a pair of compasses could not 
define their margin with more truth, and coinciding so pre¬ 
cisely with the walls of the cell, as to be retained in their 
situation merely by the nicety of their adaptation. After this 
covering is fitted in, there remains still a concavity, which 
receives the convex end of the succeeding cell: and in this 
manner the indefatigable little animal proceeds until she has 
completed the six or seven cells composing her cylinder. 

The process which one of these bees employs in cutting the 
pieces of leaf that compose her nest, is worthy of attention 
Nothing can be more expeditious ; she is not longer about it 
than we should be with a pair of scissois. After hovering for 
some moments over a rose bush, as if to reconnoitre the 
ground, the bee alights upon the Leaf which she has selected, 
usually taking her station upon its edge, so that the margin 
passes between her legs. With her strong mandibles she cuts 
without intermission in a curve line, so as to detach a tri¬ 
angular portion. When this hangs by the last fibre, lest its 
weight should carry her to the ground, she balances her little 
wings for flight, and the very moment it parts from the leaf, 
flies off with it in triumph; the detached portion remaining 
bent between her legs in a direction perpendicular to her body. 
Thus without rule or compasses do these diminutive creatures 


IDIOT BOY, AND BEES. 


283 


mete out the materials of their work into portions of an ellipse, 
into ovals or circles, accurately accommodating the dimensions 
of the several pieces of each figure to each other. What other 
architect could carry impressed upon the tablet of his memory 
the entire idea of the edifice which he has to erect, and, des¬ 
titute of square or plumb-line, cut out his materials in their 
exact dimensions without making a single mistake? Yet th s 
is what our little bee invariably does. So far are human art 
and reason excelled by the teaching of the Almighty .—Reaum 
vi. 971—94. Mor. Ap. A/igl. i. 157. Apis c. 2. 

A curious Account of an Idiot Boy, and Bees. —Mr 
White has given the following curious account of an idiot 
boy. From a child he shewed a strong propensity to bees. 
They were his food, his amusement, his sole object. In the 
winter he dozed away his time in his father’s house, by the 
fire-side, in a torpid state, seldom leaving the chimney-corner: 
but in summer he was all alert, and in quest of his game 
Hive-bees, humble-bees, and wasps, were his prey, wherever 
he found them. He had no apprehension from their stings, 
but would seize them with naked hands, and at once disarm 
them of their weapons, and suck their bodies for the sake of 
their honey-bags. Sometimes he would fill his bosom between 
his shirt and skin with these insects; and sometimes he en¬ 
deavoured to confine them in bottles. He was very injurious 
to men that kept bees, for he would glide into their bee-gar¬ 
dens, and, sitting down before the stools, would rap with 
his fingers, and so take the bees as they came out. He has 
even been known to overturn the hives for the sake of the 
honey, of which he was passionately fond. Where metheglin 
was making, he would linger round the tubs and vessels, 
begging a draught of what he called bee-wine. As he ran 
about, he used to make a humming noise with his lips, resem¬ 
bling the buzzing of bees. This lad was lean and sallow, and 
of a cadaverous complexion ; and, except in his favourite 
pursuit, in which he was wonderfully adroit, discovered no 
manner of understanding. Had his capacity been better, and 
directed to the same object, he had perhaps abated much of 
our wonder at the feats of a more modern exhibiter of bees; 
and we may justly say of him now, 

-Tho” 

Had thy presiding star propitio^- 

Shouldst Wildrnan be. White s Natural History. 

We conclude this chapter with an explanation of the pre 
ceding lines. 

Mr. Wildman’s curious Exhibitions of Bees. —Mr. 
Wildman, by his dexterity in the management of bees, some 



281 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

yeais ago, surprised the whole kingdom, He caused swarm* 
to light where he pleased, almost instantaneously; he ordered 
them to settle on his head, then removed them to his hand, 
and commanded them to settle on a window, table, &c. at 
pleasure. We subjoin the method of performing these feats, 
in his own words : “ Long experience has taught me, that as 
soon as 1 turn up a hive, and give it some taps on the sides 
and bottom, the queen immediately appears, to know the cause 
of this alarm ; but soon retires again among her people. Being 
accustomed to see her so often, I readily perceive her at first 
glance ; and long practice has enabled me to seize her instantly, 
with a tenderness that does not in the least endanger her per¬ 
son. This is of the utmost importance; for the least injury 
done to her brings immediate destruction to the hive, if you 
have not a spare queen to putin her place, as I have too often 
experienced in my first attempts. When possessed of her, I 
can, without injury to her, or exciting that degree of resent¬ 
ment that may tempt her to sting me, slip her into my other 
hand, and, returning the hive to its place, hold her there, till 
the bees missing her, are all on wing, and in the utmost con¬ 
fusion. When the bees are thus distressed, I place the queen 
wherever I would have the bees to settle. The moment a few 
of them discover her, they give notice to those near them, and 
those to the rest; the knowledge of which becomes so ge¬ 
neral, that in a few minutes they all collect themselves round 
her, and are so happy in having recovered this sole support 
of their state, that they will long remain quiet in their situa¬ 
tion : nay, the scent of her body is so attractive of them, that 
the slightest touch of her along any place or substance, will 
attach the bees to it, and induce them to any path she takes.” 
—This was the only witchcraft used by Mr. Wildman, and is 
that alone which is practised by others win* have since made 
similar exhibitions. 


TH E WASP 




CHAP. XXIV. 

curiosities respecting insects.— ( Continued ,) 

The Wasp, 

The laws of life, why need I call to mind. 

Obey'd by insects, too, of ev’ry kind ! 

Of these, none uncontroll’d and lawless rove, 

But to some destin’d end spontaneous move: 

Led by that instinctHeav’n itself inspires, 

Or so much reason as their state requires. 

See all with skill acquire their daily food, 

All use those arms which nature has bestow’d; 

Produce their tender progeny, and feed 
With care parental, while that care they need. 

In these lov’d offices completely blest, 

No hopes beyond them, nor vain fears molest. Jenyns. 

For the following account of the Wasp, we are indebted to 
Kirby and Spence ; and we take this opportunity of making 
a general acknowledgment of our obligations to those gentle¬ 
men, for the assistance we have derived from their highly inte¬ 
resting treatise, in drawing up this account of the curiosities 
respecting insects. 

Compared with hive-bees, wasps may be considered as a 
horde of thieves and brigands : while the bees are peaceful, 
honest, and industrious subjects; the wasps attack their per¬ 
sons, and plunder their property. Yet, with all this love of 
pillage and other bad propensities, they are not altogether 
disagreeable or unamiable ; they are brisk and lively; they 
do not usually attack unprovoked ; and their object in plun¬ 
dering us is not purely selfish, but is principally to provide 
for the support of the young brood of their colonies 

The societies of wasps, like those of ants, and other social 
Hymen opt era, consist of females, males, and workers. The 
females may be considered as of two sorts : first, the females, 
by way of eminence, are much larger than any other indivi¬ 
duals of the community ; they equal six of the workers (from 
which in other respects they do not materially differ) in weight, 
and lay both male and female eggs : then the small females, 
not larger than the workers, which lay only male eggs. This 
last description of females, which are found also both amongst 
the humble-bees and hive-bees, were first observed among 
wasps, by M. Perrot, a friend of Huber's.. The large females are 
produced later than the workers, and make their appearance in 
the next spring; and whoever then destroys one of them, destroys 
an entire colony, of which she would be the founder. 

Different from the queen-bee, the female wasp is at first an 
qisulated being, that has had the fortune to survive the rigour* 

v 

\ 


286 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECT* 

of winter. When in the spring she lays the foundation of he. 
future empire, she has not a single worker at her disposal; 
with her own hands and teeth she often hollows out a cave 
wherein she may lay the first foundations of her paper metro¬ 
polis : she must herself build the first houses, and produce 
from her own body their first inhabitants; whish in their 
infant state she must feed and educate, before they can assist 
her in her great design. At length she receives the reward of 
her perseverance and labour ; and from being a solitary uncon¬ 
nected individual, in the autumn is enabled to rival the queen 
of the hive in the number of her children and subjects, and 
in the edifices which they inhabit—the number of cells in a 
vespiary sometimes amounting to more than sixteen thousand, 
almost all of which contain either an egg, a grub, or a pupa, 
and each cell serving for three generations in a year ; which, 
after making every allowance for failures and other casualties, 
will give a population of at least thirty thousand. Even at 
this time, when she has so numerous an army of coadju¬ 
tors, the industry of this creature does not cease, but she con¬ 
tinues to set an example of diligence to the rest of the com¬ 
munity. If by any accident, before the other females are 
hatched, the queen-mother perishes, the neuters cease their 
labours, lose their instincts, and die. 

The number of females in a populous vespiary is considerable, 
amounting to several hundreds; they emerge from the pupa 
about the latter end of August, at the same time with the 
males, and fly in September and October, when they pair. 
Of this large number of females, very few survive the winter. 
Those that are so fortunate, remain torpid till the vernal sun 
recalls them to life and action. They then fly forth, collect 
provision for their young brood, and are engaged in the other 
iabours necessary for laying the foundation of their empire ; 
but in the summer months they are never seen out of the 
nest. 

The male wasps are much smaller than the female, but they 
weigh as much as two workers. Their antennae are longer than 
those of either, not, like theirs, thicker at the end, but per¬ 
fectly filiform ; and their abdomen is distinguished by an addi¬ 
tional segment. Their numbers about equal those of the fe 
males, and they are produced at the same time. They are 
not so wholly given to pleasure and idleness as the drones of 
the hive. They do not, indeed, assist in building the nest, 
and in the care of the young brood ; but they are the scaven¬ 
gers of the community, for they sweep the passages and streets, 
and carry off all the filth. They also remove the bodies of the 
dead, which are sometimes heavy burdens for them ; in which 
case two unite their strength, to accomplish the work ; or, if 
a paitier be not at hand, the wasp thus employed cuts off the 


T H E WAS V 


287 


nead of the defunct, and so effects its purpose. As they make 
themselves so useful, they are not, like the male bees, devoted 
by the workers to an universal massacre when the great end 
of their creation is answered ; but they share the general 
lot of the community, and are suffered to survive till the cold 
cuts oft' them and the workers together. 

The workers are the most numerous, and to us the only 
troublesome part of the community; upon whom devolves the 
main business of the nest. In the summer and autumnal months 
they go forth by myriads into the neighbouring country to 
collect provisions ; and on their return to the common den, 
after reserving a sufficiency for the nutriment of the young- 
brood, they divide the spoil with great impartiality ; part being- 
given to the females, part to the males, and part to those 
workers that have been engaged in extending and fortifying 
the vespiary. This division is voluntarily made, without the 
slightest symptom of compulsion. Several wasps assemble 
round each of the returning workers, and receive their re¬ 
spective portions. It is curious and interesting to observe 
their motions on this occasion. As soon as a wasp that has 
been filling itself with the juice of fruits arrives at the nest, 
it perches upon the top, and, disgorging a drop of its saccha¬ 
rine fluid, is attended sometimes by two at once, who share 
the treasure ; this being thus distributed, a second, and some¬ 
times a third drop, is produced, which falls to the lot of 
others. 

Wasps, though ferocious and cruel towards their fellow- 
insects, are civilized and polished in their intercourse with 
each other, and form a community whose architectural labours 
will not suffer on comparison even with those of the peaceful 
inhabitants of a bee-hive. Like these, the great object of their 
industry is the erection of a structure for their beloved pro¬ 
geny, towards which they discover the greatest affection and 
tenderness, and, like bees, construct combs consisting of hexa¬ 
gonal cells for their reception ; but the substance which they 
make use of is very dissimilar to the wax employed by bees, and 
the general plan of their city differs in many respects from that 
of a bee-hive. The common wasp’s nest, usually situated in 
a cavity under ground, is of an oval figure, about sixteen or 
eighteen inches long, by twelve or thirteen broad. Externally, 
it is surrounded by a thick coating of numerous leaves of a 
sort of grayish paper, which do not touch each other, but have 
a small interval between each, so that if the rain should chance 
to penetrate one or two of them, its progress is speedily ar¬ 
rested. On removing this external covering, we perceive that 
the interior consists of from twelve to sixteen circular combs 
of different sizes, not ranged vertically, as in a bee-hive, but 
horizontally, so as to form so many distinct and paiallel 



988 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS 

stories. Each comb is composed of a numerous assembiage 
of hexagonal cells, formed of the same paper-like substance as 
the exterior covering of the nest, and, according to a disco¬ 
very of Dr. Barclay, each, as in those of bees, a distinct cell, 
the partition walls being double .—Memoirs oj the Wernerian 
Society, ii. 260. These cells, which, as wasps do not store 
up any food, serve merely as the habitations of their young, 
are not, like those of the honey-bee, arranged in two opposite 
layers, but in one only, their entrance being always down¬ 
wards : consequently the upper part of the comb, composed 
of the bases of the cells, which are not pyramidal, but slightly 
convex, forms a nearly level floor, on which the inhabitants 
can conveniently pass and repass, spaces of about half an inch 
high being left between each comb. Although the combs are 
fixed to the sides of the nest, they would not be sufficiently 
strong without further support. The ingenious builders, there¬ 
fore, connect each comb to that below it by a number of 
strong cylindrical columns or pillars, having, according to the 
rules of architecture, their base and capital wider than the 
shaft, and composed of the same paper-like material used in 
other parts of the nest, but of a more compact substance. The 
middle combs are connected by a rustic colonnade of from 
forty to fifty of these pillars ; the upper and lower combs by a 
smaller number. 

The cells are of different sizes, corresponding to that of the 
three orders of individuals which compose the community; the 
largest for the grubs of females, the smallest for those of 
workers. The last always occupy an entire comb, while the 
cells of the males and females are often intermixed. Besides 
openings which are left between the walls of the combs to 
admit of access from one to the other, there are at the bottom 
of each nest two holes, by one of which the wasps uniformly 
enter, and through the other issue from the nest, and thus 
avoid all confusion or interruption of their common labours. 
As the nest is often a foot and a half under ground, it is requi¬ 
site that a covered way should lead to its entrance. This is 
excavated by the wasps, who are excellent miners, and is often 
very long and tortuous, forming a beaten road to the subter¬ 
ranean city, well known to the inhabitants, though its entrance 
is concealed from curious eyes. The cavity itself, which con¬ 
tains the nest, is either the abandoned habitation of moles or 
field-mice, or a cavern purposely dug out by the wasps, which 
exert themselves with such industry as to accomplish the ar¬ 
duous undertaking in a few days. 

When the cavity and entrance to it are completed, the next 
part of the process is to lay the foundations of the city to be 
included in it, which, contrary to the usual customs of builders, 
wasps begin at the top, continuing downwards. It has already 


THE WASP. 


289 

been observed, that the coatings which compose the dome, 
are a sort of rough but thin paper, and that the rest of the 
nest is composed of the same substance variously applied. 

Whence do the wasps derive it?” They are manufacturers 
of the article, and prepare it from a material even more sin¬ 
gular than any of those which have of late been proposed for 
this purpose; namely, the fibres of wood. These they detach 
by means of their jaws from window-frames, posts, and rails, 
8cc. and, when they have amassed a heap of the filaments, 
moisten the whole with a few drops of a viscid glue from their 
mouth, and, kneading it with their jaws into a sort of paste, or 
papier mache, fly off with it to their nest. This ductile mass 
they attach to that part of the building upon which they are 
at work, walking backwards, and spreading it into laminae of 
the requisite thinness by means of their jaws, tongue, and legs. 
This operation is repeated several times, until at length, by 
aid of fresh supplies of the material, and the combined exer¬ 
tions of so many workmen, the proper number of layers of 
paper, that are to compose the roof, is finished. This paper is 
as thin as the leaf you are reading; and you may form an idea 
of the labour which even the exterior of a wasp’s nest requires, 
on being told that no fewer than fifteen or sixteen sheets of it 
are usually placed above each other, with slight intervening 
spaces, making the whole upwards of an inch and a half in 
thickness. When the dome is completed, the uppermost comb 
is next begun, in which, as well as all the other parts of the 
building, precisely the same material and the same process, 
with little variation, are employed. In the structure of the 
connecting pillars, there seems a greater quantity of glue 
made use of than in the rest of the work, doubtless with the 
view of giving them superior solidity. When the first comb 
is finished, the continuation of the roof or walls of the build¬ 
ing is brought down lower; a new comb is erected; and thus 
the work successively proceeds until the whole is finished. 
As a comparatively small proportion of the society is engaged 
in constructing the nest, its entire completion is the work of 
several months : yet, though the fruit of such severe labour, 
it has scarcely been finished a few weeks before winter comes 
on, when it merely serves for the abode of a few benumbed 
females, and is entirely abandoned at the approach of spring, 
as wasps are never known to use the same nest for more than 
one season. 

There is good reason for thinking, and the opinion had the 
sanction of the late Sir Joseph Banks, that wasps have senti¬ 
nels placed at the entrances of their nests, which, if you can 
once seize and destroy, the remainder will not attack you. 
This is confirmed by an observation of Mr. Knight, in the 
Philosophical Transactions, (vol. I. 2d Ed. p. 505;) that if a 

2 O 


290 CURIOSITIES RES°ECTING INSECTS. 

nest of wasps be approached without alarming the inhabit¬ 
ants, and all communication be suddenly cut off between 
those out of the nest and those within it, no provocation will 
induce the former to defend it and themselves. But if one 
escapes from within, it comes with a very different temper, 
and appears commissioned to avenge public wrongs, and pre¬ 
pared to sacrifice its life in the execution of its orders. lie 
discovered this when quite a boy. 

In October, wasps seem to become less savage and sangui¬ 
nary ; for even flies, of which, earlier in the summer, they are 
the pitiless destroyers, may be seen to enter their nests with 
impunity. It is then, probably, that they begin to be first 
affected by the approach of the cold season, when nature 
teaches them it is useless longer to attend to their young. 
They themselves all perish, except a few of the females, upon 
the first attack of frost. 

Reaumur, from whom most of these observations are taken, 
put the nests of wasps under glass hives, and succeeded so 
effectually in reconciling these little restless creatures to them, 
that they carried on their various works under his eye. 




CHAP. XXV. 

curiosities respecting insects.— (Continued.) 

Ants — White Ants—Green Ants—Visiting Ants—The Ant-Lion 

These emmets, how little they are in our eyes ! 

We tread them to dust, and a troop of them dies 
Without our regard or concern : 

Yet, as wise as v\e are, if we went to their school, 

There’s many a sluggard, and many a fool, 

A lesson of wisdom might learn. Watts 

The societies of Ants, as also of other Hymenoptera , differ 
from those of the Termites, in having inactive larvae and pupae, 
the neuter, or workers, combining in themselves both the mili¬ 
tary and civil functions. Besides the helpless larvae and 
pupae, which have no locomotive powers, these societies con¬ 
sist of females and workers. The office of the females, at 
their first exclusion distinguished by a pair of ample wings, 
(which however, they soon cast,) is the foundation of new 
colonies, and the furnishing of a constant supply of eggs, for 
the maintenance of the population in the old nests, as well as 
in the new. These are usually the least numerous part of the 
community. 























































































































































































































































































































































ANTS 


201 

Gould indeed says, that the males and females are nearly 
equal in numbei, p. 62; but from Huber’s observations ft 
seems to follow that the former are the most numerous, p. 96. 

Upon the workers devolves, except in nascent colonies, all 
the work, at well as the defence of the community, of which 
they are the most numerous portion. 

In the warm days that occur from the end of July to the 
beginning of September, and sometimes later, the habitations 
of the various species of ants may be seen to swarm with 
. winged insects, which are the males and females, preparing 
to quit for ever the scene of their nativity and education. 
Every thing is in motion : and the silver wings, contrasted 
with the jet bodies which compose the animated mass, add a 
degree of splendour to the interesting scene. The bustle in 
creases, till at length the males rise, as it were by a gene¬ 
ral impulse, into the air, and the females accompany them. 
The whole swarm alternately rises and falls with a slow move¬ 
ment to the height of about ten feet, the males flying obliquely 
with a rapid zigzag motion; and the females, though they fol 
low the general movement of the column, appearing suspended 
in the air, like balloons, seemingly with no individual motion, 
and having their heads turned towards the wind. 

Sometimes the swarms of a whole district unite their infi 
nite myriads, and, seen at a distance, produce an effect resem¬ 
bling the flashing of an aurora borealis. Rising with incre¬ 
dible velocity in distinct columns, they soar above the clouds. 
Each column looks like a kind of slender net-work, and has a 
tremulous undulating motion, which has been observed to be 
produced by the regular alternate rising and falling just alluded . 
to. The noise emitted by myriads and myriads of these crea¬ 
tures, does not exceed the hum of a single wasp. The slight¬ 
est zephyr disperses them; and if in their progress they 
chance to be over your head, if you walk slowly on, they will 
accompany you, and regulate their motions by yours. 

Captain Haverfield, R. N. gives an account of an extraor 
dinary appearance of ants observed by him in the Medway, in 
the autumn of 1814, when he was first-lieutenant of the Clo- 
rinde ; which is confirmed by the following letter, addressed 
by the surgeon of that ship, now Dr. Bromley, to Mr. Mac 
heav. 

“ In September, 1814, being on the deck of the bulk to the 
Clorinde, my attention was drawn to the water by the first- , 
lieutenant (Haverfield) observing there was something black 
floating clown with the tide. On looking with a glass, 1 dis 
covered they were insects. The boat was sent, and brought a 
bucket full of them on board ; they proved to be a large spe¬ 
cies of ant, and extended from the upper part of Salt-pan 
Reach out towards the Great Nore, a distance of five or six 


292 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

miles. The column appeared to be in breadth eight or ten feet, 
and in height about six inches, which I suppose must have 
been from their resting one upon another/’ Purchas seemu 
to have witnessed a similar phenomenon on shore. *' Other 
sorts (of ants)/’ says he, “ there are many, of which some be¬ 
come winged, and fill the air with swarms, which sometimes 
happens in England. On Bartholomew-day, 1613, I was in 
the island of Foulness, on our Essex shore, where were such 
clouds of these flying pismires, that we could no where flee 
fiom them, but they filled our clothes; yea, the floors of some 
houses where they fell were in a manner covered with a black 
carpet of creeping ants ; which, they say, drown themselves 
about that time of the year in the sea.”— Pilgrimage , 1090. 
These ants were winged ; but whence this immense column 
came, was not ascertained. From the numbers here accumu¬ 
lated, one would think that all the ant-hills of the counties of 
Kent and Surrey could scarcely have furnished a sufficient 
number of males and females to form it. 

When Colonel Sir Augustus Frazer, of the Horse Artillery, 
was surveying, on the 6th of October, 1813, the scene of the 
battle of the Pyrenees, from the summit of the mountain call¬ 
ed Pena de Aya, or Les Quatre Couronries, he and his friends 
were enveloped with a swarm of ants, so numerous as entirely 
to intercept their view, so that they were glad to remove to 
another station, in order to get rid of these troublesome little 
creatures. 

The females that escape from the injury of the elements 
and their various enemies, become the founders of new colo¬ 
nies, doing all the work that is usually done by the neuters. 
M. P. Huber has found incipient colonies,* in which were only 
a few workers engaged with their mother in the care of a small 
number of larvae; and M. Perrot, his friend, once discovered 
a small nest, occupied by a solitary female, who was attend¬ 
ing upon four pupa only. Such is the foundation and first 
establishment of those populous nations of ants with which 
we every where meet. 

Bui though the majority of females produced in a nest pro¬ 
bably thus desert it, all are not allowed this liberty. The pru¬ 
dent workers are taught by their instinct, that the existence of 
their community depends upon the presence of a sufficient 
number of females. Some, therefore, that are fecundated in 
or near the spot, they forcibly detain, pulling off their wings, 
and keeping them prisoners till they are ready to lay their eggs, 
or are reconciled to their fate. De Geer, in a nest of F. rufa , 

* M. Huber observes, that fecundated females, after they have lost 
their wings, make themselves a subterranean cell, some singly, others in 
common. From which it appears that some colonies have more than one 
female from their first establishment. 


A M TS. 


293 


observed that the workers compelled some females that were 
come out of the nest to re-enter it; (vol. ii. 1071,)—and from 
M. P. Huber we learn, that, being seized at the xoment of 
fecundation, they are conducted into the interior of the for¬ 
micary, when they become entirely dependent upon the neu¬ 
ters, who, hanging pertinaciously \o each leg, tieuit their 
going out, but at the same t:rre attend upon tnem with the 
greatest care, feeding them regularly, and conducting them 
where the temperature is suitable to them, but never quitting 
them a single moment. By degrees these females become re- 
-conciled to their condition, and lose all desire of making their 
escape ; their abdomen enlarges, and they are no longer de¬ 
tained as prisoners, yet each is still attended by a body-guard, 
a single ant, which always accompanies her, and prevents her 
wants. Its station is remarkable, being mounted upon her 
abdomen, with its posterior legs upon the ground. These 
sentinels are constantly relieved ; and to watch the moment 
when the female begins the important work of oviposition, 
and carry off the eggs, of which she lays four or five thousand 
or more in the course of the year, seems to be their principal 
■office. 

When the female is acknowledged as a mother, the workers 
begin to pay her a homage very similar to that which the bees 
render to their queen. All press round her, offer her food, 
conduct her by her mandibles through the difficult or steep 
passages of the formicary; nay, they sometimes even carry 
her about their city: she is then suspended upon their jaws, 
the ends of which are crossed ; and, being coiled up like the 
tongue of a butterfly, she is packed so close as to incommode 
the carrier but little. When these set her down, others sur¬ 
round and caress her, one after another tapping her on the 
head with their antennse. 

“ In whatever apartment (says Gould) a queen condescends 
to be present, she commands obedience and respect. A uni¬ 
versal gladness spreads itself through the whole cell, which 
4s expressed bv particular acts of joy and exultation. They 
have a particular way of skipping, leaping, and standingupon 
their hind-legs, and prancing with the others. These frolics 
they make use of, both to congratulate each other when they 
meet, and to shew their regard for the queen : some of them 
walk gently over her, others dance round her ; she is generally 
encircled with a cluster of attendants, who. if you separate 
them from her, soon collect themselves into a body, and 
inclose her in the midst.” Nay, even if she dies, as if they 
were unwilling to believe it, they continue sometimes for 
months the same attentions to her, and treat her with the same 
courtly formality as if she were alive, and they will brush her 
mnd lick her incessantly. 


294 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

That the ants, though they are mute animals, have the 
means of communicating to each other information of various* 
occurrences, and use a kind of language which is mutually 
understood, will appear evident from the following facts. 

If those at the surface of a nest are alarmed, it is wonder¬ 
ful in how short a time the alarm spreads through the whole 
nest. It runs from quarter to quarter; the greatest inquietude 
seems to possess the community; and they carry with all pos 
sible dispatch their treasures, the larvae and pupae, down to 
the lowest apartments. Amongst those species of ants that 
do not go much from home, sentinels seem to be stationed at 
the avenues of their city. “Disturbing once the little heaps ot 
earth thrown up at the entrances into the nest of F.Jiava, which 
is of this description, (says Huber,) I was struck by observing 
a single ant immediately come out, as if to see what was the 
matter, and this three separate times.” 

The F, herculanea, L. inhabits the trunks of hollow trees on 
the Continent, for it has not yet been found in England, upon 
which they are often passing to and fro. M. Huber observed., 
that when he disturbed those that were at the greatest distance 
from the rest, they ran towards them, and, striking their heat 
against them, communicated their cause of fear or anger • 
that these, in their turn, conveyed in the same way the intelli¬ 
gence to others, till the whole colony was in a ferment, those 
neuters which were within the tree running out in crowds to 
join their companions in the defence of their habitation. The 
same signals that excited the courage of the neuters, produced 
fear in the males and females, which, as soon as the news of 
the danger was thus communicated to them, retreated into the 
tree as to an asylum. 

The legs of one of this gentleman’s artificial formicaries 
were plunged into pans of water, to prevent the escape of the 
ants; this proved a source of great enjoyment to these little 
beings, for they are a very thirsty race, and lap water like 
dogs.—( Gould , 92. De Geer, ii. 1087. Huber, 5, 132.) One 
day, when he observed many of them tippling very merrily, 
he was so cruel as to disturb them, which sent most of the 
ants in a fright to the nest; but some, more thirsty than the 
rest, continued their potations: upon this, one of those that 
had retreated, returns to inform his thoughtless companions ot 
their danger ; one he pushes with his jaws ; another he striker 
first upon the belly, and then upon the breast; and so oblige.' 
three of them to leave off their carousing and march home- 
wards; but the fourth, more resolute to drink it out, is not 
to be discomfited, and pays not the least regard to the kind 
blows with which his compeer, solicitous for his safety, re 
peatedly belabours him; at length, determined to have his 
way, he seizes him by one of his hind-legs, and gives him a 


ANTS. 


‘295 


violent pull: upon this, leaving his liquor, the loiterer turns 
round, and opening his threatening jaws with every appear¬ 
ance of anger, goes very coolly to drinking again; but his 
monitor, without further ceremony, rushing before him, seizes 
him by his jaws, and at last drags him off' in triumph to the 
formicary.— Huber, 133. 

The language of ants, however, is not confined merely to 
giving intelligence of the approach or presence of danger; it 
is also co-extensive with all their other occasions for commu¬ 
nicating their ideas to each other, or holding any intercourse. 
Some engage in military expeditions, and often previously 
send out spies, to collect information. These, as soon as they 
return from exploring the vicinity, enter the nest; upon which, 
as if they had communicated their intelligence, the army 
immediately assembles in the suburbs of their city, and begins 
its march towards that quarter whence the spies had arrived. 
Upon the march, communications are perpetually making 
between the van and the rear; and when arrived at the camp 
of the enemy, and the battle begins, if necessary, couriers are 
dispatched to the formicary for reinforcements.— Huber, 167, 
217, 237. 

If you scatter the ruins of an ant’s nest in your apartment, 
you will be furnished with another proof of their language. 
The ants will take a thousand different paths, each going by 
itself, to increase the chance of discovery; they will meet and 
•cross each other in all directions, and perhaps will wander 
long before they can find a spot convenient for their re-union. 
No sooner does any one discover a little chink in the floor, 
through which it can pass below, than it returns to its com¬ 
panions, and, by means of certain motions of its antennae, 
makes some of them comprehend what route they are to pursue 
to find it, sometimes even accompanying them to the spot; 
these, in their turn, become the guides of others, till all know 
which way to direct their steps.— Huber, 137. 

It is well known also, that ants give each other information 
when they have discovered any store of provision. Bradley 
relates a striking instance of this. A nest of ants in a noble¬ 
man’s garden discovered a closet, many yards within the 
house, in which conserves were kept, which they constantly 
attended till the nest was destroyed. Some in their rambles 
must have first discovered this depot, of sweets, and informed 
the rest of it. It is remarkable that they always went to i 
by the same track, scarcely varying an inch from it, thougi 
they had to pass through two apartments; nor could the 
sweeping and cleaning of the rooms discomfit them, or cause 
’them to pursue a different route.— Bradley, 134. 

Here may be related a very amusing experiment of Gould’s. 
Having deposited several colonies of ants (F. futca) in flower- 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 


296 

pots, he placed them in some earthen pans of water, which* 
prevented them from making excursions from their nest. 
When they had been accustomed some days to this imprison¬ 
ment, he fastened small threads to the upper part of the pots, 
and extending them over the water-pans, fixed them in the 
ground. The sagacious ants soon found out that by these 
bridges they could escape from their moated castle. The dis¬ 
covery was communicated to the whole society, and in a. 
short time the threads were filled with trains of busy workers 
passing to and fro.— Gould , 85. 

Leg ion’s account of the ants in Barbadoes, affords another 
most convincing proof of this : as he has told his tale in a 
very lively and interesting manner, it shall be given nearlv im 
his own words. 

“ The next of these moving little animals are ants, or pis¬ 
mires: these are but of a small size, but great in industry; and 
that which gives them means to attain to this end is, they 
have all one soul. If I should say they are here or there, I 
should do them wrong, for they are every where:—underground, 
where any hollow or loose earth is; amongst the roots of 
trees; upon the bodies, branches, leaves, and fruit of alltre^; 
in all places without the houses and within ; upon the sides, 
walls, windows, and roofs, without; and on the floors, side- 
walls, ceilings, and windows, within ; tables, cupboards, beds, 
stools, all are covered with them, so that they are a kind of 
ubiquitaries. We sometimes kill a cockroach, and throw 
him cwi the ground ; and mark what they will do with him . 
his body is bigger than a hundred of them, and yet they will 
find the means to take hold of him, and lift him up ; and 
having him above ground, away they carry him, and some go 
by as ready assistants, if any be weary ; and some are the 
officers that lead and shew the way to the hole into which he 
must pass; and if the vancouriers perceive that the body of 
the cockroach lies across, and will not pass through the hole 
or arch through which they mean to carry him, order is given, 
and the body turned endwise, and this is done a foot before 
they come to the hole, and that without any stop or stay ; and 
it is observable, that they never pull contrary ways. A table 
being cleared with great care, (by way of experiment,) of 
all the ants that are upon it, and sugar being put upon it,, 
some, after a circuitous route, will be observed to arrive at it; 
and again departing, without tasting the treasure, will hasten 
away to inform their friends of the discovery, wL*», upon 
this, will come by myriads : you may then, while they are 
thickest upon the table, clap a large book, o.r any thing 
fit for that purpose, upon them, so hard as to kill all that are 
under it; and when you have done so, take away the book, 
and leave them to themselves but a quarter of an hour, and 


A NTS. 


when you come again, you shall find all these bodies carried 
away.—Other trials we make of their ingenuity, as thus : Take 
a pewter dish, and fill it half full of water, into which put a 
little gallipot filled with sugar, and the xnts will presently 
find it, and come upon the table, but when they perceive it 
environed with water, they try about the brims of the dish 
where the gallipot is nearest; and there the most venturous 
amongst them commits himself to the water, though he be 
conscious how bad a swimmer he is, and is drowned in the 
adventure ; the next is not warned by his example, but ven 
tures too, and is alike drowned ; and many more, so that 
there is a small foundation of their bodies to venture ; and 
then they come faster than ever, and so make a bridge of their 
own bodies.”— Hist, of Barbudoes, p. 63. 

The fact being certain, that ants impart their ideas to each 
other, we are next led to inquire by what means this is ac¬ 
complished. It does not appear that, like the bees, they emit 
any significant sounds; their language, therefore, must 
consist of signs or gestures, some of which I shall now detail. 
In communicating their fear, or expressing their anger, they 
run from one to another in a semicircle, and strike with 
their head or jaws the trunk or abdomen of the ant to which 
they mean to give information on any subject of alarm. But 
those remarkable organs, their antennse, are the principal 
instruments of their speech, if I may so call it, supplying the 
place both of voice and words. When the military ants before 
alluded to go upon their expeditions, and are out of the for¬ 
micary, previously to setting off, they touch each other on 
the trunk with their antennse and forehead ; this is the signal 
for marching, for, as soon as any one has received it, he is 
immediately in motion. When they have any discovery to 
communicate, they strike with them those that they meet in 
a particularly impressive manner. If a hungry ant wants to 
ce fed, it touches with its two antennae, moving them very 
rapidly, those of the individual from which it expects its 
meal :—and not only ants understand this language, but even 
aphides and cocci, which are the milch kine of our little 
pismires, do the same, and will yield them their saccharine 
fluid at the touch of these imperative organs. The helpless 
larvae also of the ants are informed, by the same means, when 
they may open their mouths to receive their food. 

Next to their language, and scarcely different from it, are 
the modes by which they express their affections and aver¬ 
sions. Whether ants, with man and some of the larger ani¬ 
mals, experience any thing like attachment to individuals, is 
not easily ascertained ; but that they feel the full force of the 
se itiment which we term patriotism, or the love of the com¬ 
munity to which they belong, is evident from the whole FerieF 
13. 2P 


298 


curiosities keseectin ; insects. 


of their proceedings, which all tend to promote the general 
good. Distress or difficulty falling upon any member of their 
society, generally excites their sympathy, and they do their 
utmost to relieve it. M. Latreille once cut off the antennae of 
an ant; and its companions, evidently pitying its sufferings, 
anointed the wounded part with a drop of transparent fluid 
from their mouth : and whoever attends to what is going for* 
ward in the neighbourhood of one of their nests, will be 
pleased to observe the readiness with which they seem dis¬ 
posed to assist each other in difficulties. When a burden is 
too heavy for one, another will soon come to ease it of part of 
the weight; and if one is threatened with an attack, all hasten 
to the spot, to join in repelling it. 

The satisfaction they express at meeting after absence is 
very striking, and gives some degree of individuality to their 
attachment. M. Huber witnessed the gesticulations of some 
ants, originally belonging to the same nest, that, having been 
entirely separated from each other four months, were after¬ 
wards brought together. Though this was equal to one-fourth 
of their existence as perfect insects, they immediately recog¬ 
nized each other, saluted mutually with their antennae, and 
united once more to form one family. 

They are also ever intent to promote each other’s welfare, 
and ready to share with their absent companions any good 
thing that they may meet with. Those that go abroad feed 
those which remain in the nest, and if they discover any stock 
of favourite food, they inform the whole community, as we 
have seen above, and teach them the way to it. M. Huber, 
for a particular reason, having produced heat, by means of a 
flambeau, in a certain part of an artificial formicary, the ants 
that happened to be in that quarter, after enjoying it for a 
time, hastened to convey the welcome intelligence to their 
compatriots, whom they even carried suspended upon their 
jaws (their usual mode cf transporting each other) to the spot, 
till hundreds might be seen thus laden with their friends. 


If ants feel the force of love, they are equally susceptible 
of the emotions of anger; and when they are menaced or 
attacked, no insects shew a greater degree of it. Providence, 
moreover, has furnished them with weapons and faculties 
which render them extremely formidable to their insect enemies, 
and sometimes, as I have related on a former occasion, a great 
annoyance to man himself, (vol. i. 2d ed. p. 123.) Two 
strong mandibles arm their mouth, with which they sometimes 
fix themselves so obstinately to the object of their attack, 
that they will sooner be torn limb from limb than let go their 
hold; and, after their battles, the head of a conquered enemy 
may of en be seen suspended to the antennae or legs of the 
victor, a trophy of his valour, which, however troublesome, 


ANTS. 


29 $ 

he will be compelled to carry about with him to the day of 
his death Their abdomen is also furnished with a poison- 
bag, (ioterium,) in which is secreted a powerful and venomous 
fluid, long celebrated in chemical researches, and once called 
formic acid, though now considered a modification of the 
acetic and malic;* which, when their enemy is beyond the 
reach of their mandibles, (it is spoken here particularly of the 
hill ant, or F. rufa,) standing erect on their hind legs, they 
discharge from their anus with considerable force, so that 
from the surface of the nest ascends a show r er of poison, ex¬ 
haling a strong sulphurous odour, sufficient to overpower or 
repel any insect or small animal. Such is the fury of some 
species, that with the acid, according to Gould, p. 34. they 
sometimes partly eject the poison-bag itself. If a stick be 
stuck into one of the nests of the hill ant, rt is so saturated 
with the acid as to retain the scent for many hours. A more 
formidable weapon arms the species of the genus Myrmica 
latr.; for, besides the poison-bag, they are furnished with a 
sting ; and their aspect is also often rendered peculiarly revolt- 
ing, by the extraordinary length of their jaws, and by the 
spines which defend their head and trunk. 

But weapons without valour are of but little use; and this 
is one distinguishing feature of this pigmy race. Their cou¬ 
rage and pertinacity are unconquerable, and are often sublimed 
into the most inconceivable rage and furv. It makes no dif- 
ference to them whether they attack a mite or an elephant; 
and man himself instils no terror into their warlike breasts. 
Point your finger towards any individual of F.rufa; instead 
of running away, it instantly faces about, and, that it may 
make the most of itself, stiffening its legs into a nearly straight 
line, it gives its body the utmost elevation it is capable of: 
and thus— 

“ Collecting all its might, dilated stands," 

prepared to repel your attack. Put your finger a little nearer, 
it immediately opens its jaws to bite you, and rearing upon 
its hind legs, bends its abdomen between them, to eject its 
venom into the wound.f 

This angry people so well armed and so courageous, we 
may readily imagine, are not always at peace with their neigh¬ 
bours ; causes of dissension may arise, to light the flame of 
war between the inhabitants of nests not far distant from each 
other. To these little bustling creatures, a square foot of earth 
is a territory worth contending for; their droves of aphides 
being equally valuable with the flocks and herds that cover 

* See Fouroroy, Annates du Mushim , No. 5, p. 338, 342. Some, how 
ever, still regard it as a distinct acid. 

t See Four jroy. Annates du Musbum, No. 5. p. 343. 


300 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

our plj ins; and the body of a fly or a beetle, or a cargo of 
straws and bits of stick, an acquisition as important as the 
treasures of a Lima fleet to our seamen. Their wars are usually 
between nests of different species; sometimes, however, those 
of the same, when so near as to interfere with and incommode 
each other, have their battles; and with respect to ants of 
one species, Myrmica rubra , combats occasionally take place, 
contrary to the general habits of the tribe of ants, between 
those of the same nest. 

The wars of the red ant (M . rubra) are usually between a 
small number of the citizens; and the object, according to 
Gould, is to get rid of a useless member of the community, 
(it does not argue much in favour of their humanity, that it is 
all one if it be by sickness that this member is disabled,) ra¬ 
ther than any real civil contest. The red colonies, (says this 
author,) are the only ones I could ever observe to feed upon 
their own species. You may frequently discern a party of 
from five or six to twenty, surrounding one of their own kind, 
or even fraternity, and pulling it to pieces. The ant they 
attack is generally feeble, and of a languid complexion, oc¬ 
casioned perhaps by some accident or other.— Gould, 104. 

“ I once saw one of these ants dragged out of the nest by 
another, without its head ; it was still alive, and could crawl 
about. A lively imagination might have fancied that this- 
poor ant was a criminal, condemned by a court of justice to 
suffer the extreme sentence of the law. It was more probably, 
however, a champion that had been decapitated in an unequal 
combat, unless we admit Gould’s idea, and suppose it to have 
suffered because it was an unprofitable member of the com¬ 
munity.* A t another time I found three individuals that were 
fighting with great fury, chained together by their mandibles ; 
one of these had lost two of the legs of one side, yet it ap¬ 
peared to walk well, and was as eager to attack and seize its 
opponents, as if it was unhurt. This did not look like languor 
or sickness.” 

The wars of ants that are not of the same species take place 
usually between those that differ in size; and the great endea¬ 
vouring to oppress the small, are nevertheless often outnum¬ 
bered by them, and defeated. Their battles have long been 
celebrated; and the dates of them, as if they were events of the 
first importance, have been formally recorded. iEneas Syl¬ 
vius, after giving a very circumstantial account of one con- 

* One would think the writer of the account of ants, in Mouffet, had 
been witness to something similar. “ If they see any one idle,” (says he,) 
“ they not only drive him as spurious, without food, from the nest; but 
likewise, a circle of all ranks being assembled, cut off his head before 
the gates, that he may be a warning to their children, not to give them¬ 
selves up for he future to idleness and effeminacy.”— T/ieatr. Ins . p. 241. 


WHITE ANTS, OK TERMITES. 


301 

tested with much obstinacy by a great and small species, on 
the trunk of a pear-tree, gravely states, “ This action was 
fought in the pontificate of Eugeni us the Fourth, in the pre¬ 
sence of Nicholas Pistoriensis, an eminent lawyer, who re¬ 
lated the whole history of the battle with the greatest fide¬ 
lity !” A similar engagement between great and small ants is 
recorded by Olaus Magnus, in which the small ones being 
victorious, are said to have buried the bodies of their own sol¬ 
diers, but left those of their giant enemies a prey to the birds. 
This event happened previous to the expulsion of the tyrant 
Christian the Second from Sweden.— MouJTet, Theatr. Ins . 
242. 

M. P. Huber is the only modern author that appears to have 
been witness to these combats. He tells us, that when the 
great attack the small, they seek to take them by surprise, 
(probably to avoid their fastening themselves to their legs,) 
and, seizing them by the upper part of the body, they strangle 
them with their mandibles ; but when the small have time to 
foresee the attack, they give notice to their companions, who 
rush in crowds to their succour. Sometimes, however, after 
suffering a signal defeat, the smaller species are obliged to 
shift their quarters, and to seek an establishment more out of 
the way of danger. In order to cover their march, many small 
bodies are then posted at a little distance from the nest. As 
soon as the large ants approach the camp, the foremost senti¬ 
nels instantly fly at them with the greatest rage ; a violent 
struggle ensues, multitudes of their friends come to their 
assistance, and, though no match for their enemies singly, by 
dint of numbers they prevail, and the giant is either slain or 
led captive to the hostile camp. The species whose proceed¬ 
ings M. Huber observed, were F. lierculanea , L. and F. san- 
guinea, Latr.; neither of which have yet been discovered in 
Britain.- —Huber, 160. 

The White Ants, or Termites. —The majority of these 
animals are natives of tropical countries, though two species 
are indigenous to Europe ; one of which, thought to have 
been imported, is come so near to us as Bourdeaux. Their 
society consists of five different descriptions of individuals: 
workers or larvse, nymphs or pupse, neuters or soldiers males, 
and females. 

1. The workers or larvse, answering to the hymenopterous 
neuters, are the most numerous, and, at the same time, most 
active part of the community ; upon whom devolves the office 
of erecting and repairing the buildings, collecting provision, 
attending upon the female, conveying the eggs, when laid, to 
the nurseries, and feeding the young larvse till they are old 
enough to take care of themselves. They are distinguished 




302 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

from the soldiers by their diminutive size, by their round heads, 
and shorter mandjbles. 

2. The nymphs, or pupae, differ in nothing from the larvae, 
and probably are equally active, except that they have rudi¬ 
ments of wings, or rather wings folded up in cases. 

3. The neuters are much less numerous than the workers, 
bearing the proportion of one to one hundred, and exceeding 
them greatly in bulk. They are also distinguishable by their 
long and large heads, armed with very long tubulate mandibles. 
Their office is that of sentinels ; and when the nestis attacked, 
to them is committed the task of defending it. These neuters 
seem to be a kind of abortive females, and there is nothing 
analogous to them in any other department of entomology. 

■ 4 and 5. Males and females, or the insects arrived at a state 
of perfection, and capable <>t continuing the species. There 
is only one of each in every separate society ; they are exempted 
from all participation in the labours and employments occupy¬ 
ing the.rest of the community, that they may be wholly devoted 
to the furnishing of a constant accession to the population 
of the colony. Though at their first disclosure from the pupae 
they have four wings, like the female ants, they soon cast 
them ; but they may then be distinguished from the blind 
larvae, pupae, and neuters, by their large and prominent 
eyes. 

The different species of Termites, which are numerous, build 
nests of very various forms. Some construct upon the ground 
a cylindrical turret of clay, about three-quarters of a yard 
high, surrounded by a projecting conical roof, so as in shape 
considerably to resemble a mushroom, and composed interiorly 
of innumerable cells, of various figures and dimensions. Others 
prefer a more elevated site, and build their nests, which are 
of different sizes, from that of a hat to that of a sugar-cask, 
and composed of pieces of wood glued together, amongst the 
branches of trees, often seventy or eighty feet high. But by 
far the most curious habitations, are those formed by the 
Termes bellicosus , a species very common in Guinea, and other 
parts of the coasts of Africa, of whose proceedings we have 
a very particular and interesting account in the 71st volume of 
the Philosophical Transactions. 

These nests are formed entirely of clay, and are generally 
twelve feet high, and broad in proportion; so that when a cluster 
of them, as is often the case in South America, are placed toge¬ 
ther, they may be taken for an Indian village, and are in fact 
•sometimes larger than the huts which the natives inhabit. The 
first process in the erection of these singular structures, is the 
elevation of two or three turrets of clay, about a foot high, 
and in shape like a sugar-loaf. These, which seem to be the 
scaffolds of the future building, rapidly increase in numbei 


WHITE ANTS, OR TERMITES. 


303 

and height, until at length being widened at the base, joined 
at the top into one dome, and consolidated all around into a 
thick wall of clay, they form a building of the size above- 
mentioned, and of the shape of a haycock, which, when 
clothed, as it generally soon becomes, with a coating of grass, 
it at a distance very much resembles. When the building has 
assumed this its final form, the inner turrets, all but the tops, 
which project like pinnacles from different parts of it, are re¬ 
moved, and the clay employed over again in other services. 
It is the lower part alone of the building that is occupied by 
the inhabitants ; the upper portion, or dome, which is very 
strong and solid, is left empty, serving principally as a de¬ 
fence from the vicissitudes of the weather and the attacks of 
natural or accidental enemies, and to keep up in the lower part 
a genial warmth and moisture, necessary to the hatching of 
the eggs and cherishing of the young ones. The inhabited 
portion is occupied by the royal chamber, or habitation of the 
king and queen ; the nurseries for the young; the storehouses 
for food; and innumerable galleries, passages, and empty 
rooms, arranged according to the following plan :— 

In the centre of the building, just under the apex, and 
nearly on a level with the surface of the ground, is placed the 
royal chamber, an arched vault of a semi-oval shape, or not 
unlike a long oven ; at first not above an inch long, but en¬ 
larged, as the queen increases in bulk, to the length of eight 
inches or more. In this apartment the king and queen con¬ 
stantly reside, and, from the smallness of the entrances, which 
are barely large enough to admit their more diminutive 
subjects, can never possibly come out; thus, like many human 
potentates, purchasing their sovereignty at the dear rate of 
the sacrifice of liberty. Immediately adjoining the royal cham¬ 
ber, and surrounding it on all sides to the extent of a foot or 
more, are placed the royal apartments, an inextricable laby¬ 
rinth of innumerable arched rooms, of different shapes and 
sizes, either opening into each other, or communicating b y 
common passages, and intended for the accommodation of the 
soldiers and attendants, of whom many thousands are always 
in waiting on their royal master and mistress. 

Next to the royal apartments come the nurseries and the 
magazines. The former are invariably occupied by the eggs 
and young ones, and, in the infant state of the nest, are placed 
close to the royal chamber; but when the queen’s augmented 
size requires a larger apartment, as well as additional rooms 
for the increased number of attendants wanted to remove her 
eggs, the small nurseries are taken to pieces, rebuilt at a 
greater distance, a size larger, and their number increased at 
the same time. In substance they differ from all the other 
apartments, being formed of particles of wood, apparently 


304 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

joined together with gums, A collection of these compact, 
irregular, and small wooden chambers, not one of which is 
naif an inch in width, is inclosed in a common chamber of 
clay, sometimes as big as a child’s head. Intermixed with 
the nurseries, lie the magazines, which are chambers of clay, 
always well stored with provisions, consisting of particles of 
wood, gums, and the inspissated juices of plants. 

These magazines and nurseries, separated by small empty 
chambers and galleries, which run round them, or communi¬ 
cate from one to the other, are continued on all sides to the 
Duter wall of the building, and reach up within it two-thirds 
or three-fourths of its height. They do not, however, fill up 
the whole of the lower part of the hill, but are confined to the 
sides, leaving an open area in the middle, under the dome, 
very much resembling the nave of an old cathedral, having 
its roof supported by two very large Gothic arches, of which 
those in the middle of the area are sometimes two and three 
feet high, but as they recede on each side, rapidly diminish, 
like the arches of aisles in perspective. A flattish roof, im¬ 
perforated, in order to keep out the wet, if the dome should 
chance to be injured, covers the top of the assemblage ol 
chambers, nurseries, &c.; and the area, which is a short 
height above the royal chamber, has a flattish floor, also water¬ 
proof, and so contrived as to let any rain, that may chance to 
get in, run off into the subterraneous passages. 

These passages or galleries, which are of an astonishing 
size, some being above a foot in diameter, perfectly cylindri¬ 
cal, and lined with the same kind of clay of which the hill is 
composed, served originally, like the catacombs of Paris, as 
the quarries whence the materials of the building were derived, 
and afterwards as the grand outlets by which the termites 
carry on their depredations at a distance from their habita¬ 
tions. They run in a sloping direction, under the bottom of 
the hill, to the depth of three o.r four feet, and then branching 
out horizontally on every side, are carried under ground, near 
to the surface, to a vast distance. At their entrance into the 
interior, they communicate with other small galleries, which 
ascend the outside of the outer shell in a spiral manner, and, 
winding round the whole body to the top, intersect each other 
at different heights, opening either immediately in the dome 
in various places, and into the lower half of the building, or 
communicating with every part of it by other smaller circular 
or oval galleries of different diameters. The necessity for the 
vast size of the main underground galleries, evidently arises 
from the circumstance of their being the great thoroughfares 
for the inhabitants, by which they fetch their clay, wood, 
water, or provision; and their spiral and gradual ascent is 
requisite for the easy access of the termites, which cannot. 


THE WHITE ANTS, OR TERMITES. 305 

but with great difficulty, ascend a perpendicular. To avoid this 
inconvenience, in the interior vertical parts of the building, a 
flat pathway, half an inch wide, is often made to wind gra¬ 
dually, like a road cut out of the side of a mountain ; by which 
they travel with great facility up ascents otherwise impracti¬ 
cable. The same ingenious propensity to shorten their labour, 
seems to have given birth to a contrivance still more extraor¬ 
dinary : this is a kind of bridge, or vast arch, sprung from 
the floor of the area to the upper apartments at the side of the 
building, which answers the purpose of a flight of stairs, and 
must shorten the distance exceedingly in transporting eggs 
from the royal chambers to the upper nurseries, which in 
some hills would be four or five feet in the straightest line, 
and much more if carried through all the winding passages 
which lead through the inner chambers and apartments. Mr. 
Smeathman measured one of these bridges, which was half an 
inch broad, a quarter of an inch thick, and ten inches long, 
making the size of an elliptic arch of proportionable dimen¬ 
sions, so that it is wonderful it did not fall over, or break by its 
own weight, before they got it joined to the side of the column 
above. It was strengthened by a small arch at the bottom, 
and had a hollow or groove all the length of the upper sur¬ 
face, either made purposely for the greater safety of the 
passengers, or else worn by frequent treading. It is not the 
least surprising circumstance attending this bridge, the Gothic 
arches before spoken of, and in general all the arches of the 
various galleries and apartments, that, as Mr. Smeathman saw 
every reason for believing, the termites project them, and do 
not, as one would have supposed, excavate them. 

Consider what incredible labour and diligence, accompanied 
by the most unremitting activity, and the most unwearied 
celerity of movement, must be necessary to enable these crea¬ 
tures to accomplish (their size considered) these truly gigantic 
works. That such diminutive insects, for they are scarcely 
the fourth of an inch in length, how ever numerous, should, in 
the space of three or four years, be able to erect a building 
twelve feet high, and of proportionable bulk, covered by a 
vast dome, adorned without by numerous pinnacles and tur¬ 
rets, and sheltering under its ample arch myriads of vaulted 
apartments, of various dimensions, and constructed of differ¬ 
ent materials,—that they should moreover excavate, in different 
directions and at different depths, innumerable subterranean 
roads or tunnels, some twelve or thirteen inches in diameter, 
or throw an arch of stone over other roads leading fiom the 
metropolis into the adjoining country, to the distance of seven 
hundred feet,—that they should project and finish the vast 
interior staircases or bridges, lately described,—and finally, 
that the millions necessary to execute such Herculean labours, 

2 Q 








306 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 


perpetually passing to and fro, should never interrupt and 
interfere with each other, is a miracle of nature, far exceeding 
the most boasted works and structures of man ; for, did these 
creatures equal him in size, retaining their usual instincts and 
activity, their buildings would soar to the astonishing height 
of half a mile, and their tunnels would expand to a magnifi¬ 
cent cylindei of more than three hundred feet in diameter; 
before which, the pyramids of Egypt, and the aqueducts of 
Rome, would lose their celebrity, and dwindle into nothing. 

The most elevated of the pyramids of Egypt is not more 
than six hundred feet high, which, setting the average height 
of man at only five feet, is not more than a hundred and 
twenty times the height of the workmen employed. Whereas, 
the nests of the termites being at least twelve feet high, and 
the insects themselves not exceeding a quarter of an inch in 
stature, their edifices are upwards of five hundred times the 
height of the builders; which, supposing them of human di¬ 
mensions, would be more than half a mile. The shaft of the 
Roman aqueducts was lofty enough to permit a man on horse¬ 
back to travel in them. 

The first establishment of a colony of termites takes place 
in the following manner. In the evening, soon after the first 
tornado, which at the latter end of the dry season proclaims 
the approach of the ensuing rains, these animals, having 
attained to their perfect state, in which they are furnished 
and adorned with two pair of wings, emerge from their clay- 
built citadels by myriads and myriads, to seek their fortune. 
Borne on these ample wings, and carried by the wind, they fill 
the air, entering the houses, extinguishing the lights, and 
are sometimes driven on board the ships that are not far from 
the shore. The next morning, they are discovered covering 
the earth and waters, deprived of the wings which enabled 
them to avoid their numerous enemies, and which were only 
calculated to carry them a few hours. They now look like 
large maggots; and, from the most active, industrious, and 
rapacious creatures, they are become the most helpless and 
cowardly beings in nature, the prey of innumerable enemies, 
to the smallest of which they make not the least resistance. 
Insects, especially ants, which are always on the hunt for 
them, leave no place unexplored : birds, reptiles, beasts, and 
even man himself, look upon this event as their harvest, and, 
as the reader has been told before, make them their food, so 
that scarcely a pair in many millions get into a place of 
safety. 

The workers, who are continually prowling about in then 
covered ways, occasionally meet with one of these pairs, and 
being impelled by their instinct, pay them homage, and they 
are elected as it were to be king and queen, or rather founders, 


WHITE ANTS, OR TERMITES. 


307 


of a new colony : all that are not so fortunate, inevitably perish; 
and, considering the infinite host of their enemies, probably 
in the course of the following day. The workers, as soon as 
this election takes place, begin to inclose their new rulers in 
a small chamber of clay, before described, suited to their 
size, the entrances to which are only large enough to admit 
themselves and the neuters, but much too small for the royal 
pair to pass through;—so that their state of royalty is a state 
of confinement, and so continues during the remainder of 
their existence. The female, after this confinement, soon begins 
to furnish the infant colony with new inhabitants. The care 
of feeding her and her companion, devolves upon the indus¬ 
trious larvae, which supply them both with every thing that 
they want. As she increases in dimensions, they continue to 
enlarge the cell in which she is detained. When the business 
of oviposition commences, they take the eggs from her, and 
deposit them in their nurseries. Her abdomen now begins 
gradually to extend, till in process of time it is enlarged to 
fifteen hundred or two thousand times the size of the rest of 
her body, and her bulk equals that of twenty or thirty thou¬ 
sand workers. This part, often more than three inches in 
length, is now a vast matrix of eggs, which make long cir¬ 
cumvolutions through numberless slender serpentine vessels : 
it is also remarkable for its peristaltic motion, (in this resem¬ 
bling the female ant; see Gould's Account of English Ants, 
p. 22.) which, like the undulations of water, produces a per¬ 
petual and successive rise and fall over the whole surface of 
the abdomen, and occasions a constant extrusion of the eggs, 
amounting sometimes in old females to sixty in a minute, or 
eighty thousand and upwards in twenty-four hours. As these 
females live two years in their perfect state, how astonishing 
must be the number produced in that time ! 

This incessant extrusion of eggs must call for the attention 
of a large number of the workers in the royal chamber, (and 
indeed it is always full of them,) to take them as they come 
forth, and carry them to the nurseries, in which, when hatched, 
they are provided with food, and receive every necessary 
attention, till they are able to shift for themselves. One re¬ 
markable circumstance attends these nurseries; they are 
always covered with a kind of mould, amongst w r hich arise 
numerous globules, about the size of a pin’s head. This is 
probably a species of mucor; and by Mr. Koenig, wdio found 
them also in nests of an East Indian species of tames, is 
conjectured to be the food of the larvae. 

The royal cell has also some soldiers in it, a kind of body¬ 
guard to the royal pair that inhabit it; and the surrounding 
apartments contain always many, both labourers and soldiers, 
in wait ng, that they may successively attend upon and defend 


308 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

the common father and mother, on whose safety depend the 
happiness and even existence of the whole community; and 
whom these faithful subjects never abandon even in the last 
distress, 

These little busy creatures are taught by Providence always 
to work under cover. If they have to travel over a rock, or 
up a tree, they vault, with a coping of earth, the route they 
mean to pursue, and they form subterranean paths and tun¬ 
nels, some of a diameter wider than the bore of a large cannon, 
on all sides from their habitation, to their various objects of 
attack, or which sloping down, (for they cannot well mount 
a surface quite perpendicular,) penetrate to the depth of three 
or four feet under their nests into the earth, till they arrive 
at a soil proper to be used in the erection of their buildings. 
Were they, indeed, to expose themselves, the race would 
soon be annihilated by their innumerable enemies. If any 
accident happen to their various structures, or if they are dis¬ 
lodged from any of their covered ways, they are active and 
expeditious in repairing it; and in a single night they will 
restore a gallery of three or four yards in length. If, attack¬ 
ing the nest, you divide it into halves, leaving the royal cham¬ 
ber, and thus lay open thousands of apartments, all will be 
shut up with their sheets of clay by the next morning; nay, 
even if the whole be demolished, provided the king and the 
queen be left, every interstice between the ruins, at which 
either cold or wet can possibly enter, will be covered, and, in 
a year, the building will be raised nearly to its pristine size 
and grandeur. 

Besides building and repairing, a great deal of their time is 
occupied in making necessary alterations in their mansion and 
its approaches. The royal presence chamber, as the female 
increases in size, must be gradually enlarged ; the nurseries 
must be removed to a greater distance ; the chambers and in¬ 
terior of the nest receive daily accessions, to provide for a daily 
increasing population; and the direction of their covered 
ways must often be varied, when the old stock of provision is 
exhausted, and new sources ar.e discovered. 

The collection of provisions for the use of the colony is 
another employment, which necessarily calls for incessant 
attention : these, to the naked eye, appear like raspings of 
wood ; but when examined by the microscope, they are found 
to consist chiefly of gums and the inspissated juices of plants, 
which, formed into little masses, are stored up in magazines 
made of clay. 

When any one is bold enough to attack their nest, and make 
a breach in its walls, the labourers, who are incapable of fight¬ 
ing, retire within, and give way to another description of its 
inhabitants, whose office it is to defend the fortress when 


WHITE ANTS, OR TERMITES. 


309 

aasailed oy enemies ; these, as observed before, are the neu¬ 
ters or soldiers. If the breach be made in a slight part of the 
building, one of these comes out to reconnoitre ; he then retires 
and gives the alarm. Two or three others next appear, scram¬ 
bling as fast as they can one after the other ; to these succeed 
a large body, who rush forthwith as much speed as the breach 
will permit, their numbers continually increasing during the 
attack. It is not easy to describe the rage and fury by which 
these diminutive heroes seem actuated. In their haste they 
frequently miss their hold, and tumble down the sides of their 
hill : they soon, however, recover themselves, and, being 
blind, bite every thing they run against. If the attack pro¬ 
ceeds, the bustle and agitation increase to a tenfold degree, 
and their fury is raised to its highest pitch. Wo to him whose 
hands or legs they can come at! for they will make their 
fanged jaws meet at the very first stroke, drawing as much 
blood as will counterpoise their whole body, and never quitting 
their hold, even though they are pulled limb from limb. The 
naked legs of the negroes expose them frequently to this in¬ 
jury ; and the stockings of the Europeans are not thick enough 
to defend them. 

On the other hand, if, after the first attack, you get a little 
out of the way, giving them no further interruption, supposing 
the assailant of their citadel is gone beyond their reach, in less 
than half an hour they will retire into the nest; and before 
they have all entered, you will see the labourers in motion, 
hastening in various directions towards the breach, every one 
cairying in his mouth a mass of mortar, half as big as his 
body, ready tempered ; this mortar is made of the finest parts 
of the gravel, which they probably select in the subterranean 
pits or passages before described, which, worked up to a pro¬ 
per consistence, hardens to the solid substance resembling 
stone, of which their nests are constructed : they never appear 
to embarrass or interrupt one another. By the united labours 
of such an infinite host of creatures, the wall soon rises, and 
the breach is repaired. 

While the labourers are thus employed, almost all the sol¬ 
diers have retired quite out of sight, except here and there 
one, who saunters about amongst the labourers, but never 
assists in the work. One in particular places himself close to 
the wall which they are building ; and turning himself leisurely 
on all sides, as if to survey the proceedings, appears to act 
the part of an overseer of the works. Every now and then, 
at the interval of a minute or two, by lifting up his head and 
striking 1 is forceps upon the wall of the nest, he makes a 
particular noise, which is answered by a loud hiss from all the 
labourers, and appears to be a signa- for dispatch ; for, every 
time it is heard, they may be seen to redouble their pace, and 


310 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 


apply to their work with increased diligence. Renew the attack, 
and this amusing scene will be repeated : in rush the labourers, 
all disappearing in a few seconds, and out march the military, 
as numerous and vindictive as before. When all is once more 
quiet, the busy labourers re-appear, and resume their work, 
and the soldiers vanish. Repeat the experiment a. hundred 
times, and the same will always be the result; you will never 
find, be the peril or emergency ever so great, that one order 
attempts to fight, or the other to work. 

We have seen how solicitous the termites are to move and 
work under cover, and concealed from observation: this, how¬ 
ever, is not always the case ; there is a species larger than T . 
bellicosus, whose proceedings we have been principally describ¬ 
ing, which Mr. Smeathman calls the marching Termes (Ter - 
mes viarum). He was once passing through a thick forest, 
when on a sudden, a loud hiss, like that of serpents, struck 
him with alarm. The next step produced a repetition of the 
sound, which he then recognized to be that of white ants ; yet 
he was surprised at seeing none of their hills or covering ways. 
Following the noise, to his great astonishment and delight, he 
saw an army of these creatures emerging from a hole in the 
ground ; their number was prodigious, and they marched with 
the utmost celerity. When they had proceeded about a yard, 
they divided into two columns, chiefly composed of labourers, 
about fifteen abreast, and following each other in close order, 
and going straight forward. Here and there was seen a soldier, 
carrying his vast head with apparent difficulty, and looking 
like an ox in a flock of sheep, who marched on in the same 
manner. At the distance of a foot or two from the columns, 
many other soldiers were to be seen, standing still or pacing 
about as if upon the look-out, lest some enemy should sud¬ 
denly surprise their unwarlike comrades; other soldiers,(which 
was the most extraordinary and amusing part of the scene,) 
having mounted some plants, and placed themselves on the 
points of their leaves, elevated from ten to fifteen inches from 
the ground, hung over the army marching below, and by 
striking their forceps upon the leaf, produced at intervals 
the noise above-mentioned. To this signal -the whole army 
returned a hiss, and obeyed it by increasing their pace. The 
soldiers at these signal-stations sat quite still during the inter¬ 
val of silence, except now and then making a slight turn of 
the head, and seemed as solicitous to keep their posts as regu¬ 
lar sentinels. The two columns of this army united, after 
continuing separate from twelve to fifteen paces, having in no 
part been above three yards asunder, and then descended into 
the earth by two or three holes. Mr. Smeathman continued 
watching them for above an hour, during which time their 
numbers appeared neither to increase nor diminish: the sol 


GREEN ANTS. 


31 ] 


diers, however, who quitted the line of march and acted as 
sentinels, became much more numerous before he quitted the 
spot. The larv-cB and neuters of this species are furnished with 
eyes. 

The societies of Termes lucifergus, discovered by Latreille, 
at Bourdeaux, are very numerous; but instead of erecting 
artificial nests, they make their lodgment in the trunks ot 
pines and oaks, where the branches diverge from the tree. 
They eat the wood nearest the bark, or the alburnum, without 
attacking the interior, and bore a vast number of holes and 
irregular galleries. That part of the wood appears moist, and 
is covered with little gelatinous particles, not unlike gum- 
arabic. These insects seem to be furnished with an acid of a 
very penetrating odour, which, perhaps, is useful to them for 
penetrating the wood. The soldiers in these societies are as 
about one to twenty-five of the labourers. 

The anonymous author of the observations on the termites 
of Ceylon, seems to have discovered a sentry-box in his nests. 
“ I found,” says he, “ in a very small cell in the middle of the 
solid mass, (a cell about half an inch in height, and very 
narrow,) a larva with an enormous head. Two of these indi¬ 
viduals were in the same cell; one of the two seemed 
placed as sentinel at the entrance of the cell. I amused myself 
by forcing the door two or three times; the sentinel imme¬ 
diately appeared, and only retreated when the door was on 
the point of being stopped up, which was done by the la¬ 
bourers.” 

The Green Ants. —Captain Cook gives the following 
account of a very peculiar kind of ants, which he met with at 
Botany Bay.—“ They are as green as a leaf. They live upon 
trees, where they build their nests. The nests are of a very 
curious structure: they are formed by bending down several 
of the leaves, each of which is as broad as a man’s hand ; they 
glue the points of them together, so as to form a purse. The 
viscus used for this purpose is an animal juice, which nature 
has enabled them to elaborate. Their method of first bending 
down the leaves, our naturalists had not an opportunity of 
observing; but they saw thousands uniting all their strength 
to hold them in this position, while other busy multitudes 
were employed within, in applying the gluten that was to p e 
vent their returning back. To satisfy themselves that the 
leaves were bent and held down by the efforts of these dimi¬ 
nutive artificers, our people disturbed them in their work, 
and, as soon as they were driven from their station, the 
leaves on which they were employed sprang up with a forcf 
much greater than they could have thought them able to con 
quer, by any combination of their strength.” 


312 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

The Visiting Ants. —At Paramaribo, a Dutch colony in 
the province of Surinam, there is a species of ants, which the 
Portuguese call visiting ants : they march in troops, and as 
«toon as they appear, all the coffers and chests of drawers are 
laid open, which they clear of rats, mice, and a peculiar sort 
of insect in that country, called cackerlacks, and of other nox¬ 
ious animals. If any one chance to molest them, they fall 
upon him, and tear in pieces his stockings and shoes. Their 
visits are rare; and sometimes they do not appear for three 
years.— Templeman's Obs. vol. i. p. 36. 

We conclude this chapter with an account of The Ant- 
Lion. —There is no insect more remarkable for its dexterity 
than the ant-lion, though its figure announces nothing extra¬ 
ordinary. It nearly resembles the woodlouse ; its body being 
provided with six feet, composed of several membranous 
rings, and terminated in a point. Its head, flat and square, 
is armed with two moveable crooked horns, whose singular 
structure shews how admirable Nature is, even in the least of 
her works. 

This insect is the most subtle and dangerous enemy the ant 
has ; the plans which he forms to ensnare his prey, are very 
ingenious. He mines a portion of land in the form of a fun¬ 
nel, at the bottom of which he waits to seize the ants, which 
ooming by chance to the edge of the precipice, are thence 
Hurried down to their merciless foe. In order to dig it, he 
first traces in the sand a circular furrow, whose circumference 
furms precisely the mouth of the funnel, the diameter of which 
is always equal to the depth he gives to his ditch. When he 
has determined the space of this opening, and traced the first 
furrow, he immediately digs a second, concentric to the other, 
in order to throw out all the sand contained in the first circle. 
He makes all these operations with his head, which serves 
him instead of a shovel, and its flat and square form admira¬ 
bly adapts it to this purpose. He also takes some sand with 
one of his fore feet, to throw it beyond the first furrow ; and 
this work is repeated till the insect has reached a certain 
depth of sand. Sometimes, in digging, he meets with grains 
of sand larger than usual, or with little bits of dry earth, which 
he will not suffer to remain in his tunnel; of these he dis¬ 
encumbers himself by a sudden and well-timed manoeuvre of 
his head. Should he find particles yet larger, he endeavours 
to push them away with his back, and he is so assiduous in 
this labour, that he repeats it six or seven times. 

At length the ant-lion comes to collect the fruits of his toil. 
His nets being once well laid, he has nothing to do but to 
nut himself on the watch; accordingly, immoveable and con¬ 
cealed at the bottom of the ditch which he has dug, he 


THE A NT-LION. 


3i3 


patiently waits foi the prey which he cannot puisue. If some 
unhappy ant is inadvertently drawn to the borders of this fatal 
precipice, she is almost sure to roll down to the bottom, be¬ 
cause the brink is made sloping, and thus the sand giving 
way beneath her feet, she is forced to follow the dangerous 
declivity till she falls into the power of her destroyer, who, 
by means of his horns, draws her under the sand, and feasts 
upon her blood. When he has sucked all the juices from her 
body, he contrives to eject from his habitation the dry and 
hollow carcase, repairs any damage his trench may have sus¬ 
tained, and puts himself again in ambush. He does not always 
succeed in seizing his prey at the moment of its fall; it fre¬ 
quently escapes him, and endeavours to remount the funnel; 
but then the ant-lion works with his head, and causes a shower 
of sand to descend upon his captive, and precipitate it once 
more to the bottom. 

All the actions of this little animal display an art so extra¬ 
ordinary, that we might often examine them without being 
wearied. The ant-lion employs itself in preparing trenches 
even before having seen the animal which they are to ensnare, 
and which is to serve it for nourishment; and yet its actions 
are regulated in a manner the best adapted to accomplish these 
purposes. 

How would an animal, so destitute of agility,' have been 
able to entrap its prey more easily than by digging in a move- 
able sand, and giving a sloping declivity to this funnel? What 
better stratagem could it have devised for recovering the ants 
which were on the point of escaping even from this skilfully 
constructed snare, than in overwhelming them with showers 
of sand, and thus cutting off all hopes of a retreat? All its 
actions have fixed principles by which they are directed. The 
trench must be dug in the sand, or it could not answer the 
desired purpose ; and it must, according to the structure of 
its body, work backwards, using its horns like a pair of pincers, 
in order to throw the sand over the brink of the funnel. The 
instinct which governs this insect, discovers to us a First 
Cause, whose intelligence has foreseen and ordained every 
thing that was necessary for the preservation and well-being 
of such an animal 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 


;314 


CHAP. XXVI. 

curiosities respecting insects.— (Continued.) 

The Spider—Ingenuity of the Spider—Spider tamed — Curious 

Anecdote of a Spider, fyc. 

the spider. 

The spider’s touch, how exquisitely fine! 

Feels at each thread, and lives along the line. Pope. 

One of the largest of the European spiders is the Arama 
diadema of Linnaeus, which is extremely common in our own 
country, and is chiefly seen during the atumnal season, 
in gardens, &c. The body of this species, when full grown, 
is not much inferior in size to a small hazel-nut: the abdomen 
is beautifully marked by a longitudinal series of round or 
drop-shaped milk-white spots, crossed by others of similar 
appearance, so as to represent, in some degree, the pattern of 
a small diadem. This spider, in the months of September 
and October, forms, in some convenient spot or shelter, a 
large round close or thick web of yellow silk, in which it 
deposits its eggs, guarding the round web with a secondary 
one of a looser texture. The young are hatched in the ensu¬ 
ing May, the parent insects dying towards the close of autumn. 
The aranea diadema being one of the largest of the common 
spiders, serves to exemplify some of the principal characters 
of the genus in a clearer manner than most others. At the 
tip of the abdomen are placed five papillae, or teats, through 
which the insect draws its thread ; and as each of these pa¬ 
pillae is furnished with a vast number of foramina or outlets, 
disposed over its whole surface, it follows, that what we 
commonly term a spider’s thread, is in reality formed of a col¬ 
lection of a great many distinct ones ; the animal possessing 
the power of drawing out more or fewer at pleasure ; and if it 
should draw from all the foramina at once, the thread might 
consist of many hundred distinct filaments. The eyes, which 
are situated on the upper part or front of the thorax, are eight 
in number, placed at a small distance from each other, and 
have the appearance of the stemmata in the generality ol 
insects. The fangs, or piercers, with which the animal wounds 
its prey, are strong, curved, sharp-pointed, and each furnished 
on the inside, near the tip, with a small oblong hole or slit, 
through which is injected a poisonous fluid into the wound 
made by the point itself, these organs operating in miniature 
the same ^nnciole with the fangs in poisonous seroents 



INGENUITY OF THE SPIDER. 









































































































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THE SPIDER. 


315 


Hie feet are highly curiousr, the two claws, with which each is 
terminated, being furnished on its under side with several 
parallel processes, resembling the teeth of a comb, and en¬ 
abling the animal to dispose and manage, with the utmost faci¬ 
lity, the disposition of the threads in its web, &c. 

The Aranea tarantula, or Tarantula spider, of which so inanj 
idle recitals have been detailed in the works of the learned, 
and which, even to this day, continues in some countries to 
exercise the faith and ignorance of the vulgar, is a native of 
the warmer parts of Italy, and other warm European regions, 
and is -generally found in dry and sunny plains. It is the largest 
of all the European spiders ; but the extraordinary symptoms 
supposed to ensue from the bite of this insect, as well as their 
supposed cure by the power of music alone, are entirely fabu¬ 
lous, and are now sufficiently exploded among all rational phi¬ 
losophers. The gigantic Aranea avicularia, or Bird-catching 
spider, is not uncommon in many parts of the East Indies and 
South America, where it resides among trees, frequently 
seizing on small birds, which it destroys by wounding with its 
fangs, and sucking their blood. 

During the early part of the last century, a project was en¬ 
tertained by a French gentleman. Monsieur Bon, of Montpel¬ 
lier, of instituting a manufacture of spiders’ silk; and the 
Royal Academy, to which the scheme was proposed, appointed 
the ingenious Reaumur to repeat the experiments of M. Bon, 
in order to ascertain how far the proposed plan might be car¬ 
ried : but, after making the proper trials, M. Reaumur found 
it to be impracticable, on account of the natural disposition 
of these animals, which is such as will by no means admit of 
their living peaceably together in large numbers. M. Reau¬ 
mur also computed that 663,522 spiders would scarcely furnish 
a single pound of silk. Monsieur Bon, however, the first 
projector, carried his experiments so far as to obtain two or 
three pairs of stockings and gloves of this silk, which were of 
an elegant gray colour, and were presented, as samples, to the 
Royal Academy. It must be observed, that in this manufacture 
it is the silk of the egg-bags alone that can be used, being 
far stronger than that of the webs. Monsieur Bon collected 
twelve or thirteen ounces of these, and having caused them 
to be well cleared of dust, by properly beating with sticks,, 
he washed them perfectly clean in warm water. After this, 
they were laid to steep, in a large vessel, with soap, saltpetre, 
and gum-arabic. The whole was left to boil over a gentle fire 
for three hours, and was afterwards again washed to get out 
the soap; then laid to dry for some days, after which it was 
carded, but with much smaller cards than ordinary. The silk 
is easily spun into a fine and strong thread; the difficulty 
being only to collect the silk-bags in sufficient quantity 


316 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 


There lemains one more particularity in the history of spi 
ders, viz. the power of flight. It is principally in the autumnal 
season that these diminutive adventurers ascend the air, and 
contribute to fill it with that infinity of floating cobwebs, 
which are so peculiarly conspicuous at that period of the year. 
When inclined to make these aerial excursions, the spider 
ascends some slight eminence, as the top of a wall, or the 
branch of a tree; and turning itself with its head towards the 
wind, protrudes several threads, and, rising from its station, 
commits itself to the gale, and is thus carried far beyond the 
height of the loftiest towers, and enjoys the pleasure of a 
clearer atmosphere. During their flight, it is probable that 
spiders employ themselves in catching such minute winged 
insects as may happen to occur in their progress; and when 
satisfied with their journey and their prey, they suffer them¬ 
selves to fall, by contracting their limbs, and gradually dis¬ 
engaging themselves from the thread. 

These insects are but ill calculated to live in society 
Whenever thus stationed, they never fail to wage war with 
each other. The females, in particular, are of a disposition 
peculiarly capricious and malignant; and it is observed, that 
they sometimes spring upon the males, and destroy them. On 
this occasion, says Linnaeus, if ever, may be justly applied 
the Ovidian line :— 

Res est solliciti plena timoris amor! 

The following is a notable instance of the Ingenuity of 
the Spider. T. A. Knight, Esq. of Herefordshire, has, in a 
Treatise on the Culture of the Apple and Pear, introduced the 
following concerning this curious insect.— 

“I have frequently placed a spider on a small upright stick, 
whose base was surrounded by water, to observe its most sin¬ 
gular mode of escape. Alter having discovered that the ordi¬ 
nary means of escape are cut off, it ascends the point of the 
stick, and, standing nearly on its head, ejects its web, which 
the wind readily carries to some contiguous object. Along 
this, the sagacious insect effects its escape, not however till 
it has previously ascertained, by several exertions of its whole 
strength, that its web is properly attached to the opposite 
end. I do not know that this instance of sagacity has been 
mentioned by any entomological writer, and I insert it here 
in consequence of the erroneous accounts of some periodical 
publications, of the spider’s threads, which are observed to 
pass from one tree or bush to another in dewy mornings.” 

The reader will be pleased with the following account of 
a Spider tamed, given by the Abb6 d’Olivet, author of the 
life of Pelisson, in the following passage :— 


A SPIDER TAMED. 


317 


“ Confined at that time in a solitary place, and where the 
light of day only penetrated through a mere slit, having no 
other servant than a stupid and dull clown, a Basque, who 
was continually playing on the bagpipes, Pelisson studied 
by what means to secure himself against an enemy, which a 
good conscience alone cannot always repel; I mean, the attacks 
of unemployed imagination, which, when it once exceeds 
proper limits, becomes the most cruel torture of a recluse 
individual. He adopted the following stratagem :—Perceiving 
a spider spinning her web at the spiracle, he undertook to 
tame her; and to effect this, he placed some flies on the edge 
of the opening, while the Basque was playing on his favourite 
bagpipe. The spider by degrees accustomed herself to dis¬ 
tinguish the sound of that instrument, and to run from her 
hole to seize her prey ; thus, by means of always calling her 
out by the same tune, and placing the flies nearer and nearer 
his own seat, after several months' exercise, he succeeded in 
training the spider so well, that she would start at the first 
signal, to seize a fly at the farthest end of the room, and even 
on the knees of the prisoner." 

It has been stated, that a prisoner confined in the Bastile. 
retained his senses, contrary to expectation, by playing daily 
so many games at push-pin ; he having, unknown to his keepers, 
secreted a battalion or two of these hostile implements. The 
device of Pelisson is more interesting to us, as we learn from 
it, that the spider, though amongst the most quarrelsome of 
insects, yet is capable of being rendered familiar by the reason 
and perseverance of man. 

In the introduction to a modern Entomology there is a descrip¬ 
tion of the process by which the spider weaves its web. After 
describing the four spinners, as they are termed, from which 
the visible threads proceed, the writer makes the following 
curious observations :—“ These are machinery, through which, 
by a process more singular than that of rope-spinning, the 
thread is drawn. Each spinner is pierced, like the plate of a 
wire-drawer, with a multitude of holes, so numerous, and ex¬ 
quisitely fine, that a space often not larger than a pin’s point 
includes a thousand. Through each of these holes proceeds 
a thread of inconceivable tenuity, which, immediately after 
issuing from the orifice, unites with all the other threads from 
the spinner, into one. Hence, from each spinner proceeds a 
compound thread ; and these four threads, at the distance of 
about one-tenth of an inch from the apex of the spinner, again 
unite, and form the thread we are accustomed to see, which 
the spider uses in forming its web. Thus, a spider’s web, 
even spun by the smallest species, and when so fine that it is 
almost imperceptible to our senses, is not, as we suppose, a 
straight lie, but a rope, composed of at least 400 yarns." 


.518 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

We shall close this chapter with a curious Anecdote of 
A Spider, connected with observations on the utility of ants 
in destroying venomous creatures ; by Captain Bagnold. 

“ Desirous of ascertaining the natural food of the scorpion, 
I inclosed one (which measured three-quarters of an inch from 
the head to the insertion of the tail) in a wide-mouthed phial, 
together with one of those large spiders so common in the 
West Indies, and closed it with a cork, perforated by a quill 
for the admission of air. The insects seemed carefully to avoid 
each other, retiring to opposite ends of the bottle, which was 
placed horizontally. By giving it a gradual inclination, the 
scorpion was forced into contact with the spider, when a sharp 
encounter took place, the latter receiving repeated stings 
from his venomous adversary, apparently without the least 
injury; while, with his web, he soon lashed the scorpion’s tail 
to his back, and afterwards secured his legs and claws w r ith the 
same materials. In this state I left them some time, in order 
to observe what effect would be produced on the spider, by 
the wounds he had received. On my return, however, I was 
disappointed, the ants having entered, and destroyed them 
both. 

“ In the West Indies I have daily witnessed crowds of these 
little insects destroying the spider or cockroach, which, as soon 
as he is dispatched, they carry to their nest. I have fre¬ 
quently seen them drag their prey perpendicularly up the wall 
and, although the weight would overcome their united efforts 
and fall to the ground, perhaps twenty times in succession, 
yet, by unremitting perseverance, and the aid of reinforce¬ 
ments, they always succeeded. 

“ A struggle of this description once amused the officers of 
his majesty’s ship Retribution, for nearly half an hour : a 
large centipede entered the gun-room, surrounded by an 
immense concourse of ants; the deck, for four or five feet 
round, was covered with them; his body and limbs w r ere en¬ 
crusted with his lilliputian enemies ; and although thousands 
were destroyed by his exertions to escape, they ultimately 
carried him in triumph to their dwelling. 

“ In the woods near Sierra Leone, I have several times 
seen the entire skeletons of the snake beautifully dissected by 
these minute anatomists.” 

From these circumstances it would appear, that ants are a 
considerable check to the increase of those venomous reptiles, so 
troublesome in the torrid zone; and their industry, perseverance, 
courage, and numerical force, seem to strengthen the conjec¬ 
ture : in which case they amply remunerate us for their own 
depredati ms. 


THE <; LOW WORM. 


31* 


CHAP. XXVII 

curiosities respecting insects.— (Continued.) 

i 

Luminous Insects . 

Many insects are possessed of a luminous preparation or 
secretion, which has all the advantages of our lamps and can¬ 
dles, without their inconveniences ; which gives light sufficient 
to direct our motion; which is incapable of burning; and 
whose lustre is maintained without needing fresh supplies of 
oil, or the application of snuffers. 

Of the insects thus singularly provided, the common Glow¬ 
worm (Lampyris nocliluca) is the most familiar instance.— 
This insect in shape somewhat resembles a caterpillar, only 
it is much more depressed; and the light proceeds from a 
pale-coloured patch that terminates, the underside of the ab¬ 
domen. 

It has been supposed by many, that the males of the different 
species of lampyris do not possess the property of giving out 
any light; but it is now ascertained that this supposition is 
inaccurate, though their light is much less vivid than that of 
the female. Ray first pointed out this fact with respect to 
(L. nocliluca.) Geoffrey also observed, that the male of this 
species has four small luminous points, two on each of the 
two last segments of the belly: and his observation has been 
recently confirmed by Miller. This last entomologist, indeed, 
saw only two shining spots; but from the insects having the 
power of withdrawing them out of sight, so that not the 
smallest trace of light remains, he thinks it is not improbable 
that at times two other points, still smaller, may be exhibited, 
as Geoffrey has described. In the males of L. splendidu/a , 
and of L. hemiptera, the light is very distinct, and may be 
seen in the former while flying. The females have the same 
faculty of extinguishing or concealing their light; a very 
necessary provision to guard them from the attacks of noc¬ 
turnal birds. Mr. White even thinks that they regularly put 
it out between eleven and twelve every night, and they have 
also the power of rendering it for a while more vivid than 
ordinary. 

Though many of the females of the different species of lam 
pyris are without wings, and even elytra, fin Coleoptera,) this 
is not the case with all. The female of L. Italica, a species 
common in Italy, and which, if we may trust to the accuracy 
of the account given by Mr. Waller, in the Philosophical 
Transactions for 1684, would seem to have been taken by him 


320 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 


in Hertfordshire, is winged; and when a number of these 
moving stars are seen to dart through the air in a dark night, 
nothing can have a more beautiful effect. Dr. Smith says, that 
the beaus of Italy are accustomed in an evening to adorn the 
heads of the ladies with these artificial diamonds, by sticking 
them into their hair; and a similar custom prevails amongst 
the ladies of India. 

Besides the golden species of the genus Lampyris, all of which 
are probably more or less luminous, another insect of the beetle 
tribe, Elaier noctilucus, is endowed with the same property, and 
that in a much higher degree. This insect, which is an inch 
long, and about one-third of an inch broad, gives out its princi¬ 
pal light from two transparent eye-like tubercles placed upon 
the thorax ; but there are also two luminous patches concealed 
under the elytra, which are not visible except when the insect 
is flying, at which time it appears adorned with four brilliant 
gems of the most beautiful golden-blue lustre: in fact, the whole 
body is full of light, which shines out between the abdominal 
segments when stretched. The light emitted by the two tho¬ 
racic tubercles alone is so considerable, that the smallest print 
may be read by moving one of these insects along the lines ; 
and in the West India islands, particularly in St. Domingo, 
where they are very common, the natives were formerly accus¬ 
tomed to employ those living lamps, which they called cucuij 
instead of candles, in performing their evening household occu 
pations. In travelling at night, they used to tie one to each 
great toe ; and in fishing and hunting, required no other flam¬ 
beau.— Pietro Martire's Decades of the New World , quoted in 
Madoc, p. 543. Southey has happily introduced this insect ir. 
his “ Madoc/’ as furnishing the lamp by which Coatel rescued 
the British hero from the hands of the Mexican priests. 

“ She beckon’d and descended, and drew out, 

From underneath her vest, a cage, or net 
It rather might be called, so fine the twigs 
Which knit it, where, confined, two fire-llies gave 
Their lustre. By that light did Madoc first 
Behold the features of his lovely guide.” 

Pietro Martire tells us, that cucuij serve the natives of the 
Spanish West India islands not only instead of candles, but 
as extirpators of the gnats, which are a dreadful pest to the 
inhabitants of the low grounds. They introduce a few fire¬ 
flies, to which the gnats are a grateful food, into their houses, 
and by means of these “ commodious hunters,” are soon rid of 
the intruders. “ How they ac a icmedy (says this author) for 
so great a mischiefe, it is a pleasant thing to hear, flee who 
und erstandeth that he has those troublesome guestes (the 
gnattes) at home, diligently hunteth after the cucuij. Whoso 
wanteth cucuij, goeth out of the house in the first twilight of 


THE FIRE-FLY. 


321 


the night, carrying a burning fire-brande in his hande, and 
ascendeth the next hillock, that the cucuij may see it, and hee 
swingeth the fire-brande about, calling Cucuie aloud, and beat¬ 
ing the ayre with often calling out, Cucuie, Cucuie.” He 
goes on to observe, that the simple people believe the insect 
; s attracted by their invitations; but that, for his part, he is 

rather inclined to think that die fire is the magnet. Having 

© © 

obtained a sufficient number of cucuij, the beetle-hunter re¬ 
turns home, and lets them fly loose in the house, where they 
diligently seek the gnats about the beds and the faces of those 
asleep, and devour them .—Martire ubi supr. Colonies, i. 128 . 
These insects are also applied to purposes of decoration. On 
certain festival-days, in the month of June, they are collected 
in great numbers, and tied all over the garments of young 
people, who gallop through the streets on horses similarly orna¬ 
mented, producing on a dark evening the effect of a large 
moving body of light. On such occasions, the lover displays 
his gallantry by decking his mistress with these living gems.— 
Walton’s Present State of the Spanish Colonies. And according to 
P. Martire, “ many wanton wilde fellowes” rub their faces with 
“the flesh of a killed cucuij,” as boys with us use phosphorus, 
“ with purpose to meet their neighbours with a flaming coun¬ 
tenance,” and derive amusement from their fright. 

Besides Plater noctilucus, E. ignitus , and several others of 
the same genus, are luminous: not fewer than twelve species 
of this family are described by Illiger in the Berlin Naturalist 
Society’s Magazine. 

The brilliant nocturnal spectacle presented by these insects 
to the inhabitants of the countries where they abound, cannot 
be better described than in the language of the poet above 
referred to, who has thus related its first effect upon British 
visitors of the new world : 

“-sorrowing 1 we beheld 

The night come on : but soon did night display 
More wonders than it veil’d ; innumerable tribes 
From the wood-cover swarm’d, and darkness made 
Their beauties visible ; one while they stream’d 
A bright blue radiance upon flowers that clos’d 
Their gorgeous colours from the eye of day; 

Now motionless and dark, eluding search, 

Self-shrouded ; and anon starring the sky, 

Rose like a shower of fire.” 

If we are to believe Mouffiet, (and the story is not incredi¬ 
ble,) the appearance of the tropical fire-flies on one occasion 
led to a more important result than might have been expected 
from such a cause. He tells us, that when Sir Thos. Cavendish 
and Sir John Dudley first landed in the West Indies, and saw 
in tne evening- an infinite number of moving lights in the 
woods, which w r ere merely these insects, they supposed that 

14 2 S 



322 CURIOS TIES RESPECTING INSECTS 

the Spaniards were advancing upon them, and immediately 
betook themselves to their ships: a result as well entitling 
the elatera to a commemoration feast, as a similar good office 
by the land-crabs of Hispaniola, which, as the Spaniards tell, 
(and the story is confirmed by an anniversary Fiesta de los 
Cangrejos,) by their clattering being mistaken for the sound 
of Spanish cavalry close upon their heels, in like manner 
scared away a body of English invaders from the city of St. 
Domingo.— Walt oil’s Hispaniola , i. 39. 

An anecdote less improbable, perhaps, and certainly more 
ludicrous, is related by Sir James Smith, of the effect of 
the first sight of the Italian fire-flies upon some Moorish 
ladies, ignorant of such appearances. These females had 
been taken prisoners at sea, and, until they could be ran¬ 
somed, lived in a house in the outskirts of Genoa, where they 
were frequently visited by the respectable inhabitants of the 
city; a party of whom, on going one evening, were surprised 
to find the house closely shut up, and their Moorish friends 
in the greatest grief and consternation. On inquiring into 
the cause, they ascertained that some of the Lampyris ltalica 
had found their way into the dwelling, and that the ladies 
within had taken it into their heads that these brilliant guests 
were no other than the troubled spirits of their relations ; and 
some time elapsed before they could be divested of this idea. 
The common people in Italy have a superstition respecting 
these insects somewhat similar, believing that they are of a 
spiritual nature, and proceed out of the graves ; and hence 
carefully avoid them.— Tour on the Continent , 2d ed. iii. 85. 

The insects hitherto adverted to have been beetles, or of the 
order Coleoptera. But, besides these, a genus in the order 
Hemiptera, called Fulgora , includes several species, which emit 
so powerful a light, as to have obtained in English the generic 
appellation of lantern-flies. Two of the most conspicuous of 
this tribe are the F. lanternaria and F. Candelaria; the for¬ 
mer a native of South America, the latter of China. Both, as 
indeed is the case with the whole genus, have the material 
which diffuses their light included in a hollow subtransparent 
projection of the head. In F. Candelaria this projection is of 
a subcylindrical shape, recurved at the apex, above an inch 
in length, and the thickness of a small quill. We may easily 
conceive, as travellers assure us, that a tree studded with 
multitudes of these living sparks, some at rest and others in 
motion, must during the night have a superlatively splendid 
appearance. 

In F. lanternaria , which is an insect two or three inches 
long, the snout is much larger and broader, and more of an 
oval shape, and sheds a light, the brilliancy of which tran¬ 
scends that of any other luminous insect. Madam Merian 


THE FIRE-FLY. 


323 


informs us, that the first discovery she made of this property 
caused her no small alarm. The servants had brought her 
several of these insects, which by day-light exhibited no ex¬ 
traordinary appearance, and she inclosed them in a box till 
she should have an opportunity of drawing them, placing them 
upmi a table in her lodging-room. In the middle of the night 
the confined insects made such a noise as to awake her, and 
she opened the box, the inside of which, to her great astonish¬ 
ment, appeared all in a blaze ; and in her fright letting it fall 
she w r as not less surprised to see each of the insects apparently 
on fire. She soon, however, divined the cause of this unex¬ 
pected phenomenon, and re-inclosed her brilliant guests in 
their place of confinement. She adds, that the light of one 
of these fulgora w 7 as sufficiently bright to read a newspaper 
by. Another species, F. pyrrhorynchus, is described by Dono¬ 
van, in his Insects of India; of which the light, though from 
a smaller snout than that of F. lanternaria, must assume a 
more splendid and striking appearance, the projection being 
of a rich deep purple from the base to near the apex, which is 
of a fine transparent scarlet; and these tints will of course 
be imparted to the transmitted light. 

With regard to the immediate source of the luminous pro¬ 
perties of these insects, Mr. Macartney, to whom we are 
indebted for the most recent investigation on the subject, has 
ascertained, that in the common glow-worm, and in Flatcr 
noctilucus and ignitus, the light proceeds from masses of a 
substance not generally differing, except in its yellow colour, 
from the interstitial substance corps graisseux, of the rest of 
the body, closely applied underneath those transparent parts 
of the insects’ skin which afford the light. In the glowworm, 
'besides the last-mentioned substance, which, when the season 
for giving light is passed, is absorbed, and replaced by the 
common interstitial substance, he observed on the inner side 
of the last abdominal segment two minute oval sacks, formed of 
an elastic spirally-wound fibre, similar to that of the tracheae, 
containing a soft yellow substance, of a closer texture than 
that which lines the adjoining region, and affording a more 
permanent and brilliant light. This light he found to be less 
under the control of the insect than that from the adjoining 
luminous substance, which it has the power of voluntarily ex¬ 
tinguishing, not by retracting it under a membrane, as Car- 
radori imagined, but by some inscrutable change which 
depends upon its will : and when the latter substance was 
extracted from living glowworms, it afforded no light, while 
the two sacks in like circumstances shone uninterruptedly for 
several hours. Mr. Macartney conceives, from the radiated 
structure of interstitial substance surrounding the oval yellow 
masses immediately under the transparent spot in the thorax 


324 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

of Elater noctilucus, and the subtransparency of the adjoining 
crust, that the interstitial substance in this situation has also 
the property of shining; a supposition which, if De Geer 
and other authors be correct in stating, that this insect has 
two luminous patches over its elytra, and that the incisures 
between the abdominal segments shine when stretched, may 
probably be extended to the whole of the interstitial substance 
of its body. 

With respect to the remote cause of the luminous property 
of insects, philosophers are considerably divided in opinion. 
The disciples of modem chemistry have in general, with 
Dr. Darwin, referred it to the slow combustion of some com¬ 
bination of phosphorus secreted from their fluids by an appro¬ 
priate organization, and entering into combination with the 
oxygen supplied in respiration. This opinion is very plau¬ 
sibly built upon the ascertained existence of phosphoric acid 
as an animal secretion; the great resemblance between the 
light of phosphorus in slow combustion, and animal light; 
the remarkably large spiracula in glowworms; and upon the 
statement, that the glowworm is rendered more brilliant by 
the application of heat and oxygen gas, and is extinguished 
by cold and by hydrogen and carbonic acid gases. From 
these last facts, Spallanzani was led to regard the luminous 
matter as a compound of hydrogen and carburetted hydro¬ 
gen gas. Carradori having found that the luminous portion 
of the belly of the Italian glowworm, lampijris Italica, shone 
in vacuo, in oil, in water, and when under other circum¬ 
stances where the presence of oxygen gas was precluded,—with 
Brugnatelli, ascribed the property in question to the imbi¬ 
bition of light, separated from the food or air taken in the body, 
and afterwards secreted in a sensible form.* Lastly, Mr. 
Macartney having ascertained, by experiment, that the light 
of a glowworm is not diminished by immersion in water, or 
increased by the application of heat; that the substance af¬ 
fording it, though poetically employed for lighting the fairies* 
tapers,T is incapable of inflammation, if applied to the flame 
of a candle or red-hot iron ; and when separated from the 
body, exhibits no sensible heat on the thermometer’s being 
applied to it,—rejects the preceding hypothesis as unsatisfac¬ 
tory, butwithout substituting any other explanation; suggest¬ 
ing, however, that the facts he observed are more favourable 
to the supposition of light being a quality of matter, than a 
substance. 

Wh ^h of these opinions is the more correct, is left for 
future philosophers to decide. • 

* Annal. di Chimica , xiii. 1797, Mag. ii. 80. 

t “ And for night-tapers crop their waxen thighs, 

And light them at the fiery glowworm’s eyes/' 


THE FLEA. 


325 


The general use of this singular provision's not much more 
satisfactorily ascertained than its nature. It is conjectured 
that it may be a means of defence against its enemies. In 
different kinds of insects, however, it may probably have a 
different object. Thus in the lantern-flies, (Fulgora,) whose 
light precedes them, it may act the part that their name im¬ 
ports, enable them to discover their prey, and to steer them¬ 
selves safely in the night. In the fire-flies, (Elater,) if we 
consider the infinite numbers, that in certain climates and 
situations present themselves every where in the night, it may 
distract the attention of their enemies, or alarm them. And 
in the glowworm, since their light is usually more brilliant 
in the female, it is most probably intended to conduct the 
sexes to each other. 

Thine is an unobtrusive blaze, 

Content in lowly shades to shine; 

And much I wish, while yet I gaze, 

To make thy modest merit mine! Mrs. Opie. 




CHAP. XXVIII. 

curiosities respecting insects — (Continued.) 

The Flea—On the Duration of the Life of a Flea—The Louse. 

The Flea, —has two eyes and six feet,fitted for leaping; the 
feelers are like threads; the rostrum is inflected, setaceous, 
and armed with a sting; and the belly is compressed. Fleas 
bring forth eggs, which they deposit on animals that afford 
them a proper food. Of these eggs are hatched white worms 
of a shining pearl colour, which feed on the scurfy substance 
of the cuticle, the downy matter gathered in the piles or folds 
of clothes, or other similar substances. In a fortnight they 
come to a tolerable size, and are very lively and active ; and, 
if at any time disturbed, they suddenly roll themselves into 
a kind of ball. Soon after this, they come to creep, after 
the manner of silk-worms, with a very swift motion. When 
arrived at their size, they hide themselves as much as possi¬ 
ble, and spin a silken thread out of their mouth, wherewith 
they form themselves a small round bag, or case, white within 
as paper, but without always dirty, and fouled with dust. 
Here, after a fortnights rest, the animalcule bursts out, trans¬ 
formed into a perfect flea, leaving its exuviae in the bag While 



326 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

it remains in the bag, it is milk-white till the second day before 
its eruption, when it becomes coloured, grows hard, and gets 
strength; so that,upon its first delivery, it springs nimbly away. 
The flea is covered all over with black, hard, and shelly scales 
orplates, which are curiously jointed,and folded over each other 
in such a manner as to comply with all the nimble motions of 
the creature. These scales are finely polished, and beset 
about the edges with short spikes, in a very beautiful and 
regular order. Its neck is finely arched, and resembles the 
tail of a lobster : the head is also very extraordinary ; for from 
the snout-part of it proceed the two fore-legs, and between 
these is placed the piercer, or sucker, with which it penetrates 
the skin to get its food. Its eyes are very large and beautiful, 
and it has two short horns, or feelers. It has four other legs, 
joined all at the breast. These, when it leaps, fold short, one 
within another; and then, exerting their spring all at the 
same instant, they carry the creature to a surprising distance. 
The legs have several joints, are very hairy, and terminate 
in two long and hooked sharp claws. The piercer, or sucker,, 
of the flea, is lodged between its fore-legs, and includes a 
couple of darts or lancets, which, after the piercer has made 
an entrance, are thrust farther into the flesh, to make the 
blood flow from the adjacent parts, and occasion that round 
red spot, with a hole in the centre of it, vulgarly called a flea- 
bite. 

This piercer, its sheath opening sidewise, and the two lancet* 
within it, are very difficult to be seen, unless the two fore¬ 
legs, between which they are hid, be cut off close to the head ; 
for the flea rarely puts out its piercer, except at the time of 
feeding, but keeps it folded inwards ; and the best way of 
seeing it, is by cutting off first the head, and then the fore-legs, 
and then it is usually seen thrust out in convulsions. By 
keeping fleas in a glass tube corked up at both ends, but so 
as to admit fresh air, their several actions may be observed. 
They may be thus seen to lay their eggs, &c. They do not 
lay their eggs all at once, but by ten or twelve in a day, for 
several days successively, which eggs will be afterwards 
found to hatch successively, in the same order. The flea may 
easily be dissected in a drop of water; and thus the stomach 
and bowels, with their peristaltic motion, may be discovered 
very plainly, with the veins and arteries, though minute beyond 
all conception. This bloodthirsty insect, which fattens at 
the expense of the human species, prefers the more delicate 
skin of women, but preys neither upon epileptic persons, nor 
upon the dead or dying. It loves to nestle in the fur of dogs, 
cats, and rats. The nests of river-swallows are sometimes 
plentifully stored with them. Fleas are apterous, walk but 
little, but leap to a height equal to two hundred times that 


THE ELEA. 


32 ? 


of their own body. This amazing motion is performed by 
means of the elasticity of their feet, the articulations of which 
are so many springs. Thus it eludes, with surprising agility, 
the pursuit of the person on whom it riots. Mercurial oint¬ 
ment, brimstone, a fumigation with the leaves of pennyroyal, 
or fresh-gathered leaves of that plant, sewed up in a bag, and 
laid in the bed, are remedies pointed out as destructive of 
fleas. 

In the Athenian Oracle, a lady desires to know whether 
fleas have stings, or whether they only suck or bite, when 
they draw blood from the body ? To which an ingenious 
author returns the following humorous answer: 

“ Not to trouble you, madam, with the Hebrew or Arabic 
name of a flea, or to transcribe Bochart’s learned dissertations 
on the little animal, we shall, for your satisfaction, give such 
a description thereof as we have yet been able to discover.— 

“ Its skin is of a lovely deep red colour, most neatly polished, 
and armed with scales, which can resist any thing but fate, 
and your ladyship’s unmerciful fingers : the neck of it is 
exactly like the tail of a lobster, and, by the assistance of those 
strong scales it is covered with, springs backwards and for¬ 
wards much in the same manner, and with equal violence : it 
has two eyes on each side of its head, so pretty, that I would 
prefer them to any, madam, but yours; and which it makes 
use of to avoid its fate, and flee from its enemies, with as much 
nimbleness and success, as your sex manage those fatal wea- 

S ons, lovely basilisks as you are, for the ruin of your adorers. 

ature has provided it six substantial legs, of great strength, 
and incomparable agility, jointed like a cane, covered with 
large hairs, and armed each of them with two claws, which 
appear of a horny substance, more sharp than lancets, or the 
finest needle you have in your needle-book. It was a long 
while before we could discover its mouth, which, we confess, 
we have not yet so exactly perceived as we could wish, the 
little bashful creature always holding up its two fore-feet be¬ 
fore it, which it uses instead of a fan or mask, when it has no 
mind to be known ; and we were forced to be guilty of an act 
both uncivil and cruel, without which we could never have 
resolved your question. We were obliged to unmask this 
modest one, and cut off its two fore-legs to get to the face; 
which being performed, though it makes our tender hearts, as 
well as yours, almost bleed to think of it, we immediately 
discovered what your ladyship desired, and found Nature had 
given it a strong proboscis, or trunk, as a gnat or muschetto, 
though much thicker and stouter, with which we may very 
well suppose it penetrates your fair hand, feasts itself on the 
nectar of your blood, and then, like a little faithless fugitive of a 
lover, skips away, almost invisibly, nobody knows whither. 










328 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

We close our remarks on this well-known insect, with the 
following interesting particulars on the Duration of the 
Life of a Flea ; by Borrichius; from the Acts of Copenha¬ 
gen, —“ Pliny represents to us a Greek philosopher, whose chief 
occupation, for several years together, was to measure the 
space skipped over by fleas. Without giving in to such ridi¬ 
culous researches, I can relate an anecdote, which chance 
discovered to me in regard to this insect. 

“ Being sent for to attend a foreign lady, who was greatly 
afflicted with the gout, and having staid, by her desire, to 
dine with her, she bade me take notice of a flea on her hand. 
Surprised at such discourse, I looked at the hand, and saw in¬ 
deed a plump and pampered flea sucking greedily, and kept fast 
to it by a little gold chain. The lady assured me, she had 
nursed and kept the little animal, at that time, full six years, 
with exceeding great care, having fed it twice every day with 
her blood ; and when it had satisfied its appetite, she put it 
up in a little box, lined with silk. In a month's time, being 
recovered from her illness, she set out from Copenhagen with 
her flea; but having returned in about a year after, 1 took an 
opportunity of waiting upon her, and, among other things, 
asked after her little insect. She answered me with great 
concern, that it died through the neglect of her waiting- 
woman. What I found remarkable in this story was, that the 
hiriv. being attacked by chronical pains in her limbs, had 
recourse in France to very powerful medicines during six 
weoKs; and all this time the flea had not ceased to feed upon 
her blood, imbued with the vapours, and yet was not the 
worse for it.” 

The Louse. —This insect has six feet, two eyes, and a sort 
of sting in the mouth ; the feelers are as long as the thorax ; 
and the belly is depressed and sublobated. It is an oviparous 
animal. They are not peculiar to man alone, but infest other 
animals, as quadrupeds and birds, and even fishes and vege¬ 
tables ; but these are of peculiar species on each animal, 
according to the particular nature of each, some of which are 
different from those which infest the human body. Nay, even 
insects are infested with vermin, which feed on and torment 
them. Several kinds of beetles are subject to lice, but par¬ 
ticularly that kind called byway of eminence the lousy beetle. 
The lice on this are very numerous, and will not be shook 
off. The earwig is often infested with lice, just at the setting 
on of its head : these are white and shining, like mites, but 
they are much smaller; they are round-backed, flat-bellied, 
and have long legs, particularly the foremost pair. Snails of 
all kinds, but especially the large naked sorts, are very subject 
to lice; which are continua ly seen running about them, and 


THE LOUSE. 


329 


devouring tnem. Numbers of little red lice, with a very small 
head, and in shape resembling a tortoise, are often seen about 
the legs of spiders, and they never leave the animal while he 
lives; but if he be killed, they almost instantly forsake 
him. A sort of whitish lice is found on humblebees ; they 
are also found upon ants; and fishes are not less subject to 
them than other animals. Kircher tells us, that he found 
lice also on flies, and M. de la Hire has given a curious account 
of the creature which he found on the common fly. Having 
occasion to view a living fly with the microscope, he observed 
on its head, back, and shoulders, a great number of small ani¬ 
mals crawling very nimbly about, and often climbing up the 
hairs which grow at the origin of the fly’s legs. He with a fine 
needle took up one of these, and placed it before the micro¬ 
scope used to view the animalcules in fluids. It had eight 
legs, four on each side ; these were not placed very distant 
from each other, but the four towards the head were separated 
by a small space from the four towards the tail. The feet 
were of a particular structure, being composed of several 
fingers, as it w r ere, and fitted for taking fast hold of any 
thing, but the two nearest the head were also more remark¬ 
able in this particular than those near the tail; the extremities 
of the legs for a little way above the feet were dry, and void 
of flesh, like the legs of birds, but above this part they ap¬ 
peared plump and fleshy. It had two small horns upon its 
head, formed of several hairs arranged closely together; and 
there were some other clusters of hairs by the side of these 
horns, but they had not the same figure; and towards the 
origin of the hind-legs there were two other such clusters 
of hairs, which took their origin at the middle of the back. 
The whole creature was of a bright yellowish red; the legs, 
and all the body, except a large spot in the centre, were per¬ 
fectly transparent. In size, he computed it to be about T y^th 
part of the head of the fly; and he observes, that such kind of 
vermin are rarely found on flies. 

The louse which infests the human body, makes a very 
curious appearance through a microscope. It has such a 
transparent shell or skin, that we are able to discover more of 
what passes within its body, than in most other living crea¬ 
tures. Ith as naturally three divisions, the head, the breast, 
and the tail part. In the head appear two fine black eyes, 
with a horn that has five joints, and is surrounded with hairs 
standing before each eye ; and from the end of the nose, or 
snout, there is a pointed projecting part, which serves as a 
sheath or case to a piercer, or sucker, which the creature 
thrusts into the skin to draw out the blood and humours 
which are its destined food ; for it has no mouth that opens 
in the common wav. r I his piercer, or sucker, is judged to be 

2 T 


330 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

seven hundred times smaller than a hair, and is contained in 
another case within the first, and can be drawn in or thrust 
out at pleasure. The breast is very beautifully marked in the 
middle; the skin is transparent, and full of little pits; and 
from the under part of it proceed six legs, each having five 
joints, and their skin all the way resembling shagreen, except 
at the ends, where it is smoother. Each leg is terminated by 
two claws, which are hooked, and are of an unequal length 
and size. These it uses as we would a thumb and middle 
finger ; and there are hairs between these claws, as well as all 
over the legs. On the back part of the tail there may be dis¬ 
covered some ring-like divisions, and a sort of marks which 
look like the strokes of a rod on the human skin ; the belly 
looks like shagreen, and towards the lower end it is very clear, 
and full of pits : at the extremity of the tail there are two 
semicircular parts, all covered over with hairs. When the 
louse moves its legs, the motion of the muscles, which all 
unite in an oblong dark spot in the middle of the breast, may 
be distinguished perfectly; and so may the motion of the 
muscles of the head, when it moves its horns. We may like¬ 
wise see the various ramifications of the veins and arteries, 
which are white, with the pulse regularly beating in the arte¬ 
ries. The peristaltic motion of the intestines may be dis¬ 
tinctly seen, from the stomach down to the anus. 

If one of these creatures, when hungry, be placed on the 
back of the hand, it will thrust its sucker into the skin, and 
the blood which it sucks may be seen passing in a fine stream 
to the fore part of the head ; where, falling into a roundish 
cavity, it passes again in a fine stream to another circular 
receptacle in the middle of the head ; from thence it runs 
through a small vessel to the breast, and then to a gut which 
reaches to the hinder part of the body, where, in a curve, it 
turns again a little upward in the breast and gut; the blood 
is moved without intermission with great force, especially in 
the former, where it occasions a surprising contraction. 

In the upper part of the crooked ascending gut above-men 
tioned, the propelled blood stands still, and seems to undergo 
a separation, some of it becoming clear and waterish, while 
other black particles are pushed forward to the anus. If a 
louse is placed on its back, two bloody darkish spots appear; 
the larger in the middle of the body, the smaller towards the 
tail; the motions of which are followed by the pulsation of 
the dark bloody spot, in or over which the white bladder seems 
to lie. This motion of the systole and diastole is best seen 
when the creature begins to grow weak ; and on pricking the 
white bladder, which seems to be the heart, it instantly dies. 
The lower dark spot is supposed to be the excrement. 


THE APHIS. 


331 


CHAP. XXIX. 

curiosities respecting insects. — (Continued.) 

In the vast, and the minute, we sef 
Th’ unambiguous footsteps of a God, 

Who gives its lustre to an insect’s wing, 

And wheels his throne upon the rolling worlds. Cotvper . 

THE APHIS. 

This is an insect which has engaged the attention of natu¬ 
ralists for various reasons : their generation is equivocal, and 
their instinctive economy differs, in some respects, from that 
of most other animals. Linnaeus defines the generic character 
of the aphis thus : beak inflected, sheath of five articulations, 
with a single bristle ; antennae setaceous, and longer than the 
thorax; either four erect wings, or none; feet formed for 
walking ; posterior part of the abdomen usually furnished 
with two little horns. Ceoffrey says, the aphides have two 
beaks, one of which is seated in the breast, the other in the 
head ; this last extends to, and is laid upon, the base of the 
pectoral one, and serves, as that writer imagines, to convey 
to the head a part of that nourishment which the insect takes 
or sucks in by means of the pectoral beak. 

Gmelin enumerates about seventy species, all of which, and 
doubtless many others, are found in different parts of Europe. 
They infest an endless variety of plants; and it is believed 
that each species is particularly attached to one kind of vege¬ 
table only : hence each sort has been hitherto named after the 
individual species or genus of plants on which it feeds; or if 
that could not be ascertained, that on which it had been found ; 
for some species are rather uncommon and little known, though 
others are infinitely too numerous. The aphides are sufficiently 
known by the indiscriminate term of plant-lice ; they abound 
with a sweet and grateful moisture, and are therefore eagerly 
devoured by ants, the larvse coccinellse, and many other crea¬ 
tures, or they would become, very probably, more destructive 
to the whole vegetable creation than any other race of insects 
known. If Bonnet was not the first naturalist (as is generally 
acknowledged) who discovered the mysterious course of gene¬ 
ration in the aphides, or, as he calls them, pucerons, his ex¬ 
periments, together with those of his countryman, Trembley, 
tended at least to confirm, in a most satisfactory manner, the 
almost incredible circumstances respecting it, that an aphis, or 
puceron, brought up in the most perfect solitude from the mo- 
omit of its birth, in a few days will be found in the midst of • 




332 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

numerous family ; and that if the experiment be again repeated 
on one of the individuals of this family, a second generation 
will multiply like its parent; and the like experiment may be 
many times repeated with the same effect. 

The history of aphides has also been very copiously treated 
upon by Dr. Richardson, in a paper printed in the 41st vol. of 
the Philosophical Transactions, and by the late ingenious Mr. 
Curtis, in the 6th vol. of the Transactions of the Linnaean So¬ 
ciety. The tenor of Dr. Richardson’s remarks is briefly this: 
The great variety of species which occur in the insects now 
under consideration, may render an inquiry into their particu¬ 
lar natures not a little perplexing; but by reducing them 
under their proper genus, the difficulty is considerably dimi¬ 
nished. We may reasonably suppose all the insects compre¬ 
hended under any distinct genus, to partake of one general 
nature ; and by diligently examining any particular species, we 
may thence gain some insight into the nature of all the rest. 
With this view. Dr. Richardson chose out of the various sorts 
of aphides, the largest of those found on the rose-tree ; not 
only as its size makes it more conspicuous, but as there are few 
of so long duration. This sort appears early in the spring, 
and continues late in autumn; while several are limited to a 
much shorter term, in conformity to the different trees and 
plants whence they draw their nourishment. 

* If, at the beginning of February, the weather happens to be 
so warm as to make the buds of the rose-tree swell and appear 
green, small aphides are frequently to be found on them, 
though not larger than the young ones in summer, when first 
produced. It will be found, that those aphides which appear 
only in spring, proceed from small black oval eggs, which 
were deposited on the last year’s shoot; though it happens 
that, when the insects make too early an appearance, the greater 
part suffer from tne sharp weather that usually succeeds, by 
which means the rose-trees are some years freed from them. 
The same kind of animal is then at one time of the year vivi¬ 
parous, and at another oviparous. Those aphides which with¬ 
stand the severity of the weather, seldom come to their full 
growth before the month of April, at which time they usually 
begin to breed, after twice casting off their exuvia, or outward 
covering. 

When they first come from the parent, they are enveloped 
in a thin membrane, having the appearance of an oval egg; 
these egg-like appearances adhere by one extremity to the 
mother, while the young ones contained in them extend to the 
other, and by that means gradually draw the ruptured mem¬ 
brane over the head and body to the hind-feet. Being thus 
suspended in the air, the insect soon frees itself from the 
membrane in which't was confined, and, after its limbs are 


THE APH a. 


333 


a little strengthened, is set down on some tender shoots, and 
left to provide for itself^ In the spring months there ap¬ 
pear on the rose-trees but two generations of aphides, includ¬ 
ing those which proceed immediately from the last year's eggs; 
the warmth of the summer adds so much to their fertility, 
that no less than five generations succeed each other in the 
interval. One is produced in May, which casts off’ their cover¬ 
ing; while the months of June and July each supply two more, 
which cast off their coverings three or four times, according 
to the different warmth of the season. This frequent change 

, . , t 1 D 

of their outward coat is the more extraordinary, because it is 
repeated more often when the insects come the soonest to 
their growth, which sometimes happens in ten days, when 
they have had plenty of warmth and nourishment. Early in 
the month of June, some of the third generation, which were 
produced about the middle of May, after casting off’ the last 
covering, discover four erect wings, much longer than their 
bodies; and the same is observable in all the succeeding 
generations which are produced during the summer months, 
but, like all the others, without any diversity of sex : for some 
time before the aphides come to their full growth, it is easy 
to distinguish which will have wings, by a remarkable fulness 
of the breast, which in the others is hardly to be distinguished 
from the body. When the last covering is ejected, the 
wings, which rvere before folded up in a very narrow compass, 
are gradually extended in a surprising manner, till their di¬ 
mensions are at last very considerable. The increase of these 
insects in the summer time is so very great, that by wounding 
and exhausting the tender shoots, they would frequently sup¬ 
press all vegetation, had they not many enemies to restrain 
them. 

Notwithstanding these insects have a numerous tribe of ene¬ 
mies, they are not without their friends, if those maybe con¬ 
sidered as such, who are officious in their attendance, for the 
good things they expect to reap thereby. The ant and bee are 
of this kind, collecting the honey in which the aphides abound, 
but with this difference, that the ants are constant visitors, the 
bee only when flowers are scarce ; the ants will suck in the 
honey while the aphides are in the act of discharging it; the 
bees only collect it from the leaves on which it has fallen. In 
the autumn, three more generations of aphides are produced, 
two of which generally make their appearance in the month 
of August, and the third before the middle of September. 
The two first differ in no respect from those which are tound 
in summer, but the third differs greatly from all the rest. 

Though all the aphides which have hitherto appeared were 
female, in this generation several male insects are found, but 
not by ar y means so numerous as the females. The females 


334 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 


have, at first, the same appearance as those of the former 
generations, but in a few days their colour changes from a 
green to a yellow, which is gradually converted into an orange 
before they come to their full growth ; they differ also, in 
another respect, from those which occur in summer, for all 
these yellow females are without wings. The male insects 
are, however, still more remarkable, their outward appearance 
readily distinguishing them from this and all other generations. 
When first produced, they are not of a green colour like the 
rest, but of a reddish brown, and have afterwards a dark line 
along the back ; they come to their full growth in about th'*ee 
weeks, and then cast off their last covering, the whole insect 
being, after this, of a bright yellow colour, the wings only 
excepted, but after this change they become a deeper yellow, 
and, in a very few hours, of a dark brown, if we except the 
body, which is something lighter coloured, and has a reddish 
cast. Where there are a number crowded together, they of 
course interfere with each other, in which case they will 
frequently deposit their eggs on other parts of the branches. 
It is highly probable that the aphides derive considerable ad¬ 
vantages by living in society : the reiterated punctures of a 
great number of them may attract a larger quantity of nutri¬ 
tious juices to that part of the tree or plant where they have 
taken up their abode. 

The observations of Mr. Curtis, on the aphides, are chiefly 
intended to shew that they are the principal cause of blights 
in plants, and the sole cause of the honey-dew. He therefore 
calls this insect the aphis, or blighter; arid after observing, that, 
in point of numbers, the individuals of the several species 
composing it surpass those of any other genus in the country, 
speaks thus, in general terms, of the whole tribe.—“ These 
insects live entirely on vegetables. The loftiest tree is no less 
liable to their attacks, than the most humble plant. They 
prefer the young shoots on account of their tenderness, and, 
on this principle, often insinuate themselves into the very 
heart of the plant, and do irreparable mischief before they are 
discovered. But, for the most part, they beset the foliage, 
and are always found on the under side of the leaf, which they 
prefer, not only on account of its being the most tender, but 
as it affords them protection from the weather, and various 
injuries to which they would otherwise be exposed. Some¬ 
times the root is the object of their choice, which, from the 
nature of these insects, one would not, a priori , expect: vet 
I have seen the roots of lettuces thickly beset with them, and 
the whole crop rendered sickly and of little value ; but such 
instances are rare. They seldom attach themselves to the 
bark cf trees, like the aphis salicis, which being one of our 
largest species, and hence possessing superior strength, is 


THE APHIS. 336 

enabled to penetrate a substance harder than the leaves them¬ 
selves. 

In the quality of the excrement voided by these insects, 
there is something wonderfully extraordinary.* Were a person 
accidentally to take up a book, in which it is gravely asserted, 
that in some countries there were certain animals that voided 
liquid sugar, he would lay it down, regarding it as a 
fabulous tale, calculated to impose on the credulity of the 
ignorant; and yet such is literally the truth. Mr. Curtis col¬ 
lected some on a piece of writing-paper, from a brood of the 
aphis salicis,and found it to be as sweet as sugar; and observes, 
that were it not for the wasps, ants, flies, and other insects, 
that devour it as quickly as it is produced, it might, no doubt, 
be collected in considerable quantities, and, by the processes 
used with other saccharine juices, might be converted into the 
choicest sugar or sugar-candy. The sweetness of this excre- 
mentitious substance, the glossy appearance it gave the leaves 
it fell upon, and the swarms of insects this matter attracts, 
led him to imagine the honey-dew of plants was no other than 
this secretion, which further observation has since been fully 
confirmed; and not, as its name implies, a sweet sutrtance 
falling from the atmosphere. On this opinion it is furthei re¬ 
marked, that it neither falls from the atmosphere, nor issues 
from the plant itself, as is easily demonstrated. If it fell from 
the atmosphere, it would cover every thing it fell upon indis¬ 
criminately ; whereas we never find it but on certain living 
plants and trees. We find it also on plants in stoves and green¬ 
houses covered with glass. If it exuded from the plant, it 
would appear on all the leaves generally and uniformly; 
whereas its appearance is extremely irregular, not alike on 
any two leaves of the same tree or plant, some having none 
of it, and others being covered with it but partially. 

It is probable that there never exists any honey-dew but. 
where there are aphides; though such often pass unnoticed, 
being hidden on the under side of the leaf: and wherever honey 
is observable upon a leaf, aphides will be found on the under 
side of the leaf or leaves immediatelv above it, and under no 
other circumstance whatever. If by accident any thing should 
intervene between the aphides and the leaf next beneath them, 
there will be no honey-dew on that leaf: and thus he conceives 
it is incontrovertibly proved, that aphides are the true and 
only source of honey-dew. 

Of the British species of aphides, one of the largest and 
most remarkable is the aphis salicis, which is found on the 
different kinds of willows. When bruised, these insects stain 
the fingers with red. Towards the end of September, multi¬ 
tudes of the full-grown insects of this species, both with and 
without wings, desert the willows on which they feed, and 


336 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS 

ramble over every neighbouring object in such numbers, that 
we can handle nothing in their vicinity without crushing some 
of them; while those in a younger or less advanced state, still 
remain in large masses upon the trees. Aphis rosse is very fre¬ 
quent, during the summer months, on young shoots and buds 
of roses; it is of a bright green colour: the males are fur¬ 
nished with large transparent wings. Aphis vitis is most de¬ 
structive to vines, as Aphis ulmi is to the elm-tree. 

It is found that where the saccharine substance has dropped 
from aphides for a length of time, as from the aphis salicis in 
particular, it gives to the surface of the bark, foliage, &c. that 
sooty kind of appearance which arises from the explosion of 
gunpowder ; it looks like, and is sometimes taken for, a kind 
of black mildew. In most seasons, the natural enemies of the 
aphis are sufficient to keep them in check, and to prevent 
them from doing essential injury to plants in the open air; but 
there are times, once perhaps in four, five, or six years, in 
which they are multiplied to such an excess, that the usual . 
means of diminution fail in preventing them from doing irre¬ 
parable injury to certain crops. 

To prevent *he calamities which would infallibly result from 
an accumulated multiplication of the more prolific animals, it 
has been ordained by the Author of nature, that such should 
be diminished by serving as food for others. On this prin¬ 
ciple, most animals of this kind have one or more natural ene¬ 
mies. The helpless aphis, which is the scourge of the vege¬ 
table kingdom, has to contend with many: the principal are 
the coccinella, the ichneumon aphidum, and the musca aphi- 
divora. The greatest destroyer of the aphides is the cocci¬ 
nella, or common lady-bird. 

During the winter, this insect secures itself under the bark of 
trees, and elsewhere. When the spring expands the foliage of 
plants, the female deposits her eggs on them in great numbers, 
from whence, in a short time, proceeds the larva,a small grub,of 
adark lead-colour,spotted with orange. These may be observed 
in summer running pretty briskly overall kinds of plants; and, 
if nan 'owly watched, they will be found to devour the aphides 
wherever they find them. The same may be observed of the 
lady-bird, in its perfect state. Another most formidable enemy 
to the aphis, is a very minute, black, and slender ichneumon 
fly, which eats its way out of the aphis, leaving the dry in¬ 
flated skin of the insect adhering to the leaf like a small pearl: 
such may always be found where aphides are in plenty. Differ¬ 
ent species of aphides are infested with different ichneumons 
There is scarcely a division of nature, in which the musca, or 
fly, is not found : of these, one division, the aphidivora, feeds 
entirely on aphides. 

Of the different species of aphidivorous flies, which are 


THE COMMON HOUSE FLY. 


337 

numerous, having mostly bodies variegated with transverse 
Btripes, their females may be seen hovering over plants in¬ 
fested with aphides, among which they deposit their eggs on 
the surface of the leaf. The larva, or maggot, produced 
from such eggs, feeds, as soon as hatched, on the younger 
kinds of aphis, and, as it increases in size, attacks and devours 
those which are larger. The larva of the hemerolicus feeds 
also on the aphides, and deposits its eggs on the leaves of 
such plants as are beset with them. The earwig is likewise an 
enemy to them, especially such as reside in the curled leaves 
of fruit-trees, and the purses formed by certain aphides on the 
poplars and other trees. To these may be added the smallei 
soft-billed birds that feed on insects. 


CHAP. XXX. 

curiosities respecting insects. — (Continued.) 

The Common House Fly—The Hessian Fly—The May Fly — 
The Vegetable Fly—The Boat Fly—The Ephemeral Flies — 
Butterflies—Metamorphoses of Insects—The Heath- Watch. 

What atom-forms of insect life appear! 

And who can follow Nature’s pencil here? 

Their wings with azure, green, and purple gloss’d, 

Studded with colour’d eyes, with gems emboss’d; 

Inlaid with pearl, and mark’d with various stains 

Of lively crimson through their dusky veins. Barbauld. 

THE COMMON HOUSE FLY. 

Gordart nas reckoned up forty-eight varieties of the fly, 
without including them all in this enumeration. The multi¬ 
tude of these lively insects, which the first genial sunshine 
calls forth into life, has limits which the human eye is incapable 
of exploring. The female fly is easily distinguishable from 
the male : she is larger than the latter, fuller in the body, of 
a lighter colour, and, when she is nearly ready to deposit her 
eggs, the abdomen is so transparent, that they may be per¬ 
ceived lying on both sides, opposite to each other. Nature 
has instructed her not to deposit her eggs in dry, but in damp 
substances, which keep them from being dried up, and at the 
same time afford nourishment to the maggot or worm. The 
latter issues from the egg generally in twenty-four hours, but, 
in the sun, within twelve hours after it is laid. About half 
an hour before, annular circles become visible in the egg, an 
undulatory motion succeeds, the egg opens at the end. and 

2 U 


338 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 


the jrm makes its appearance. Its entrance into the world 
is extremely tedious; for the three or four minutes taken b y 
the worm to work its way out of the egg, are, for it, certainly 
so many days. It is endowed, on the other hand, with vital 
powers, which enable it to defy inconveniences which cost 
other animals their lives. Nothing but turpentine, the general 
destroyer of insects, kills it in half an hour. On the four¬ 
teenth or fifteenth day, it begins to prepare for its transfor¬ 
mation into a nymph, and in this form appears at first of a 
light yellow, and afterwards of a dark red. You would take 
it, in this state, for some kind of seed, rather than for the 
habitation of a living creature. The change of the nymph 
into a fly requires as much time as the preceding transforma¬ 
tion. A thrust with the head then bursts the prison in which 
it is confined, and the fly, perfectly formed, sallies forth. 
The sun hastens its birth, which is then the business of but 
a moment; but in unfavourable weather, this probably painful 
operation often takes four or five hours. The insect is now 
as perfect as its parents, and not to be distinguished from 
them. As soon as it issues from the nymph, it flies away ; 
and only those are unable to use their wings immediately, 
which have the misfortune to come out in gloomy wea¬ 
ther. 

Leuwenhock reckons, that every fly has eight thousand 
hexagons or eyes, on each of the hemispheres composing its 
face, and consequently sixteen thousand on both. M. Von 
Gleichen, a German naturalist, observes, that the law of re¬ 
taliation is in some measure established, in regard to these 
animals ; for if they annoy us, they are in their turn persecuted 
by others. Small yellow insects, discovered by means of the 
magnifying glass, crawling among the hairs that grow on 
their bodies, are supposed to be destined for this purpose. 

The fecundity of flies is prodigious. On this head, the 
last-mentioned naturalist has made the following calcula¬ 
tion :— 


A fly lays four times during the summer, each time 

eighty eggs, which makes. 320 

Half of these are supposed to be females, so that 
each of the four broods produces forty: 

1. First eighth, or the forty females of the first 
brood, also lay four times in the course of the 


summer, which makes. 12.800 

The first eighth of these, or 1,600 females, three 

times .. 384,000 

The second eig hth, twice. 256,000 

The third and fourth eighth, at least one each. 256,000 


Carded forward 


90< ,120 









THE HESSIAN FLY. 


339 

Brought forward . 909,120 

2 . The second eighth, or the forty females of the 

second brood, lay three times, the produce of 

which is. 9,600 

One sixth of these, or 1,600 females, three times.... 384,000 

The second sixth, twice. 266,000 

The third sixth, once. 128,000 

3. The third eighth, or the forty females of the third 

brood, lay twice, and produce. 6,400 

One fourth of these, or 1,600 females, lay twice 

more. ; . 256,000 

4 . The fourth eighth, or forty females of the fourth 

brood, once. 3,200 

Half of these, or 1,600 females, at least once. 128,000 


Total produce of a single fly, in one summer.. • .2,080,320 


Another curious insect is. The Hessian Fly. —This is a 
very mischievous insect, which a few years ago appeared in 
North America, and whose depredations threatened then to 
destroy the crops of wheat in that country entirely. It is, in 
its perfect state, a small winged insect, but the mischief it 
does, is while in the form of a caterpillar ; and the difficulty 
of destroying it is increased, by its being as yet unknown 
where it deposits its eggs, to be hatched before the first ap¬ 
pearance of the caterpillars. These mischievous insects begin 
their depredations in autumn, as soon as the wheat begins to 
shoot up through the ground. They devour the tender leaf 
and stem with great voracity, and continue to do so till 
stopped by the frost; but no sooner is this obstacle removed 
by the warmth of the spring, than the fly appears again, laying 
its eggs now, as has been supposed, upon the stems of the 
wheat just beginning to spire. The caterpillars hatched from 
th ese eggs, perforate the stems of the remaining plants at 
the joints, and lodge themselves in the hollow within the corn, 
which shew's no sign of disease till the ears begin to turn 
heavy. The stems then break, and being no longer able to 
perform their office in supporting and supplying the ears with 
nouiishment, the corn perishes about the time that it goes 
into a milky state. These insects attack also rye, barley, and 
timothy-grass, though they seem to prefer wheat. The de¬ 
struction occasioned by them, is described in the American 
Museum , (published at Philadelphia,) for Feb. 1787. in the 
following words :— 

“ It is well known that all the crops of wheat in all the land 
pver which it has extended, have fallen before it, and that 
the farmers beyond it dread its approach : the prospect is. 














840 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

that unless means are discovered to prevent its progress, th* 
whole continent will be overrun;—a calamity more to be 
dreaded, than the ravages of war.” This terrible insect ap¬ 
peared first in Long Island, during the American war, and was 
supposed to have been brought from Germany by the Hessians 
whence its name. From thence it proceeded inland at the 
rate of about fifteen or twenty miles annually; and, in 1789, 
had reached two hundred miles from the place where it was first 
observed. At that time it continued to proceed with unabat¬ 
ing increase; being apparently stopped neither by rivers nor 
mountains. In the fly state it is likewise exceedingly trou¬ 
blesome, by getting into houses in swarms, falling into victuals 
and drink, filling the windows, and flying perpetually into 
the candles. 

The May Fly. —This insect is called the May fly, from its 
annual appearance in that month. It lies all the year, except 
a few days, at the bottom or sides of rivers, nearly resembling 
the nymph of the small libella ; but when it is mature, it rises 
up to the surface of the water, and splits open its case; then, 
with great agility, up springs the new r animal, having a slen¬ 
der body, with four black-veined, transparent, shining wings, 
with four black spots in the upper wings; the under wings 
are much smaller than the upper ones; and with three long 
hairs in its tail. 

The husk it leaves behind floats upon the water. After this 
creature is discharged from the water, it flies about to find a 
proper place to fix on, (as trees, bushes, &c.) to wait for 
its approaching change, which is effected in two or three 
days. 

The first hint I received of this wonderful operation, was by 
seeing their exuviae hanging on a hedge. I then collected a 
great many, and put them into boxes; and by strictly observ¬ 
ing them, I could tell when they were ready for this surprising 
change. 

I had the pleasure to shew my friends one, which I held in 
my fingers all the time it performed this great work ; it was 
surprising to see how easily the back part of the fly split 
open, and produced the astonishing transformation. In the 
new fly, a remarkable difference is seen in their sexes, which 
is not so easy to be perceived in their first state, the male 
and female being much of a size ; but afterwards the male 
is much the smallest, and the hairs of their tails much the 
longest. 

When the females are about to deposit their eggs, they 
seek the rivers, keeping constantly playing up and down upon 
the water. It is very plainly seen, that every time they dart 
down, they eject a cluster of eggs, which appears like a little 


THE VEGETABLE FLY. 


341 


bluish speck, or a small drop of milk, as they sink to the 
bottom of the river. Thus they continue until they have 
spent their strength, being so weak, that they can rise no 
more, but fall a prey to the fish. But by much the greatest 
number perish on the waters, which are covered with them. 
This is the end of the females. The males never resort to the 
river, but, after a time, drop down, languish, and die, under 
the trees and bushes. 

The species of libella abounds most with females, which 
is very necessary, considering the many enemies they have 
ill their short appearance ; for both birds and fishes are fond 
of them, and, no doubt, under water they are the prey of 
aquatic animals. 

What is further surprising in this remarkable creature is, 
that during a life which consists only of three or four days, 
it eats nothing, and seems to have no apparatus for this pur¬ 
pose, but brings up with it, out of the water, sufficient support 
to enable it to shed its skin, and perform the principal ends 
of life with great vivacity. 

The Vegetable Fly. —This is a very curious natural pro¬ 
duction, chiefly found in the West Indies. It resembles the 
drone, both in size and colour, more than any other British 
insect, excepting that it has no wings. “ In the month of 
May, it buries itself in the earth, and begins to vegetate. By 
the end of July, the tree has arrived at its full growth, and 
resembles a coral branch ; it is about three inches in height, 
and bears several little pods, which, dropping off, become 
worms, and thence flies, like the British caterpillar.” Such 
was the account originally given of this extraordinary pro¬ 
duction. But several boxes of these flies having been sent to 
Dr. Hill for examination, his report was as follows :—“ There 
is in Martinique a fungus of the clavaria kind, different in 
species from those hitherto known. It produces soboles from 
its sides; I call it therefore clavaria sobolijera. It grows on 
putrid animal bodies, as our fungus (ex pede equino) from the 
dead horse’s hoof. The cicada is common in Martinique, and 
in its nymph state, in which the old authors call it tettigome - 
Ira, it buries itself under the dead leaves, to await its change; 
and, when the season is unfavourable, many perish. The seeds 
of the clavaria find a proper bed in these dead insects, and 
grow. The tettigometra is among the cicada in the British 
Museum; the clavaria is but just now known. This is the fact, 
and all the fact; though the untaught inhabitants suppose a 
fly to vegetate, and though there is a Spanish drawing of the 
plants growing into a trifoliate tree; and it has been figured 
with the creature flying with this tree upon its back.”—Thus 
does ignorance delight in the marvellous! 


342 CURIOS .TIES RESPECTING INSECTS 

The Boat Fly. —This insect, called Noionecta glauca, is 
thus described by Barbut. “ It has a head somewhat round, 
of which the eyes seem to take up the greatest part. These 
eyes are brown, and very large, the rest of the head being 
yellow. In the fore-part it has a sharp trunk, that projects, 
and is inflected between the fore feet. On the sides are seen 
the antennae, very small, yellowish, and which spring from 
under the head. The thorax, which is broad, short, and 
smooth, is yellow on the fore, and black on the back part. 
The escutcheon is large, of a rough black, and as it were 
nappy. The elytra, rather large, and crossed over each other, 
are a mixture of brown and yellow, not unlike the colour of 
rust, which makes it look cloudy. The under part of the 
body is brown ; and at the extremity of the abdomen are to 
be seen a few hairs. The feet, six in number, are of a light 
brown, the two hindermost having on the leg and tarsus hairs 
that give them the shape of fins, nor are they terminated by 
nails. The four anterior ones are somewhat flat, and serve 
the animal to swim with; but at their extremity they have 
nails, and no hairs. This insect is seen in stagnating waters, 
where it swims on its back, and presents its abdomen up¬ 
wards ; for which reason it has been called by the Greek 
name of notonecta. The hinder feet, longer than the rest, 
serve it as paddles. It is very nimble, and dives down when 
you go to take hold of it; after which, it rises again to the 
surface of the water. It must be cautiously handled, if one 
would avoid being pricked by it, for the point of its rostrum 
is exceedingly sharp, and intolerably painful, but it goes off 
in a few minutes. The larva very much resembles the perfect 
nsect.” 

Such is the account that Mr. Barbut gives of this beautiful 
nimble little creature. To this account, however, we shall 
add the following :—Its legs are long; when taken cut of 
the water, it hops ; it is very common in the ponds of water in 
Hyde Park, and in several other places about London. It is 
of a very particular form, being flattish at the belly, and 
rising to a ridge on the middle of the back; so that when it 
swims, which is almost always on the back, its body has 
much the resemblance of a boat in figure,—whence its vul- • 
gar name. It is eight lines long, three broad, and two and 
a half thick. The belly is jointed, striated, and, as Barbut 
observes, hairy. Nature has provided it with an offensive 
weapon resembling a sting, which it thrusts out when hurt, 
from a large opening at the tail. The head is large and hard; 
the eyes nearly of a triangular form. The nose is a long, 
green, hollow proboscis, ending in a hard and sharp point, 
which in its natural posture remains under the belly, and 
reaches to the middle pair of legs. The outer part of its 


EPHEMERAL FLIES. 


343 


wings are of a pals flesh-colour, with spots of a dead white: 
these are long, narrow, and somewhat transparent; they ter¬ 
minate in a roundish point, and perfectly cover the whole 
body. The triangular piece which stands between the top of 
the wings is hard, and perfectly black ; the inner wings are 
broader and shorter than the outer ones ; they are thin and 
perfectly transparent, and are of a pale pearl-colour. The 
hinder pair being greatly longer than all the rest, they serve 
as oars; and nature has tufted them with hair at the end for 
that purpose. This creature mostly lives in the water, where 
it preys on small insects, killing them, and sucking their juices 
with its proboscis, in the manner of the water scorpion and 
many other aquatic insects: it seizes its prey violently, and 
darts with incredible swiftness to a considerable distance 
after it. 

Though it generally lives in the water, it sometimes, how¬ 
ever, crawls out in good weather; and drying its wings by 
expanding them in the sun, takes flight, and becomes an 
inhabitant of the air, not to be known as the same crea¬ 
ture, unless to those who had accurately observed it before : 
when tired of flying, jr in danger of an enemy, it immediately 
plunges into the water. We are told that there are fourteen 
species of it, seven of which are common in Europe, in wa¬ 
ters, &c. 

Ephemeral Flies. —This species of insect is named ephe¬ 
meral, because of its very short existence in the fly state. It 
is one of the most beautiful species of flies, and undergoes 
five changes. At first, the egg contains its vital principle; it 
comes forth a small caterpillar, which is transformed into a 
chrysalis, then into a nympha, and lastly, into a fly, which 
deposits its eggs upon the surface of water, where the sun’s 
rays bring them to life. Each egg produces a little red worm, 
which moves in a serpentine manner. They are found in 
abundance during the summer, in ponds and marshes ; and as 
soon as cold weather sets in, the little worm makes for itself 
a shell or lodging, where it passes the winter; at the end of 
which it ceases to be a worm, and enters into its third state, 
that of a chrysalis. It then sleeps till spring, and gradually 
becomes a beautiful nympha, or a sort of mummy, something 
in the form of a fish. At the time of its metamorphosis, the 
nympha at first seems inactive and lifeless ; in six days, the 
head appears, raising itself gradually above the surface of the 
water; the body next disengages itself slowly and by degrees, 
till at length the whole animal comes out of its shell. The new¬ 
born fly remains for some minutes motionless upon the water, 
then gradually revives, and feebly shakes its wings, then moves 
them quicker, and attempts first to walk, then to fly. As 


344 CURIOSITIES RESIECT1NG INSECTS 

these insects are all hatched nearly at the same time, they are 
seen in swarms for a few hours flitting and playing upon the 
surface of the water; they then lay their eggs, and soon aftei 
die. Thus they terminate their short life in the space of a 
few hours, and the same day that saw them born, witnessei 
their death 

THE BUTTERFLY. 

Behold, ye pilgrims of this earth, behold! 

See all but man with unearn’d pleasure gay 
See her bright robes the butterfly unfold, 

Broke from her wintry tomb in prime of May: 

What youthful bride can equal her array? 

Who can with her for easy pleasure vie? 

From mead to mead with gentle wing to stray, 

From flower to flower on balmy gales to fly, 

Is all she has to do beneath the radiant sky. Thomson 

The first thing which fixes our attention on beholding these 
aerial inhabitants, is, the clothing with which they are adorned. 
Yet some of them have nothing in this respect to engage our 
notice, their vestment is simple and uniform; others have a 
few ornaments on the wings; but with some, those ornaments 
amount to profusion, and they are covered with them all over. 
This last species will occupy us for a short interval. How 
beautiful are the gradations of colour which decorate them! 
what harmony in those spots which relieve the other parts of 
their attire ! with what delicacy has nature pencilled them! 
But, whatever may be my admiration when I consider this 
insect by the naked eye, how greatly is it augmented, when 
I behold this beautiful object through the medium of the 
microscope ! Would any one ever have imagined, that the 
win^s of butterflies were furnished with feathers? Nothino*. 
however, is more true; and what we commonly call dust, is 
found in reality to be feathers. Their structure and arrange¬ 
ment are adjusted to as perfect symmetry, as their colours are 
soft and brilliant. The parts which form the centre of these 
little feathers, and which immediately touch the wing, are 
the strongest; those, on the contrary, which compose the 
exterior circumference, are much more delicate, and of an ex¬ 
traordinary fineness. All these feathers have a quill at their 
base, but the superior part is more transparent than the quill 
from which it proceeds. If we lay hold of the wing too rudely, 
we destroy the most delicate part of the feathers; but if we 
remove all that we term dust, there remains only a thin trans¬ 
parent skin, where may be distinguished the little orifices in 
which the quill of each feather was lodged. This skin, from 
the lature of its texture, may be as easily discerned from the 
test of tl e wing, as a fine gauze from the cloth on which it is 


THE BUTTERIL\ . 


345 


fastened, it is more porous, more delicate, and seems as if 
embroidered by the needle; to complete its beauty, its extre¬ 
mity finishes by a fringe, whose minute threads succeed each 
other with the utmost regularity. 

What are our most laboured dresses, what is all their 
boasted ornament, in comparison of that refined tissue with 
which nature has invested this simple insect? Our finest 
laces are only like coarse cloth, when brought to vie with that 
luxurious clothing which covers the wings of the butterfly; 
and our smallest thread, by their infinitely delicate fibres, 
swells into hempen cord. Such is the wonderful difference 
to be observed between the works of nature and those of art, 
when viewed through a microscope. The former are finished 
to all imaginable perfection; the others, even the most beau¬ 
tiful of their kind, appear incomplete and coarsely wrought. 
How fine a piece of delicate cambric appears to us! nothing 
more slender than the threads, nothing more uniform than 
the texture : and yet in the microscope these threads resem¬ 
ble hempen strings, and we should rather be tempted to 
believe that they had been interlaced by the hand of a basket- 
maker, than wrought on the loom of a skilful weaver. 

What is most astonishing in this brilliant insect, is, that it 
proceeds from a worm, than which nothing has a more abject 
and vile appearance. Behold how the butterfly displays to 
the sun his splendid wings, how he sports in his rays, how 
he rejoices in his existence, and, in respiring the vernal airs, 
how he flutters in the meadow from flower to flower. His 
rich wings present to us the magnificence of the rainbow. 
How beautiful is he now, who but a little while ago crept a 
worm in the dust, in perpetual danger of being crushed to 
death! Who has raised him above the earth? Who has given 
to him the faculty of inhabiting the ethereal regions? Who 
has furnished him with his painted wings? It is God. 

In down of ev'ry variegated dye, 

Shines, flutfring soft, the gaudy butterfly; 

That powder, which thy spoiling hand distains, 

The form of quills and painted plumes contains : 

Not courts can more magnificence express, 

In all their blaze of gems and pomp of dress. Browne . 

Their wings, all glorious to behold, 

Bedropt with azure, jet, and gold, 

Wide they display ; the spangled dew 

Reflects their eyes and various hue. Gay. 

We shall now briefly describe The Metamorphoses op 
In sects. And first. The Butterfly: 

From form to form they pass in wondrous change. Virgil. 

At the first exclusion from the egg, and for some months 
of its existence afterwards, the creature which is to become a 
15. 2 X 





346 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

butterfly, is a worm-like caterpillar, crawling upc:i sixteen 
short legs, greedily devouring leaves with two jaws, and 
seeing by means of twelve eyes, so minute, as to be nearly 
imperceptible without the aid of ft microscope. We now view 
it furnished with wings capable of rapid and extensive flights ; 
of its sixteen feet, ten have disappeared, and the remaining 
six are in most respects wholly unlike those to which they 
have succeeded; its jaws having vanished, are replaced by' 
a curled-up proboscis, suited only for sipping liquid sweets; 
the form of its head is entirely changed, two long horns pro¬ 
jecting from its upper surface; and, instead of twelve invisible 
eyes, you behold two, very large, and composed of at least 
twenty thousand convex lenses, each supposed to be a dis¬ 
tinct and effective eye! 

Were we to push our examination further, and, by dissection, 
to compare the internal conformation of the caterpillar with 
that of the butterfly, we should witness changes even more 
extraordinary. In the former we should find some thousands 
of muscles, which in the latter are replaced by others, of a 
form and structure entirely different. Nearly the whole body 
of the caterpillar is occupied by a capacious stomach. In the 
butterfly, this has become converted into an almost imper¬ 
ceptible thread-like viscus; and the abdomen is now filled by 
two large packets of eggs, or other organs, not visible in 
the first state. In the former, two spirally-convoluted tubes 
were filled with a silky gum; in the latter, both tubes and 
silk have almost totally vanished, and changes equally great 
have taken place in the economy and structure of the nerves 
and other organs. 

What a surprising transformation! Nor was this all. The 
change from one form to the other was not direct; an inter¬ 
mediate state, not less singular, intervened. After casting its 
skin, even to its very jaws, several times, and attaining its full 
growth, the caterpillar attached itself to a leaf by a silken 
girth. Its body became greatly contracted; its skin once more 
split asunder, and disclosed an oviform mass, without exterior 
mouth, eyes, or limbs, and exhibiting no other symptom of 
life than a slight motion when touched. In this state of 
death-like torpor, and without tasting food, the insect ex¬ 
isted for several months, until at length the tomb burst, and 
out of a case not more than an inch long, and a quarter of an 
inch in diameter, proceeded the butterfly, which covers a 
surface of nearly four inches square. 

The Common Fly. —This winged insect, whose delicate 
palate selects out the choicest viands, one while extending 
his proboscis to the margin of a drop of wine, and then gaily 
flying 1 o take a more solid repast from a pear or a peach; 


THE GNAT.-BEETLE.-DEATH-WATCH. 34 ? 

now gambolling with his comrades in the air, now gracefully 
carrying his furled wings with his taper feet;—was but the 
other day a disgusting grub, without wings, without legs, 
without eyes, wallowing, well pleased, in the midst of a 
mass of excrement. 

The Greycoated Gnat. —This creature, whose humming 
salutation, while she makes her airy circles about our bed, gives 
terrific warning of the sanguinary operation in which she is 
ready to engage, was a few hours ago the inhabitant of a 
stagnant pool, more in shape like a fish than an insect. Then 
to have been taken out of the water would have been speedily 
fatal; now it could as little exist in any other element than 
air. Then it breathed through its tail; now through openings 
in its sides. Its shapeless head, in that period of its exist¬ 
ence, is now exchanged for one adorned with elegantly tufted 
antennes, and furnished, instead of jaws, with an apparatus 
more artfully constructed than the cupping-glasses of the 
phlebotomist; an apparatus, which, at the same time that it 
strikes in the lancets, composes a tube for pumping up the 
flowing blood. 

The Shardhorn Beetle. —This species of beetle, whose 
sullen hum, as he directs his droning flight close past our 
ears in our evening walk, was not in his infancy an inhabit¬ 
ant of air, the first period of his life being spent in gloomy 
solitude, as a grub, under the surface of the earth. The 
shapeless maggot, which we scarcely fail to meet with in 
some one of every handful of nuts we crack, would not always 
have grovelled in that humble state. If our unlucky intrusion 
upon its vaulted dwelling had not left it to perish in the wide 
world, it would have continued to reside there until its full 
growth had been attained. Then it would have gnawed itself 
an opening, and, having entered the earth, and passed a few 
months in a state of inaction, would at length have emerged 
an elegant beetle, furnished with a slender and very long 
ebony beak; two wings, and two wing-cases, ornamented 
with yellow bands ; six feet; and in every respect unlike the 
worm from which it proceeded. 

The Death-watch. —This appalling name is applied to a 
harmless, diminutive insect, because it emits a sound resem¬ 
bling the ticking of a watch, and is supposed to predict the 
death of some one of the family, in the house in which it is 
heard. Thus sings the muse of the witty Dean of St. Patrick 
on this subject:— 

“-A wood worm 

That lies in old wood, like a hare in her form: 



348 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSEClh. 


With teeth or with jlaws, it will bite or will scratch. 

And chambermaids christen this worm a death-watch; 

Because like a watch it always cries click: 

Then woe be to those in the house who are sick! 

For, sure as a gun, they will give up the ghost, 

If the maggot cries click, when it scratches the pest: 

But a kettle of scalding-hot water injected 
Infallibly cures the timber affected ; 

The omen is broken, the danger is over, 

The maggot will die, and the sick will recover/* 

To add to the effect of this noise, it is said to be made 
only when there is a profound silence in an apartment, and 
every one is still. 

Authors were formerly not agreed concerning the insect 
from which this sound of terror proceeded, some attributing 
it to a kind of woodlouse, and others to a spider ; but it is 
now a received opinion, adopted upon satisfactory evidence, 
that it is produced by some little beetles belonging to the 
timber-boring genus, Anobium, F. Swammerdam observes, 
that a small beetle, which he had in his collection, having 
firmly fixed its fore-legs, and put its indexed head between 
them, makes a continual noise in old pieces of wood, w r alls, 
and ceilings, which is sometimes so loud, that upon hearing 
it, people have fancied that hobgoblins, ghosts, or fairies, 
were wandering around them. Evidently this was one of the 
death-watches. Latreille observed Anobium striatum , F. pro¬ 
duce the sound in question, by a stroke of its mandibles upon 
the wood, which was answered by a similar noise from within 
it. But the species whose proceedings have been most no¬ 
ticed by British observers, is, A. tessellatum, F. • When spring 
is far advanced, these insects are said to commence their 
ticking, which is only a call to each other, to which, if no 
answer be returned, the animal repeats it in another place. 
It is thus produced : Raising itself upon its hind-legs, with 
the body somewhat inclined, it beats its head with great force 
and agility upon the plane of its position ; and its strokes are 
so powerful, as to make a considerable impression if they fall 
upon any substance softer than wood. The general number 
of distinct strokes in succession, is from seven to nine or 
eleven; they follow each other quickly, and are repeated at 
uncertain intervals. In old houses, where these insects abound, 
they may be heard in warm weather during the whole day. 
The noise exactly resembles that produced by tapping mode¬ 
rately with the nail upon a table ; and, when familiarized, the 
insect will answer very readily the tap of the nail. 




LOCUSTS. 


349 


CHAP. XXXI. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS.- (CojltitUed.) 

Locusts and Mosquitoes, and their Uses in the Creation ;— -f^om 

Kirby, Spence, and Fothergill . 

Locusts. —If we could discover the use of every animal in 
the creation, we should gain a very clear insight into the grand 
designs of the Almighty, respecting creatures inferior to 
ourselves, and perceive the immediate cause and necessity 
of their existence, and how far we have a right to interfere 
with their economy. That man should ever attain the whole 
extent of this knowledge, in this state of existence, can 
scarcely be hoped for; but, that he may learn much, there 
can be no doubt. 

Because the utility of some animals, in a general view, is 
not palpably obvious, we ought not pettishly or hopelessly to 
give up the inquiry. Some of the most numerous are appa¬ 
rently the most noxious, and the least useful, as the locust 
(gry/tus migratorius) for example. It has never been my 
fortune to visit countries subject to the devastations of these 
insects; and the travellers who describe them, seem, either 
through w r ant of inclination, or astonishment at the desolating 
effects produced by their incursions, unable to give those 
facts which an industrious and attentive naturalist, with en¬ 
larged views, might collect and apply to some useful purpose; 
for there can be no doubt that Infinite Wisdom would not 
have permitted these insects to be so numerous as they are, 
if their existence was not absolutely necessary. To look at 
a locust in a cabinet of insects, we should not, at first sight, 
deem it capable of being the source of so much evil to man¬ 
kind as stands on record against it. Yet, although this animal 
be not very tremendous for its size, nor very terrific in its 
appearance, it is the very same whose ravages have been the 
theme of naturalists and historians in all ages, and, upon a 
close examination, it will be found to be peculiarly fitted and 
furnished for the execution of its office. 

It is armed with two pair of very strong jaws, the uppei 
terminating in short, and the lower in long teeth, by which it 
can both lacerate and grind its food ; its stomach is of ex 
traordinary capacity and powers; its hind-legs ens ble it to 
leap to a considerable distance, and its ample vans are calcu¬ 
lated to catch the wind as sails, and so carry it sometimes 
over the sea; and although a single individual can effect but 
little evil, yet, when the entire surface of a country is covered 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 


350 

by them, and every one makes bare the spot on which it 
stands, the mischief produced may be as extensive as their num¬ 
bers. So well do the Arabians know their power, that they 
make a locust say to Mahomet, “ We are the army of the 
Great God; we produce ninety-nine eggs: if the hundred# 
were completed, we should consume the whole earth, and all 
that is in it.”— Bochart. 

The earliest plague produced by the locusts, which has been 
recorded, appears also to have been the most direful in its 
immediate effects, that ever was inflicted upon any nation. 
It is that with which the Egyptian tyrant and his people 
were visited for their oppression of the Israelites. Only con¬ 
ceive of a country so covered by them, that no one can see 
the face of the ground—a whole land darkened, and all its 
produce, whether herb or trees, so devoured, that not the least 
vestige of green is left in either.— Exod . x. 5, 14, 15. But it 
is not necessary to enlarge upon a history, the circumstances 
of which are so well known. To this species of devastation, 
Africa in general seems always to have been peculiarly sub¬ 
ject. This may be gathered from the law in Cyrenaica men¬ 
tioned by Pliny, by which the inhabitants were enjoined to 
destroy the locusts in three different states, three times in 
the year; first their eggs, then their young, and lastly the 
perfect insect.* And not without reason was such a law 
enacted; for Orosius tells us, that in the year of the world 
3,800, Africa was infested by such infinite myriads of these 
animals, that, having devoured every green thing, after flying 
off to sea they were drowned, and, being cast upon the shore, 
they emitted a stench greater than could have been pro¬ 
duced by the carcases of 100,000 men!— Oros. contra Pag. 
1. v. c. 2. St. Augustine also mentions a plague to have arisen 
in that country from the same cause, which destroyed no 
less than 800,000 persons (octoginta hominum millia) in 
the kingdom of Masanissa alone, and many more in the 
territories bordering upon the sea.— Less. 1. 247. note 46. 
From Africa this plague was occasionally imported into Italy 
and Spain; and an historian quoted in Mouffet relates, that 
in the year 591 an infinite army of locusts, of a size unusually 
large, grievously ravaged part of Italy; and being at last cast 
into the sea, from their stench arose a pestilence which carried 
off near a million of men and beasts. In the Venetian terri¬ 
tory also, in the year 1478, more than 30,000 persons are said 
*o have perished in a famine occasioned by these terrific 
scourges. Many other instances of their devastations in 
Europe, in France, Spain, Italy, Germany, and other countries, 

* Hist. Nat. I. xi. c. 29. A similar law was enacted in Lemnos, by 
which every one was compelled to bring a certain measure of locusts 
annually to the magistrates Plin. 


LOCUSTS. 


351 


are recorded by the same author. In 1650 a cloud of them 
was seen to enter Russia in three different places, which from 
thence passed over into Poland and Lithuania, where the air 
was darkened by their numbers. In some places they were 
seen lying dead, heaped one upon another to the depth of four 
feet; in others they covered the surface like a black cloth; 
the trees bent with their weight; and the damage they did 
exceeded all computation.— Bingley, iii. 258. At a later 
period, in Languedoc, when the sun became hot, they took 
wing, and fell upon the corn, devouring both leaf and ear, 
and that with such expedition, that in three hours they would 
consume a whole field. After having eaten up the corn, they 
attacked the vines, the pulse, the willows, and lastly, the 
hemp, notwithstanding its bitterness.— Philos . Trans. 1686. 
Sir H. Davy informs us (Elements of Agricultural Chemistry , 
233,) that the French government in 1813 issued a decree with 
a view to occasion the destruction of grasshoppers. 

Even this happy island, so remarkably distinguished by its 
exemption from most of those scourges to which other nations 
are exposed, was once alarmed by the appearance of locusts. 
In 1748 they were observed here in considerable numbers, but 
providentially they soon perished without propagating. These 
were evidently stragglers from the vast swarms which in the 
preceding year did such infinite damage in Wallachia, Mol¬ 
davia, Transylvania, Hungary, and Poland. One of these 
swarms, which entered Transylvania in August, was several 
hundred fathoms in width, (at Vienna the breadth of one of 
them was three miles,) and extended to so great a length, as 
to be four hours in passing over the Red Tower; and such 
was its density, that it totally intercepted the solar light, so 
that when they flew low, one person could not see another at 
the distance of vwenty paces.— Philos. Trans, xlvi. 30. A 
similar account has been given by Major Moor, long resident 
in India. He relates, that when at Poonah, he was witness to 
an immense army of locusts which ravaged the Mahratta 
country, and was supposed to come from Arabia :• this, if cor¬ 
rect, is a strong proof of their power to pass the sea under 
favourable circumstances. The column they composed, ex¬ 
tended five hundred miles; and so compact was it, when on 
the wing, that, like an eclipse, it completely hid the sun, so 
that no shadow w r as cast by any object; and some lofty tombs, 
distant from his residence not more than two hundred yards, 
were rendered quite invisible. This was not the Gryllus 
migratorius , L. but a red species; which circumstance much 
increased the horror of the scene, for, clustering upon the 
trees after they had stripped them of their foliage, they 
imparted to them a sanguine hue. The peach was the .ust 
tree they touched. 


852 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

Dr. Clarke, to give some idea of the infinite numbers of 
these animals, compares them to a flight of snow when the 
flakes are carried obliquely by the wind. They covered his 
carriage and horses; and the Tartars assert, that people are 
sometimes suffocated by them. The whole face ol nature 
might have been described as covered by a living veil. They 
consisted of two species, G. tartaricus , and migratorius , JL; 
the first is almost twice the size of the second, and, because 
it precedes it, is called by the Tartars, the herald or messen¬ 
ger.— Travels , i. 348. The account of another traveller, Mr. 
Barrow, of their ravages in the southern parts of Africa, in 
1784, and 1797, is still more striking: an area of nearly two 
thousand square miles might be said literally to be covered 
by them. When driven into the sea by a n.. w. wind, they 
formed upon the shore, for fifty miles, a bank three or four 
feet high; and when the wind was s. e. the stench was so 
powerful, as to be smelt at the distance of a hundred and fifty 
miles.— Travels , &c. 257. 

From 1778 to 1780, the empire of Morocco was terribly 
devastated by them; every green thing was eaten up, not even 
the bitter bark of the orange and pomegranate escaping. A 
most dreadful famine ensued : the poor were seen to wander 
over the country, deriving a miserable subsistence from the 
roots of plants; and women and children followed the camels, 
from whose dung they picked the undigested grains of barley, 
which they devoured with avidity: in consequence of this, 
vast numbers perished, and the roads and streets exhi¬ 
bited the unburied carcases of the dead. On this sad occa¬ 
sion, fathers sold their children, and husbands their wives.— 
Southey’s Thalaba, i. 171. 

When they visit a country, (says Mr. Jackson, speaking of 
the same empire,) it behoves every one to lay in provision for 
a famine, for they stay from three to seven years. When 
they have devoured all other vegetables, they attack the trees, 
consuming first the leaves and then the bark. From Moga- 
dar to Tangier, before the plague in 1799, the face of the 
earth was covered by them : at that time a singular incident 
occurred at El Arisch. The whole region from the confines 
of Sahara w'as ravaged by them ; but on the other side of 
the river El Kos, not one of them w'as to be seen, though 
there w'as nothing to prevent their flying over it. Till then, 
they had proceeded northward ; but, upon arriving at its 
banks, they turned to the east, though all the country north of 
Arisch was full of pulse, fruits, and grain, exhibiting a 
most striking contrast to the desolation of the adjoining dis¬ 
trict. At length they were all carried by a violent hurricane 
into the western ocean; the shore, as in former instances, 
was covered by their carcases, and a pestilence was caused 


LOCUSTS. 


363 


by the horrid stench which they emitted : but when this evil 
ceased, their devastations were followed by a most abundant 
crop. The Arabs of the desert, “ whose hands are against 
every man,” Gen . xvi. 12. and who rejoice in the evil that 
befalls other nations, when they behold the clouds of locusts 
proceeding from the north, are filled with gladness, anticipat¬ 
ing a general mortality, which they call el khere, (the bene¬ 
diction;) for, when a country is thus laid waste, they emerge 
from their arid deserts, and pitch their tents in the desolated 
plains.— Jackson’s Travels in Morocco, 54. 

The noise the locusts make when engaged in the work of 
destruction, has been compared to the sound of a flame of 
fire driven by the wind, and the effect of their bite to that of 
fire.— Bochart. A poet of our own day has very strikingly 
described the noise produced by their flight and approach :— 

Onward they came, a dark continuous cloud 
Of congregated myriads, numberless, 

The rushing of whose wings was as the sound 
Of a broad river, headlong in its course 
Plunx’d from a mountain summit, or the roar 
Of ; vild ocean in the autumn storm, 

Shattering its billow's on a shore of rocks ! 

Southey’s Thalaba , i. 169. 

But no account of the appearance and ravages of these ter¬ 
rific insects, for correctness and sublimity, comes near to that 
of the prophet Joel : “ A day of darkness and of gloominess, a 
day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread 
upon the mountains : a great people and a strong; there hath 
not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even 
to the years of many generations. A fire devoureth before 
them ; and behind them a flame burneth : the land is as the 
garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wil¬ 
derness ; yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appear¬ 
ance of them is as the appearance of horses ; and as horse¬ 
men, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots* on the 
tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame 
of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people 
set in battle-array. Before their face the people shall be 
much pained ; all faces shall gather blackness. They shall 
run like mighty men ; they shall climb the wall like men of 
war ; and they shall march every one on his w r ays, and they shall 
not break their ranks: neither shall one thrust another; they 
shall walk every one in his path : and when they fall upon 
the sword, they shall not be wounded. They shall run to 
and fro in the city ; they shall run upon the wall, they shall 

* Of the symbolical locusts in the Apocalypse it is said, “ And the 
sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses run 
uing to battle.”— Rev. ix. 9. 

2 Y 


354 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

climb up upon the houses ; they shall enter in at the windows 
like a thief. The earth shall quake before them, the heavens 
shall tremble : the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the 
stars shall withdraw their shining!” The usual way in which 
they are destroyed, is also noticed by the prophet. “ I will 
remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him 
into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east 
sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink 
shall come up, because he hath done great things !”—Joel ii. 
2 — 10 , 20 . 

The best method of destroying locusts, would be to recom¬ 
mend them as an article of food. In the Crimea, they are 
often eaten by the inhabitants. Some French emigrants, who 
had been directed in this manner, assured me, that w r hen 
fried, they were very palatable and very w T holesome. The 
Arabs, according to Hasselquist, eat them roasted, and are 
glad to get them. 

It is quite certain that there is nothing endued by na¬ 
ture with peculiar functions, in vain; and it is equally certain, 
that matter, however modified, whether in the form of ani¬ 
mated or inanimated bodies, is continually undergoing change. 
The more deeply we investigate the works of creation, the 
more strong will be our conviction of these truths. 

We know that many animals, and particularly insects, 
have apparently no other employment, than that of clearing 
or purifying the surface of the earth of superfluous matter, 
the residuum of decayed bodies, or of reconverting it into 
useful forms, as I shall attempt to illustrate hereafter. Now, 
if we survey those regions which give birth to, and support, 
the vast clouds of locusts alluded to, our view will be confined 
principally to the extensive deserts of Africa and Asia; the 
vegetation of many of which, according to the reports of 
travellers, is abundant and luxuriant, beyond the conception 
of those who have not beheld them; insomuch, that the crops 
of grass, and other annual vegetables, absolutely load the 
earth ; and these, perishing upon each other, would form an 
impenetrable, putrid mass, if not consumed by some animals 
appointed for the purpose. 

That locusts support existence by vegetable food, is well 
known; but whether they have no other object than to con¬ 
sume the superabundant produce of the regions they frequent, 
and to procreate, is not so easily proved. One who has had 
no opportunity of witnessing their manners, from their birth 
to their final destruction, can scarcely be able positively to 
decide; but I have no doubt that an intelligent naturalist, 
(governed by the principles this chapter is intended, in some 
measure, to illustrate,) with the necessary opportunities, such 
as Dr. Shaw, in particular, had, would be able to get at facts 


LOCUSTS. 


366 


that would indisputably prove the existence of locusts to be a 
blessing rather than a curse. 

Whatever may be the direct object of their existence, 
locusts are of great use to many other animals, for there are 
some, particularly birds, that entirely prey upon them; and, 
if man himself refuses this food, it is rather from the pre¬ 
judice, perhaps, of an absurd education, than from any im¬ 
proper or bad quality of the food itself.'* The inhabitants 
of several eastern nations have a relish for this diet: and it 
is recorded of him who cried in the wilderness, “ Prepare ye 
the way of the Lord,” that “ his meat was locusts and wild 
honey .”—Matthew iii. 4. After this, we cannot listen to the 
feeble remonstrances of any modern epicure. 

Mosquitoes, and their Uses. —The mosquito is ac¬ 
counted one of the most noxious and the most numerous of 
insects; at least of such as are esteemed noxious by the vul¬ 
gar and the ignorant. In some countries, indeed, their num¬ 
bers, and the effects produced by them, are wonderful. There 
is no instance on record more striking than the following, as 
related by Dr. Clarke:— 

“ No contrivance on our part could prevent millions of 
mosquitoes from filling the inside of our carriage, which, in 
spite of gloves, clothes, and handkerchiefs, rendered our 
bodies one entire wound. The Cossacks light numerous fires, to 
drive them from the cattle during the night; but so insatiate 
is their thirst of blood, that hundreds will attack a person 
attempting to shelter himself even in the midst of smoke. 
At the same time, the noise they make in flying cannot be 
conceived by persons who have only been accustomed to the 
humming of such insects in our country.”—“ Almost ex¬ 
hausted by fatigue, pain, and heat, I sought shelter in the 
carriage, sitting: in water and mud. It was the most sultry 
night I ever experienced; not a breath of air was stirring; 
nor could I venture to open the windows, though almost 
suffocated, through fear of the mosquitoes. Swarms, never¬ 
theless, found their way to my hiding-place; and when I 
opened my mouth, it was filled with them. My head was 
bound in handkerchiefs; yet they forced their way into my 
ears and nostrils. In the midst of this torment, I succeeded 
in lighting a lamp over the sword-case; which was instantly 
extinguished by such a prodigious number of these insects, 
that their dead bodies actually remained heaped in a large 
cone over the burner for several days afterward: and I know 

* Shaw says, that the gryllus cristatus , which is five or six times the 
size of the common locust, or gryllus migratorius , is publicly sold, both 
in a fresh and salted state, in the markets of some parts of the Levant, 
Ger. Zoology , vol. vi. part. ii. p. 13ft 


356 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

not any mode of description which can convey a more 
adequate idea of their afflicting; visitation, than by simply 
relating this fact: to the truth of which, those who travelled 
with me, and who are now living, bear indisputable testi¬ 
mony.” 

Those who have laboured under so painful a visitation, as 
that to which this lively account refers, may not perhaps be 
so ready to admit the general utility of these irritating; insects, 
though their usefulness is more evident, and far more easily 
proved, than that of the locust, or indeed of most other 
animals of a similar nature. Bred in the midst of stagnant 
pools, of bogs, and marshes, in regions unwholesome to 
man, and where the effluvia arising from animal bodies, and 
from rank decaying vegetable substances, are so abundant, 
as to form thick pestilential vapours, that would inflict almost 
instant destruction on the human inhabitant, and most other 
creatures, if not removed as quickly as they were formed ;— 
bred in such regions, and gifted with functions and propensi¬ 
ties directed to the proper ends, the mosquito supports its 
existence by consuming the noxious particles exhaled from 
the swamps ; and the bodies of animals, as rapidly as they 
are generated ;—thereby preventing that horrible putrefaction 
of the air, and consequent pestilence, which would infallibly 
take place, if the mosquitoes, and similar insects, were not 
employed to purify the atmosphere. 


—»►©©©<«*— 


CHAP. XXXII. 

curiosities respecting insects.— (Concluded.) 

Animalcules—The Cheese Mite—The Hydra, or Polypes. 

The smallest creature in existence 

Has limbs and sinews, blood, and heart, and brain, 

Life and her proper functions to sustain, 

Through the whole fabric, smaller than a grain ! 

What more can our penurious reason grant 
To the large whale, or castled elephant;— 

To those enormous terrors of the Nile, 

The crested snake, and long-tail’d crocodile ;— 

Than that all differ but in shape and name, 

Each destin’d to a less or larger frame ? Prior's Solomon. 

ANIMALCULES. 

The microscope discovers legions of animalcules in mos* 
liquors, as water, vinegar, beer, dew. See. They are also 
found in rain, and several chalybeate waters, and in infusions 
of both animal and vegetable substances, as the seminal fluids 



A N I M A LCULES. 


A57 


of animals, pepper, oats, wheat, and other grain, tea, See. Sec. 
The contemplation of animalcules has rendered the term, itiji- 
nitely small bodies, extremely familiar to us. A mite was 
anciently thought the limits of littleness ; but we are not now 
surprised, to be told of animals twenty-seven millions of times 
smaller than a mite. Minute animals are found proportion- 
ably much stronger, more active and vivacious, than large 
ones. The spring of a flea in its leap, how vastly does"it 
outskip any thing the larger animals are capable of! A mite, 
how vastly swifter does it run than a race-horse ! M. De. 
LTsle has given the computation of the velocity of a little 
creature, scarcely visible by its smallness ; which he found to 
run three inches in half a second : supposing now its feet to 
be the fifteenth part of a line, it must make five hundred 
steps in the space of three inches ; that is, it must shift its 
legs five hundred times in a second, or in the ordinary pulsa¬ 
tion of an artery. The excessive minuteness of microscopical 
animalcules conceals them from the human eye. One of the 
wonders of modern philosophy is, to have invented means for 
bringing objects, to us so imperceptible, under our cogni¬ 
zance and inspection : creatures, a thousand times too little 
to be able to affect our sense, should seem to have been verv 
.safe ; yet we have extended our views over animals, to whom 
these would be mountains. In reality, most of our micro¬ 
scopical animalcules are of so small a magnitude, that through 
a lens, whose focal distance is the tenth-part of an inch, they 
only appear as so many points ; that is, their parts cannot be 
distinguished, so that they appear from the vertex of that 
lens under an anode not exceeding a minute. 

If we investigate the magnitude of such an object, it will 
be found nearly equal to TrrdWffth of an inch long. Suppos¬ 
ing, therefore, these animalcules of a cubic figure, that is, of 
the same length, breadth, and thickness, their magnitude 
w r ould be expressed by the cube of the fraction TcrtfW?)'* that 

is, by the number 1060 , 000 ,oomwoo that is, so many parts of a 
cubic inch, is each animalcule equal to. Leuwenhoek cal¬ 
culates, that a thousand millions of animalcules, which are 
discovered in common water, are not altogether so large as a 
grain of sand. In the milt of a single cod-fish, there are 
more animals than there are upon the whole earth ; fora grain 
of sand is bigger than four millions of them. The white mat¬ 
ter that sticks to the teeth also abounds with animalcules of 
various figures, to which vinegar is fatal; and it is known, 
that vinegar contains animalcules in the shape of eels. In 
short, according to this author, there is scarcely any thing 
which corrupts, without producing animalcules. Animalcules 
are sail to be the cause of various disorders. The itch is 
known tc be a disorder arising from the irritation of a species 




358 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING 1 N SECTS. 

of animalcules found in the pustules of the body; when the 
communication of it by contact from one to another is easily 
conceived, as also the reason of the cure being effected by 
cutaneous applications. 

In the Philosophical Transactions, vol. 89, is a curious 
account of animalcules produced from an infusion of pota¬ 
toes, and another of hemp-seed, by the late Mr. Ellis. 

“ On the 25th of May, 1768,” he says, “ Fahrenheit’s ther¬ 
mometer 70°, I boiled a potato in the New-River water, till 
it was reduced to a mealy consistence : I put part of it, with 
an equal proportion of the boiling liquor, mto a cylindrical 
glass vessel, that held something less than half a wine pint, 
and immediately covered it close with a glass cover. At the 
same time I sliced an unboiled potato, and, as near as I could 
judge, put the same quantity into a glass vessel of the same 
kind, with the same proportion of New-River water, not 
boiled; and, covering it with a glass cover, placed both 
vessels together. On the 26th of May, twenty-four hours 
afterwards, I examined a small drop of each by the first 
magnifier of Wilson’s microscope, whose focal distance is 
reckoned ^th part of an inch ; and, to my amazement, they 
were both full of animalcules, of a linear shape, very distin¬ 
guishable, moving to and fro with great celerity, so that there 
appeared to be more particles of animal than vegetable life in 
each drop. This experiment I have repeatedly tried, and 
always found it to succeed in proportion to the heat of the 
circumambient air; so that even in winter, if the liquors are 
kept properly warm for two or three days, the experi¬ 
ment will succeed. I procured hemp-seed from different 
seedsmen, in different parts of the town ; some of it I put 
into the New-River water, some into distilled water, and some 
into very hard pump-water: the result was, that in propor¬ 
tion to the heal of the weather, or warmth in which they were 
kept, there was an appearance of millions of minute animal¬ 
cules in all the infusions; and, some time after, oval ones 
made their appearance, much larger than the first, which 
still continued ; these wriggled to and fro in an undulatory 
motion, turning themselves round very quick all the time 
they moved forwards.” 


The Cheese-mite. —This minute creature is a favourite sub¬ 
ject for microscopic observations. It is covered with hairs or 
bristles, which resemble in their structure the awns of barley, 
being barbed on each side with numerous sharp-pointed pro¬ 
cesses. The mite is oviparous: from the eggs proceed the young 
animals, resembling the parents in all respects, except in the 
number of legs, which at first amount only to six, the pair 
from the head not making their appearance till after casting 


THE HYDRA, OR POLYPES. 


369 


tlieir first skin. The eggs, in warm weather, hatch in about a 
week, and the young animal may be seen sometimes for a day 
together struggling to get rid of its egg-shell. The mite is a 
very voracious animal, feasting equally upon animal and 
vegetable substances. It is also extremely tenacious of life: 
for, upon the authority of Leuwenhoek, though highly dis¬ 
creditable to his sense of humanity, we are assured that a 
mite lived eleven weeks after he had glued it to a pin, in 
order to make his observations. 

We shall close the account of the curiosities of insects with a 
description of The Hydra, or Polypes. —In natural history, 
this is a genus of the Vermes Zoopliyta class and order ; an animal 
fixing itself by the base; linear, gelatinous, naked, contractile, 
and furnished with setaceous tentaculse, or feelers; inhabit¬ 
ing fresh waters, and producing its deciduous offspring, or 
eggs, from the sides. There are five species, H. gelatinosa, 
minute and gelatinous, milk-white, cylindrical, with twelve 
tentaculse shorter than the body: it inhabits Denmark, in 
clusters on the under side of Fuci. But on the viridis, the 
fusca, and the grisca, the greatest number of experiments have 
been made by naturalists, to ascertain their true nature and 
very wonderful habits. They are generally found in ditches. 
Whoever has carefully examined these, when the sun is very 
powerful, will find many little transparent lumps of the 
appearance of jelly, the size of a pea, and flatted upon one 
side. The same kind of substances are likewise to be met 
with on the under side of the leaves of plants that grow in 
such places. These are the polypes in a quiescent state, and 
apparently inanimate. They are generally fixed by one end 
to some solid substance, with a large opening, which is the 
mouth; the other having* several arms fixed round it, pro¬ 
jecting as rays from the centre. They are slender, pellucid, 
and capable of contracting themselves into a very small com¬ 
pass, or of extending to a considerable length. The arms are 
capable of the same contraction and expansion as the body, 
and with these they lay hold of minute worms and insects, 
bringing them to the mouth, and swallowing them. The in¬ 
digestible parts are again thrown out by the mouth. 

The green polype was that first discovered by M. Trembley: 
and the first appearances of spontaneous motion were per¬ 
ceived in its arms, which it can contract, expand, and twist 
about in various directions. On the first appearance of dan¬ 
ger, they contract to such a degree, that they seem little 
longer than a grain of sand, of a fine green colour, the arms 
disappearing entirely. Soon afterwards, he found the grisca, 
and afterwards the fusca. The bodies of the viridis and 
orisea diminish almost insensibly from the anterioi to the pos- 


360 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 


terior ext/emity; but the fusca is for the most part of an 
equal size, for two-thirds of its length, from the anterior to 
the posterior extremities, from which it becomes abruptly 
smaller, and then continues of a regular size to the end. 
These three kinds have at least six, and at most twelve or 
thirteen arms. They can contract themselves till their bodies 
do not exceed one-fourth of an inch in length, and they can 
stop at any intermediate degree of expansion or contraction. 
They are of various sizes, from an inch to an inch and a half 
long. Their arms are seldom longer than their bodies, though 
some have them an inch, and some even eight inches long. 
The thickness of their bodies decreases as they extend them¬ 
selves, and vice versa; and they may be made to contract 
themselves, either by agitating the water in which they are 
contained, or by touching the animals themselves. When taken 
out of the water, they all contract so much, that they appear 
only like a little lump of jelly. They can contract or expand 
one arm, or any number of arms, independently of the rest; 
and they can likewise bend their bodies or arms in all possible 
directions. They can also dilate or contract their bodies in 
various places, and sometimes appear thick set with folds, 
which, when carelessly view r ed, appear like rings. Their pro¬ 
gressive motion is performed by that power which they have 
of contracting and dilating their bodies. When about to 
move, they bend down their heads and arms; lay hold by 
means of them, or some other substance to which they design 
to fasten themselves; then they loosen their tail, and draw it 
towards the head ; then either fix it in that place, or stretch¬ 
ing forward their head as before, repeat the same operation. 
They ascend or descend at pleasure in this manner upon 
aquatic plants, or upon the sides of the vessel in which they 
are kept; they sometimes hang by the tail from the surface 
of the water, or sometimes by one of their arms; and they can 
walk w T ith ease upon the surface of the water. On examining 
the tail with a microscope, a small part of it will be found to 
be dry above the surface of the water, and, as it were, in a 
little concave space, of which the tail forms the bottom ; so 
that it seems to be suspended on the surface of the water, on 
the same principle that a small pin or needle is made to 
swim. When a polype, therefore, means to pass from the 
sides of the glass to the surface of the water, it has only to 
put that part out of the water by which it is supported, and 
to give it time to dry, which it always does upon these occa¬ 
sions; and they attach themselves so firmly by the tail to 
aquatic plants, stones, &c. that they cannot be easily disen¬ 
gaged : they often further strengthen these attachments by 
means of one or two of their arms, which serve as a kind of 
ancho s far fixing them to the adjacent substances 


THE HYDRA, OR POLYPES. 


361 

The fusca has the longest arms, and makes use of the most 
curious manoeuvres to seize its prey. They are best viewed 
in a glass seven or eight inches deep, when their arms com¬ 
monly hang down to the bottom. When this or any other 
kind is hungry, it spreads its arms in a kind of circle to a 
considerable extent, inclosing in this, as in a net, every insect 
which has the misfortune to come within the circumference. 
While the animal is contracted by seizing its prey, the arms 
are observed to swell like the muscles of the human body when 
in action. Though no appearance of eyes can be observed in 
the polype, they certainly have some knowledge of the ap¬ 
proach of their prey, and shew the greatest attention to it as 
soon as it comes near them. It seizes a worm the moment it 
is touched by one of the arms, and in conveying it to the 
mouth, it frequently twists the arm into a spiral line like a 
corkscrew, by which means the insect is brought to the 
mouth in a much shorter time than otherwise it would be; 
and so soon are the insects on which the polypes feed killed 
by them, that M. Fontana thinks they must contain the most 
powerful kind of poison ; for the lips scarcely touch the ani¬ 
mal, when it expires, though there cannot be o' ” wound per¬ 
ceived on it when dead. The worm, when swa-.^wed, appears 
sometimes single, sometimes double, according to circum¬ 
stances. When full, the polype contracts itself, hangs down 
as in a kind of stupor, but extends again in proportion as 
the food is digested, and the excrementitious part is dis¬ 
charged. 

The manner in which the polypes propagate, is most per¬ 
ceptible in the grisca and fusca, as being considerably larger 
than the viridis. If we examine one of them in summer, when 
the animals are most active, and prepared for propagation, 
some small tubercles will be found proceeding from its sides, 
which constantly increase in bulk, until at last, in two or three 
days, they assume the figure of small polypes. When they 
first begin to shoot, the excrescence becomes pointed, assum¬ 
ing a conical figure and deeper colour than the rest of the 
body. In a short time it becomes truncated, and then cylin¬ 
drical, after which the arms begin to shoot from the anterior 
end. The tail adheres to the body of the parent animal, but 
gradually grows smaller, until at last it hangs only by a point, and 
is then ready to be separated. When this is the case, both 
the mother and young ones fix themselves to the sides of the 
glass, and are separated from each other by a sudden jerk. 
The time requisite for the formation of the young ones is very 
different, according to the warmth of the weather, and the 
nature of the food eaten by the mother. Sometimes they are 
fully formed, and ready to drop off, in twenty-four hours; in 
other cases, when the weather is cold, fifteen days have been 

2 Z 


i 



362 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING INSECTS. 

requisite for bringing - them tc perfection. The polypes pro¬ 
duce young ones indiscriminately from all parts of tneir 
bodies, and five or six young ones have frequently been pro¬ 
duced at once; nay, M. Trembley has observed nine or ten 
produced at the same time. 

When a polype is cut transversely, or longitudinally, into 
two or three parts, each part in a short time becomes a perfect 
animal; and so great is this prolific power, that a new animal 
will be produced, even from a small portion of the skin of 
the old one. If the young ones be mutilated while they grow 
upon the parent, the parts so cut off will be re-produced ; and 
the same property belongs to the parent. A truncated portion 
will send forth young ones before it has acquired a new head 
and tail of its own, and sometimes the head of the young one 
supplies the place of that which should have grown out of the 
old one. If we slit a polype longitudinally through the head 
to the middle of the body, we shall have one formed with 
two heads ; and by again slitting these in the same manner, 
we may form one with as many heads as we please. A still 
more surprising property of these animals is, that they may 
be grafted together. If the truncated portions of a polype be 
placed end to end, and gently pushed together, they will 
unite into a single one. The two portions are first joined 
together by a slender neck, which gradually fills up and dis¬ 
appears, the food passing from one part into the other; and 
thus we may form polypes, not only from different portions 
of the same animal, but from those of different animals. We 
may fix the head of one to the body of another, and the com¬ 
pound animal will grow, eat, and multiply, as if it had never 
been divided. By pushing the body of one into the mouth of 
another, so far that their heads may be brought into contact, 
and kept in that situation for some time, they will at last 
unite into one animal, only having double the usual number 
of arms. The hydra fusca may be turned inside out like a 
glove, at the same time that it continues to eat and live as 
before. The lining of the stomach now forms the outer skin, 
and the former epidermis constitutes the lining of the sto 
such- 


VEGETABLES. 


363 


CHAP. XXXIII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VEGETABLES. 

Curiosities in the Vegetable Kingdom—Germination of Seeds— 
Dissemination of Plants—Number of Plants upon the Earth — 
Sensibility of Plants—The Sensitive Plant . 

Your contemplation further yet pursue; 

The wondrous world of vegetables view ! 

See various trees their various fruits produce, 

Some for delightful taste, and some for use. 

See sprouting plants enrich the plain and wood, 

For physic some, and some design’d for food. 

See fragrant flow’rs, with dill'erent colours dy’d, 

On smiling meads unfold their gaudy pride. Blachmore* 

CURIOSITIES IN TIIE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 

The difference between animals and vegetables so great, 
that at first we do not perceive any resemblance between them. 
Some animals only live in water; others on the earth, cr in 
the air; and some are amphibious, or live equally well in 
water as upon land. And this is literally the case with vege¬ 
tables : some of them only grow upon land, others in the 
water; some can scarcely bear any moisture, others live 
either in earth or water; and some even ore found that exist 
in the air. 

There is a tree in the island of Japan, which, contrary to 
the nature of all others, to which moisture is necessary, can¬ 
not bear the least portion. As soon as it is watered it 
perishes: the only way to preserve it in such a case, is to cut 
it off by the root, which is to be dried in the sun, and after¬ 
wards planted in a dry and sandy soil. A peculiar species of 
mushroom, some mosses, and other small plants, float in the 
air; but what is still more extraordinary, a branch of rose¬ 
mary, which, as is the custom of some countries, was put in 
the hand of a corpse, sprouted out to the right and left so 
vigorously, that after a lapse of some years, the grave being 
opened, the face of the defunct was overshadowed with rose¬ 
mary leaves. The vegetation of the truffle is still more 
singular : this extroardinary tubercle has neither roots, stem, 
leaves, flowers, nor seeds; it derives its nourishment through 
the pcres of its bark. But it may be asked, how is it pro¬ 
duced ? why is there commonly no kind of herb in the places 
where this species of fungus grows? and why is the land 
there dry and full of crevices? These things have never been 
explained. No plant so much resembles animals, as that 




364 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VEGETABLES, 

% 

species of membranous moss called nostoch; it is an irre¬ 
gular substance, of a pale green colour, and somewhat trans¬ 
parent; it trembles upon the slightest touch, and easily breaks 
It can only be seen after rain, and is then found in many 
places, particularly in uncultivated soils and sandy roads 
It exists in all seasons, even in winter; but is never so abun¬ 
dant as after rain in summer. The most remarkable circum¬ 
stance about it is, its speedy growth, being formed almost 
instantaneously: sometimes walking in the garden in summer, 
not a trace of it is seen, when a sudden shower of rain falling, 
if the same place is visited in an hour, the walks are entirely 
covered with it. The nostoch was long supposed to have 
descended from the sky ; but it is now known to be a leaf, 
which attracts and imbibes water with great avidity. This 
leaf, to which no root appears to belong, is in its natural 
state when impregnated with water; but a strong wind or 
great heat soon dissipating the water, the leaf contracts, and 
loses its colour and transparency : hence it appears to grow 
so suddenly, and to be so miraculously produced by a shower 
of rain ; for when the rain falls upon it in its dried and imper¬ 
ceptible state, it becomes reanimated, and appears a fresh 
production. 

We might readily enumerate a variety of plants that bear a 
resemblance to animals; but there are other peculiarities in 
vegetables, which solicit our attention. The whole atmosphere 
is pregnant with plants and invisible seeds, and even the 
largest grains are dispersed by the wind over the earth ; and 
as soon as they are transported to the places where they may 
germinate, they become plants, and often so little soil is 
necessary for this purpose, that we can scarcely conceive 
whence they derive the necessary degree of nourishment. 
There are plants, and even trees, which take root and grow 
in the clefts of rocks, without any soil. Vegetation is some¬ 
times very rapid; of which we have instances in mushrooms, 
and the common cresses, the seed of which, if put into a wet 
cloth, will be fit for a salad in twenty-four hours. There are 
plants that exist with scarcely any perceptible vitality. We 
often see willows, which are not only hollowed and decayed 
within, but their external bark is so much injured that 
very little of it remains; yet from these seemingly sapless 
trunks, buds sprout in the spring, and they are crowned with 
leaves and branches. How admirable, that plants should not 
only imbibe nutriment by their roots, but that their leaves 
also should assist in this important function, by inspiring air! 
and an inverted tree will flourish as well as when in its pro¬ 
per position, for the branches will grow in the earth and 
become roots ! The advanced age that some trees attain, 
is also very wonderful. Some apple-trees are above a thou 


GERMINATION OF SEEDS. 


365 

sand years old; and if we calculate the amount of the annual 
produce of such a tree for the above space of time, we shall 
find that a single pippin might supply all Europe with trees 
and fruit. 

1 n e Germination of Seeds. —Seeds are composed of 
different parts, according to the variety of species, the prin¬ 
cipal of which parts is the germ. Each germ has two parts: 
the one simple, which becomes the root;" and the other lami¬ 
nated, which becomes the stem of the plant. The substance 
of most seeds is composed of two pieces, called lobes, which 
contained farinaceous matter, and serve as seminal leaves to 
the plants. Mosses have the most simple seed, consisting 
only of the germ, without pellicle, and without lobes. To 
make seeds germinate, air, and a certain degree of heat and 
moisture, are necessary. The augmented heat, and the differ¬ 
ence observable in the taste and smell, seem to denote a 
degree of fermentation ; and the farinaceous substance be¬ 
comes fitted to nourish the tender germ. It has been ascer- 
tained by experiments made with coloured fluids, that this 
substance imbibes a moisture, which, in conjunction with the 
air and heat, forms a proper nourishment till the plant has 
acquired strength enough to make use of the juices fur¬ 
nished by the root. The lobes, exhausted of their farinaceous 
matter, gradually dry, and fall off of themselves in a few 
weeks, when the plant has no further need of their assist¬ 
ance.—Certain herbs which grow on the mountains are of a 
very peculiar nature : their duration being very short, it often 
happens that the seed has not time to ripen ; and, that the 
species may not be lost, the bud which contains the germ is 
formed upon the top of the plant, puts forth leaves, falls, and 
takes root. When the delicate plant shoots up from the 
earth, it would run too great a risk, if it were immediately 
exposed to the air, and to the influence of the sun. Its parts 
therefore remain folded close to each other, nearly the same as 
when in the seed. But as the root grows strong and branches 
out, it furnishes the superior vessels with an abundance ol 
juice, by means of which all the organs are developed. At 
first the plant is nearly gelatinous; but it soon acquires more 
firmness, and continually increases in size. 

This short account of the germination of seeds may suffice 
to shew, to the inquisitive in the wonders of nature, what 
preparations and means nature uses to produce a single plant. 
When, therefore, we see a seed that we have placed in the 
earth sprout, we shall no longer consider it as beneath oui 
notice, but shall rather be disposed to regard it as one of 
th ose wonders of nature which have excited the observation 
and attention of some of the greatest of men. 


366 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VEGETABLES 


Go, mark the matchless workings of that Power 
That shuts within the seed the future flower; 

Bids these in elegance of form excel; 

In colour these, and those delight the smell 
Sends nature forth, the daughter of the skies, 

To dance on earth, and charm all human eyes. Cowper • 

Dissemination of Plants. —When seeds are come tc 
maturity, their dissemination is absolutely necessary, since 
without it no future crop would follow. The great Author of 
nature has wisely provided for this in various ways. The 
stems of many plants are long and slender, and being raised 
above the ground, the wind shakes them to and fro# and by 
this means are the ripe seeds conveyed to a distance. The 
seed-vessels of most plants are shut till the seeds are ripe, that 
so the winds may not scatter them prematurely; and when 
the proper season arrives, many of these open with such 
a degree of elasticity as to throw the seeds to a consider¬ 
able distance. Other seeds have a kind of wings given 
them, by which they are conveyed to a distance of some miles 
from the parent plant. These wings consist either of a down, 
as in most of the composite-flowered plants, or of a membrane, 
as in the birch, alder, ash, elm. See. Hence woods, which 
happen to be destroyed by fire, or any other accident, are 
soon restored again by new plants. 

Some seeds are rough, or provided with a sort of hooks, by 
means of which they are apt to stick to animals that pass by 
them, and by this means are carried to the mouths of their bur¬ 
rows, where they meet with proper soil and manure for their 
growth. Berries and other pericarpies are by nature allotted 
for aliment to animals; but it is on condition that they shall 
sow the seed while they eat it: this they do by dispersing the 
seeds as they are eating; and also after eating, by voiding 
many of them unhurt, and even in a better state for vegetation 
than they were before. Thus many kinds of nuts are sown; 
and thus did the doves of the Moluccas replant with nutmegs 
those islands of the East, which the sordid avarice of the 
Dutch had destroyed: Providence thereby frustrating, by 
feeble but certain means, the contemptible selfishness of that 
commercial people. 

In this manner the woods of northern countries are sown 
with junipers, by the thrushes and other birds which feed 
upon these heavy berries. The cross-bill lives upon fir-cones, 
and the hawfinch upon pine-cones; by means of which the fit 
and the pine, of various species, are continually planted in 
vast abundance. In our own country, the common rook has been 
observed, not only to feed on acorns, but to make holes in the 
ground with the bill, and hide many: probably they mean 
only to lay in a stock for future necessity by this process $ 


NUMBER OF PLANTS. 


367 

Out certain it is, that thousands of oaks are annually planted 
by this means. Swine, also, in searching for food, turn up 
the earth; and moles, by throwing up hillocks, prepare the 
ground for seeds of various kinds. Seas, lakes, and rivers, 
by their streams and currents, often convey seeds unhurt to 
distant countries. 

In assimilating the animal and vegetable kingdoms, Lin- 
neeus denominates seeds the eggs of plants. The fecundity 
of plants is frequently marvellous : from a single plant or 
stalk of Indian Turkey wheat, are produced, in one summer, 
2000 seeds; of elecampane, 3000; of sun-flower, 4000; of 
poppy, 32,000; of a spike of cat’s-tail, 10,000 and upwards: 
a single fruit or seed-vessel of tobacco, contains 1000 seeds; 
that of white poppy, 8000. Mr. Ray relates, from experi¬ 
ments made by himself, that 1012 tobacco seeds are equal in 
weight to one grain; and that the weight of the whole quan¬ 
tum of seeds in a single tobacco plant, is such as must, ac¬ 
cording to the above proportion, determine their number to 
be 360,000. The same author estimates the annual produce 
of a single stalk of spleen-wort to be upwards of 1,000,00ft 
of seeds. 

Prodigious Number of Plants upon the Earth. —It 
is said, that there are about 44,000 different plants already dis¬ 
covered, to which new ones are daily added. By means of 
the microscope, some have been found where they were least 
expected. The different varieties of mosses and sponges have 
been classed among vegetables, and have presented to the 
observation of the naturalist, seeds and flowers before un¬ 
known. Freestone is sometimes covered with brown anc 
blackish spots; the mouldy substance which composes them 
adheres to various other matters, and may be considered as a 
little garden in vegetation. When we reflect upon the quan¬ 
tity of moss which covers the hardest stones, the trunks of 
trees, and the most barren places;—when we consider the 
quantity of vegetables upon the surface of the earth; the 
different species of flowers w'hich delight and refresh us; the 
trees and bushes, add to these the aquatic plants, some of 
which exceed a hair in fineness;—we may be able to form 
some idea of the multitude of plants in the vegetable king¬ 
dom. All these species grow up, and are preserved without 
detriment or injury, each having that place assigned it, 
which is most suited to its properties. Such is the wisdom 
displayed in their distribution over the surface of the earth, 
that there is no part of it wholly destitute, and no part enjoys 
them in too great abundance. Some plants require the open 
field, where, unsheltered by trees, they may receive the sun’s 
rays; others can only exist in w r ater; some grow in the sand; 


368 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VEGETABLES. 


others in marshes and fens, which are frequently covered with 
water, and some bud on the surface of the earth, whilst 
others unfold themselves in its bosom. The different strata 
which compose the soil of the earth, as sand, clay, chalk, See. 
favour different vegetables ; and hence it is, that in the vast 
garden of nature nothing is absolutely sterile ; from the finest 
sand to the flinty rock, from the torrid to the frozen zone, each 
soil and climate supports plants peculiar to itself. Another 
circumstance highly worthy of attention is: the Creator has so 
ordered, that, among this immense variety of plants, those which 
are most proper for food or medicine multiply in greater abun¬ 
dance than those which are of less utility. Herbs are much more 
numerous than trees and brambles ; grass is in greater abun¬ 
dance than oaks; and cherry-trees more plentiful than apricots: 
had oaks been more frequent than grass, or trees than herbs and 
roots, it would have been impossible for animals to subsist. 

According to the calculation of Baron Von Humboldt, 6000 

O 7 

plants are agamous, that is, plants which have no sexual 
organs, such as champignons, lichens, &c. Of the remainder 


there are found— 

In Europe. 7,000 

In the temperate regions of Asia . 1,500 

In Equinoxial Asia, and the adjacent Islands. 4,500 

In Africa. 3,000 

In the temperate regions of America, in both hemi¬ 
spheres . 4,000 

In Equinoxial America.13,000 

In New Holland, and the Islands of the Pacific Ocean 5,000 


Total. 38,000 


Sensibility of Plants. —There are certain motions od- 
servable in plants, that make it doubtful whether they are not 
possessed of sensibility. Some plants shrink and contract 
their leaves upon being touched ; others open and shut their 
flow r ers at certain fixed hours in the day, so regularly as to 
denote with precision the time of day; some assume a. pecu¬ 
liar form during the night, folding up their leaves ; and these 
different changes take place whether mey are in the open air, 
or shut up in close apartments. Those which live under 
water during the time of fecundation, raise their flowers above 
the surface. 

The motions of a marshy plant discovered some time since, 
in the province of Carolina, are still more singular. Its round 
leaves are furnished above, and on the sides, with a multi¬ 
tude of notches that are extremely irritable. When an insect 
happens to creep upon the superior surface of the leaves, they 











I 


THE SENSITIVE I’LANT. 369 

Told up, and inclose the insect till it dies; the leaves then 
)pen of themselves. We may daily observe regular motions 
m some plants in our gardens. Tulips expand their petals 
*vhen the weather is fine, and close them again at sun-set, or 
during rain. Vegetables with pods, such as peas and beans, 
open their shells when dry, and curl themselves up like shav¬ 
ings of wood. Wild oats, when placed upon a table, will 
move spontaneously, more especially if warmed in the hand 
And the heliotrope, or sunflower, with various other plants, 
always turns towards the sun. These are incontestable facts, 
of the certainty of which every person may be easily convinced. 
From them, some conclude that we ought not to deny sensi¬ 
bility to be an attribute of plants; and certainly the facts 
which are alleged in favour of such an opinion, give it great 
appearance of probability. But, on the other hand, plants 
have no other sign of sensibility ; and all that they have is 
entirely mechanical. We plant a shrub and destroy it, with¬ 
out finding: anv analogy between it and an animal, that we 
bring up and kill. We see a plant bud, blossom, and bear 
seed, insensibly, as the hand of a watch runs round the points 
of the dial. The most exact anatomy of a plant does not 
unfold to us any organ which has the least relation to those 
of animal sensibility. When we oppose these observations to 
those from which we might infer the sensibility of plants, we 
remain in uncertaintv, and we cannot explain the phenomena 
related above. Our knowledge upon this subject is very im¬ 
perfect, and is confined to simple conjecture. We neither 
attribute sensibility to plants, nor deny it to them, with cer¬ 
tainty. 

The Sensitive Plant.— This singular plant rises from a 
slender woody stalk seven or eight feet in height, armed with 
short recurved thorns ; the leaves grow upon long footstalks, 
which are prickly, each sustaining two pair of wings; from 
the place where these are inserted, come out small branches, 
having three or four globular heads of pale purplish flowers 
coming out from the side, on short peduncles; the principal 
stalk has many of those heads of flowers on the upper part, 
for more than a foot in length ; this, as also the branches, is 
terminated by like heads of flowers ; the leaves move ou 
slowly when touched, but the footstalks fall, when they are 
pressed pretty hard. It is a native of Brazil, ( M . pudica, hum¬ 
ble plant,) having the roots composed of many hairy libres, whi ch 
mat slowly together; from these come out several woody 
stalks, declining towards the ground, unless supported; they 
are armed with short recurved spines, having winged or pin¬ 
nate leaves; flowers from the axils, on short peduncles, 
collected in small globular heads, of a yellow colour. 

3 A 


370 


(,t R.OS1T IES RESPECTING VEGETABLES. 


“ Naturalists (says Dr. Darwin) have not explained the 
immediate cause of the collapsing of the sensitive plant; the 
leaves meet and close in the night, during the sleep of the 
plant, or when exposed to much cold in the day-time, in the 
same manner as when they are affected by external violence, 
folding their upper surfaces together, and in part over each 
other like scales or tiles, so as to expose as little of the upper 
surface as may be to the air, but do not, indeed, collapse 
quite so far ; for when touched in the night during their sleep, 
they fall still further, especially when touched on the foot¬ 
stalks between the stems and the leaflets, which seem to be 
their most sensitive or irritable part. Now r , as their situation 
after being exposed to external violence resembles their sleep, 
but with a greater degree of collapsion, may it not be owing to 
a numbness or paralysis consequent to too violent irritation, 
like the pantings of animals from pain or fatigue? A sensi¬ 
tive plant being kept in a dark room till some hours after 
day-break, its leaves and leaf-stalks were collapsed as in its 
most profound sleep, and on exposing it to the light, above 
twenty minutes passed before the plant was thoroughly awake, 
and had quite expanded itself. During this night the upper 
surfaces of the leaves were oppressed; this w r ould seem to 
shew that the office of this surface of the leaf was to expose 
the fluids of the plant to the light, as well as to the air. ,? 
Dr, Darwin lias thus characterized these plants.— 

Weak with nice sense the chaste Mimosa stands, 

From each rude touch withdraws her timid hands 
Oft as light clouds o’erpass the summer glade, 

Alarm’d, she trembles at the moving shade ; 

And feels alive through all her tender form, 

The whisper’d murmurs of the gathering storm ; 

Shuts her sweet eyelids to approaching night, 

4nd hails with freshen’d charms the rising ligfoiL 


THE COCOA-NUT TREK. 


371 


CHAP. XXXIV. 

curiosities respecting vegetables .—( Continued .) 

The Cocoa-Nut Tree—The Bread-Fruit Tree—The Bannian 
Tree—Fountain Trees—The Tallow Tree—The Paper Tree — 
The Calabash Tree—Remarkable Oak — Dimensions , fyc, of 
some of the largest Trees now growing in England—Upas , or 
Poison Tree. 

Admiration, feeding at the eye, 

And still unsated, dwells upon the theme. Cowper. 

i 

THE COCOA-NUT TREE. 

Of all the gifts which Providence has bestowed on the 
Oriental world, the cocoa-nut tree most deserves our notice: 
in this single production of nature, what blessings are conveyed 
to man! It grows a stately column, from thirty to fifty feet 
in height, crowned by a verdant capital of waving branches, 
covered with long spiral leaves ; under this foliage, branches 
of blossoms, clusters of green fruit, and others arrived at ma¬ 
turity, appear in mingled beauty. The trunk, though porous, 
furnishes beams and rafters for our habitations; and the 
leaves, when platted together, make an excellent thatch, 
common umbrellas, coarse mats for the floor, and brooms; 
while their finest fibres are woven into very beautiful mats 
for the rich. The covering of the young fruit is extremely 
curious, resembling a piece of thick cloth, in a conical form, 
close and firm as it came from the loom ; it expands after the 
fruit has burst through its inclosure, and then appears of a 
coarser texture. The nuts contain a delicious milk, and a 
kernel sweet as the almond: this, when dried, affords abun¬ 
dance of oil; and when that is expressed, the remains feed 
cattle and poultry, and make good manure. The shell of the 
nut furnishes cups, ladles, and other domestic utensils, while 
the husk which incloses it is of the utmost importance;, it is 
manufactured into ropes and cordage of every kind, from the 
smallest twine to the largest cable, which are far more dur¬ 
able than those of hemp. In the Nicobar islands, the natives 
build their vessels, make the sails and cordage, supply them 
with provisions and necessaries, and provide a cargo of ar¬ 
rack, vinegar, oil, gagpree or coarse sugar, cocoa-nuts, coir, 
cordage, black paint, and several inferior articles, for foreign 
markets, entirely from this tree. 

Many of the trees are not permitted to bear fruit; but the 
embryo bud, from which the blossoms and nuts would spring, 


372 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VEGETABLES. 

is tied up, to prevent its expansion ; and a small incision 
being then made at the end, there oozes in gentle drops a cool 
pleasant liquor, called Trace, or Toddy, the palm wine of the 
poets. This, when first drawn, is cooling and salutary; but 
when fermented and distilled, produces an intoxicating spirit. 
Thus, a plantation of cocoa-nut trees yields the proprietor 
considerable profits, and generally forms part of the govern¬ 
ment revenue. 

The Bread-fruitTree. —The systematic name of this plant 
is Artocarpus, which is merely the English name translated into 
Greek. There are several species; particularly A. incisa , and 
A. integrifolia. 

The genuine bread-fruit tree is the artocarpus incisa. In 
captain Cook’s Voyage, it is observed, that the bread¬ 
fruit tree is about the size of a middling oak; its leaves are 
frequently a foot and a half long, oblong, deeply sinuated, 
like those of the fig-tree, which they resemble in consistence 
and colour, and in exuding a milky juice when broken. The 
fruit is the size and shape of a child’s head, and the surface \z 
reticulated, not much unlike a truffle; it is covered with a 
thin skin, and has a core about as big as the handle of a small 
knife; the eatable part lies between the skin and core; it is 
as white as snow, and of the consistence of new bread. It 
must be roasted before it is eaten, being first divided into 
three or four parts; its taste is insipid, with a slight sweet¬ 
ness, somewhat resembling that of the crumb of wheaten 
bread, mixed with Jerusalem artichoke. The fruit not being 
in season all the year, there is a method of supplying this de¬ 
fect, by reducing it to sour paste, called makie; and besides 
this, cocoa-nuts, bananas, plantains, and a great variety of 
other fruits, come in aid of it. This tree not only supplies 
food, but also clothing, for the bark is stripped off’ the 
suckers, and formed into a kind of cloth. To procure the 
fruit for food costs the Otaheiteans no trouble or labour, 
but climbing a tree. This most useful tree is distributed 
very extensively over the East Indian continent and islands, 
as well as the innumerable islands of the South Seas. In Ota- 
heite, however, and some others, the evident superiority of 
the seedless variety for food has caused the other to be neg¬ 
lected, and it is consequently almost worn out. 

We are informed by Captain King, that in the Sandwich 
islands these trees are planted, and flourish with great luxuri¬ 
ance on rising grounds; that they are not indeed in such 
abundance, but that they produce double the quantity of fruit 
to those growing on the rich plains of Otaheite ; that the trees # 
are nearly of the same height, but that the branches begin 
to strike out from the trunk much lower, and with greater 


✓ 






































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i 
































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■ 



























THE BREAD-l'RUIT TREE 


373 


luxuriance; and that the climate of these islands differs very 
little from that of the West Ir.d in islands which lie in the 
same latitude. This reflection probably first suggested the 
idea of conveying this valuable tree to our islands in the West 
Indies. For this purpose his Majesty’s ship the Bounty 
sailed for the South Seas, on the 23d of December, 1787, 
under the command of Lieuteuant William Bligh. But a fatal 
mutiny prevented the accomplishment of this benevolent 
design. His Majesty, however, not discouraged by the un¬ 
fortunate event of the voyage, and fully impressed with the 
importance of securing so useful an article of food as the 
bread-fruit to our West Indian Islands, determined, in the 
year 1791, to employ another ship, for a second expedition 
on this service; and, in order to secure the success of the 
voyage as much as possible, it was thought proper that two 
vessels should proceed together on this important business. 
Accordingly, a ship of 400 tons, named the Providence, was 
engaged for the purpose, and the command of her given to 
Captain Bligh; and a small tender, called the Assistant, com¬ 
manded by Lieut. Nathaniel Portlock. Sir Joseph Banks, as 
in the former voyage, directed the equipment of the ship for 
this particular purpose. Two skilful gardeners were appointed 
to superintend the trees and plants, from their transplantation 
at Otaheite, to their delivery at Jamaica; and Captain Bligh 
set sail on the 2d of August, 1791. The number of plants 
taken on board at Otaheite, was 2634, in 1281 pots, tubs, and 
cases; and of these 1151 were bread-fruit trees. When they 
arrived at Coupang, 200 plants were dead, but the rest were 
in good order. Here they procured ninety-two pots of the 
fruits of that country. They arrived at St. Helena, with 830 
fine bread-fruit trees, besides other plants. Here they left 
some of them, with different fruits of Otaheite and Timor, 
besides mountain rice and other seeds ; and hence the East 
Indies may be supplied with them. 

On their arrival at St. Vincent’s, they had 551 cases, contain¬ 
ing 678 bread-fruit trees, besides a great number of other fruits 
and plants, to the number of 1245. Near half this cargo was 
deposited here under the care of Mr. Alexander Anderson, the 
superintendant of his Majesty’s botanic garden, for the use of 
the Windward islands ; and the remainder, intended for the 
Leeward islands, was conveyed to Jamaica, and distributed 
as the governor and council of Jamaica were pleased to direct. 
The exact number of bread-fruit trees brought to Jamaica, 
was 352 ; out of which, five only were reserved for the botanic 
garden at Kew. Captain Bligh had the satisfaction, before 
he quitted Jamaica, of seeing the trees, which he had brought 
with so much success, in a most flourishing state ; insomuch 
that no doubt remained of their growing well, and speedily 


374 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VEGETABLES 

producing fruit; an opinion which subsequent reDorts nave 
confirmed. 

The bread-fruit, when perfectly ripe, is pulpy, sweetish, 
putrescent, and in this state is thought to be too laxative ; 
but when green it is farinaceous, and esteemed a very whole¬ 
some food, either baked under the coals, or roasted over them. 
The taste is not unlike that of wheaten bread, but with some 
resemblance to that of Jerusalem artichokes or potatoes It 
was mentioned before, that a sort of cloth was made of the 
inner bark : to this we may add, that the wood is used in 
building boats and houses ; the male catkins serve for tinder- 
the leaves for wrapping their food in, and for wiping their 
hands instead of towels; and the juice for making bird-lime, 
and as a cement for filling up the cracks of their vessels, and 
for holding water. Three trees are supposed to yield suffi¬ 
cient nourishment for one person. 

The Bannian Tree. —The bannian, or Indian fig-tree, is 
a native of several parts of the East Indies, and has a woody 
stem, branching to a great height and vast extent. It is uni¬ 
versally considered as one of the most beautiful of nature's 
productions ; and, contrary to most other things in animal 
and vegetable nature, appears exempted from decay. Every 
branch from the main body throws out its own roots, at first 
in small tender fibres, several yards from the ground, but 
which thicken considerably before they reach the surface, and 
then, striking in, they increase to large trunks, and become 
parent trees, shooting out new branches from the top ; these 
in time suspend their roots, which, swelling into trunks, pro¬ 
duce other branches, thus continuing in a progressive state 
as long as the earth, the common parent of them all, continues 
her sustenance. The Hindoos are peculiarly fond of the ban¬ 
nian tree ; they regard it as an emblem of the Deity, from its 
long duration and overshadowing beneficence, and almost pay 
it divine honours. Near this tree their most esteemed pagodas 
are generally erected; and under their shade the Brahmins 
spend their days in religious solitude, wandering among the 
cool recesses and beautiful walks of this umbi ecu* canopy, 
impervious to the hottest beams of a tropical ^ .... 

A remarkably fine tree of this kind grows on an island in 
the river Narbedda, in the province of Guzerat. It is distin¬ 
guished from others of the same species by the name of Cub- 
beer Bur, which was given it in honour of a famous saint. It 
was once much larger than it is at present, high and violent 
floods having carried away the banks of the island on which 
it grew, and with them such parts of the tree as have thus far 
extended its roots. What remains, is two thousand feet in 
circumference, measured round the principal stems ; the over- 





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FOUNTAIN TREES. 


375 


hanging branches, which have not yet struck down, cover a 
much larger space. The chief trunks of this single tree, each 
of which in size exceeds our English oaks or elms, amount 
to 350, the smaller stems to more than 3000, all casting out 
new branches and hanging roots, to form in time parent trunks. 
Cubbeer Bur is famed through India for its amazing extent 
and beauty. The Indian armies frequently encamp around it, 
and at stated periods solemn festivals are held under its 
branches, where thousands of votaries repair from various 
parts of the empire. It is even said that 7000 persons found 
ample room under its shade. The English gentlemen some¬ 
times form elegant and extensive encampments, where they 
spend whole weeks together under this delightful pavilion, 
which is inhabited by green wood-pigeons, doves, and peacocks, 
and also a variety of feathered songsters ; families of monkeys 
are also in every quarter playing their antic tricks ; and bats, 
to the astonishing size of six feet, from the extremity of one 
wing to that of the other. This tree not only shelters, but 
affords sustenance to these numerous inhabitants, being 
covered, amidst its bright leaves, with small figs of a rich 
scarlet, on which they regale. 

Fountain Trees. —These are very extraordinary vegeta¬ 
bles, growing in one of the Canary Islands, and likewise said 
to exist in some other places, which distil water from their 
jeaves in such plenty, as to answer all the purposes ‘of the 
inhabitants who live near them. Of these trees we have the 
following account, in Glassed History of the Canary Islands. 
“ There are three fountains of water in the whole island of 
Hiero, wherein the fountain tree grows. The larger cattle 
are watered at those fountains, and at a place where water 
distils from the leaves of a tree. Many writers have made 
mention of this famous tree, some in such a manner as to make 
it appear miraculous : others again deny the existence of any 
such tree ; among whom is Father Feyjoo, a modern Spanish 
author. But he, and those who agree with him in this matter, 
are as much mistaken as those who would make it appear to 
be miraculous. The author of the History of the Discovery 
and Conquest, has given us a particular account of it, which 
I shall here relate at large.— 

“ The district in which this tree stands is called Tigulabe; 
near to which, and in the cliff or steep rocky ascent that sur¬ 
rounds the whole island, is a gutter or gully, which com¬ 
mences at the sea, and continues to the summit of the cliff, 
where it joins or coincides with a valley, which is terminated 
by the steep front of a rock. On the top of this rock grows 
a tree, called, in the language of the ancient inhabitants, garse, 
sacred or holy tree, which for many years has been preserved 


376 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VEGETABLES. 

sound, entire, and fresh. Its leaves constantly distil s»ch a 
quantity of water as is sufficient to furnish drink to every 
living creature in Hiero, nature having provided this remedy 
for the drought of the island. It is situated about a league and 
a half from the sea. Nobody knows of what species it is, 
only that it is called til. It is distinct from other trees, and 
stands by itself. The circumference of the trunk is about 
twelve spans, the diameter four, and in height, from the 
ground to the top of the highest branch, forty spans : the 
circumference of all the branches together is 120 feet. The 
branches are thick and extended, the lowest commence about 
the height of an ell from the ground. Its fruit resembles the 
acorn, and tastes something like the kernel of a pine-apple, 
but is softer and more aromatic. The leaves of this tree 
resemble those of the laurel, but are larger, wider, and more 
curved ; they come forth in a perpetual succession, so that 
the tree always remains green. Near to it grows a .thorn, 
which fastens on many of its branches, and interweaves with 
them ; and at a small distance from the garse are some beech- 
trees, bresoes, and thorns. On the north side of the trunk 
are two large tanks or cisterns, of rough stone, or rather one 
cistern divided, each half being twenty feet square, and six¬ 
teen spans in depth. One of these contains water for the 
drinking of the inhabitants ; and the other, that which they 
use for their cattle, washing, and such like purposes. 

“ Every morning, near this part of the island, a cloud or 
mist arises from the sea, which the south or easterly winds 
force against the forementioned steep cliff; so that the cloud, 
having no vent but by the gutter, gradually ascends it, and 
from thence advances slowly to the extremity of the valley, 
where it is stopped and checked by the front of the rock which 
terminates the valley; and then rests upon the thick leaves 
and wide spreading branches of the tree, from whence it 
distils in drops during the remainder of the day, until it is at 
length exhausted, in the same manner that we see water drip 
from the leaves of trees after a heavy shower of rain. 

“ This distillation is not peculiar to the garse or til, for the 
bresoes, which grow near it, likewise drop water; but their 
leaves being but few and narrow, the quantity is so trifling, 
that, though the natives save some of it, yet they make little 
or no account of any but what distils from the til; which, 
together with the water of some fountains, and what is saved 
in the winter season, is sufficient to serve them and their flocks. 
A person lives on the spot near which this tree grows, tc take 
care of it and its waters; and is allowed a house to live in, 
with a certain salary. He every day distributes to each family 
of the district, seven pots or vessels full of water, besides 
what he gives to the principal people of the island.” 


FOUNTAIN TREES. 


377 


Whether the tree which yields water at this present time, 
be the same as that mentioned in the above description, I 
cannot determine : but it is probable there has been a succes¬ 
sion of them; for Pliny, describing the Fortunate Island, 
savs, “ In the mountains of Ombrion, are trees resembling the 
plant ferula, from which water may be procured by pressure. 
What comes from the black kind is bitter, but that which the 
white yields is sweet and potable.” Trees yielding water are 
not peculiar to the island of Hiero ; for travellers inform us 
of one of the same kind on the island of St. Thomas, in the 
bight or gulf of Guinea. In Cockburn’s Voyages, we find 
the following account of a dropping tree, near the mountains 
of Fera Paz, in America.— 

“ On the morning of the fourth day, we came out on a large 
plain, where were great numbers of fine deer; and in the mid¬ 
dle stood a tree of unusual size, spreading its branches over 
avast compass of ground. Curiosity led us up to it. We had 
perceived, at some distance, the ground about it to be wet; 
at which we began to be somewhat surprised, as well knowing 
there had no rain fallen for nearly six months past, according 
to the certain course of the season in that latitude : that it 
was impossible to be occasioned by the fall of dew on the 
tree, we were convinced, by the sun’s having power to exhale 
away all moisture of that nature a few minutes after its rising. 
At last, to our great amazement, as well as joy, we saw water 
dropping, or as it were distilling, fast from the end of every 
leaf of this wonderful, (nor had it been amiss if I had said 
miraculous tree;) at least it was so with respect to us, 
who had been labouring four days through extreme heat, 
without receiving the least moisture, and were now almost 
expiring for the want of it. We could not help looking on 
this as liquor sent from heaven, to comfort us under great 
extremity. We catched what we could of it in our hands, 
and drank very plentifully of it; and liked it so well, that we 
could hardly prevail with ourselves to give over. A matter of 
this nature could not but incite us to make the strictest obser¬ 
vations concerning it; and accordingly we staid under the 
tree near three hours, and found we could not fathom its 
body in five times. We observed the soil where it grew to be 
very strong; and upon the nicest inquiry we could afterwards 
make, both of the natives of the country and the Spanish 
inhabitants, we could not learn there was any such tree known 
throughout New Spain, nor perhaps all America over: but 
I do not relate this as a prodigy in nature, because I am no 4- 
philosopher enough to ascribe any natural cause for it; the 
learned may perhaps give substantial reasons in nature, for 
what appeared to us a great and marvellous secret, and far 
beyond our power to account for.” 


378 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VEGETABLES. 

The Tallow Tree. —This is a remarkable tree, growing 
in great plenty in China; so called from its producing a sub¬ 
stance like tailow, and which serves for the same purpose : it is 
about the height of a cherry-tree, its leaves in form of a heart, 
of a deep shining red colour, and its bark very smooth. Its 
fruit is inclosed in a kind of pod, or cover, like a chesnut, 
and consists of three round white grains, of the size and form 
of a small nut, each having its peculiar capsule, and a little 
stone within. This stone is encompassed with a white pulp, 
which has all the properties of true tallow, both as to consist¬ 
ence, colour, and even smell, and accordingly the Chinese 
make their candles of it; which would doubtless be as good 
as those in Europe, if they knew how to purify their vegeta¬ 
ble, as well as we do our animal tallow. All the preparation 
they give it, is to melt it down, and mix a little oil with it, 
to make it softer and more pliant. It is true, the candles 
made of it yield a thicker smoke and a dimmer light than 
ours ; but those defects are owing in a great measure to the 
wicks, which are not of cotton, but only a little rod of dry 
light wood, covered with the pith of a rush wound round it; 
which, being very porous, serves to filtrate the minute parts 
of the tallow, attracted by the burning stick, and by this 
means is kept alive. 

The Paper Tree. —The name of this tree is Aouta. It is a 
mulberry-tree, found at Otaheite, in the South Sea, from which 
a cloth is manufactured, that is worn by the principal inhabit¬ 
ants. The bark of the trees is stripped off, and deposited to 
soak in running water; when it is sufficiently softened, the 
fibres of the inner coat are carefully separated from the rest 
of the bark; they are then placed in lengths of about eleven 
or twelve yards, one by the side of another, till they are about 
a foot broad; and two or three layers are put one upon an¬ 
other. This is done in the evening; and next morning the 
water is drained off, and the several fibres adhere together in 
one piece. It is afterwards beaten on a smooth piece of wood 
with instruments marked lengthways, with small grooves of 
different degrees of fineness ; and by means of this it becomes 
as thin as muslin. After bleaching it in the air, to whiten it, 
it is fit for use. 

Another article worthy of the reader’s attention, is the 
Adansonia, Ethiopian Sour Gourd, Monkeys’Bread, 
or African Calabash Tree. —There is but one known spe¬ 
cies belonging to this genus, the baobal, which is perhaps the 
largest production of the whole vegetable kingdom. It is a 
native of Africa. The trunk is not above twelve or fifteen 
feet high, but from sixty to seventy feet round. The lowest 



NORWAY SPRUCE FIR, 










AFRICAN CALABASH TREE. 


379 


branches extend almost horizontally, and as they are about 
sixty feet in length, their own weight bends their extremities 
to the ground, and thus form an hemispherical mass of ver 
dure of about 1*20 or 130 feet diameter. The roots extend 
as far as the branches: that in the middle forms a pivot, 
which penetrates a great way into the earth; the rest spread 
near the surface. The flowers are in proportion to the size of 
the tree, and are followed by an oblong pointed fruit, ten 
inches long, five or six broad, and covered with a kind of 
greenish down, under which is a ligneous rind, hard, and 
almost black, marked with rays, which divide it lengthwise 
into sides. It is very common in Senegal, and the Cape de 
Verd islands; and is found 100 leagues up the country, at 
Gulam, and upon the sea-coast as far as Sierra Leone. 

The age of this tree is no less remarkable than its enormous 
size. Mr. Adanson relates, that, in a botanical excursion to 
the Magdalen Islands, he discovered some calabash-trees, 
from five to six feet diameter, on the bark of which were 
engraved, or cut to a considerable depth, a number of European 
names. Two of these names, which he was at the trouble to 
repair, were dated, one in the fourteenth, the other in the 
fifteenth century. The inscribed trees, mentioned by this 
ingenious Frenchman, had been seen in 1555, almost two 
centuries before, by The vet, who mentions them in his rela¬ 
tion of his V yage to Terra Antarctia, or Australis. Adanson 
saw them in 1749. The virtues and uses of this tree and its 
fruits are various. The negroes of Senegal dry the bark and 
leaves in the shaded air, and then reduce them to powder, 
which is of a pretty good green colour. This powder they 
preserve in bags of linen or cotton, and call it lillo. They 
use it every day, putting three or four pinches of it into a 
mess, whatever it happens to be, as we do pepper and salt: 
but their view is, not to give a relish to their food, but to 
preserve a perpetual and plentiful perspiration, and to attempei 
the too great heat of the blood ; purposes to which it cer¬ 
tainly answers, as several Europeans have proved by repeated 
experiments; preserving themselves from the epidemic fever, 
which, in that country, is as fatal to them as the plague, 
and generally rages during the months of September and 
October: when the rains have suddenly ceased, the sun ex¬ 
hales the water left by them on the ground, and fills the air 
with a noxious vapour. M. Adanson, in the critical season, 
made a light ptisan of the leaves of the baobal, which he had 
gathered in the August of the preceding year, and had dried 
in the shade; and drank constantly about a pint of it every 
morning, either before or after breakfast, and the same quan¬ 
tity of it every evening, after the heat of the sun began to 
abate: he also took the same quantity in the middle of the 


380 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VEGETABLES. 

day, but this was only when he felt some symptoms of an 
approaching fever. By this precaution he preserved himself, 
during the five years he resided at Senegal, fiom the 
diarrhaea and fever, which are so fatal there, and which are, 
however, the only diseases of the place ; while other officers 
suffered very severely, only one of them excepted, upon whom 
M. Adanson prevailed to use this remedy, which for its simpli¬ 
city was despised by the rest. This ptisan alone prevents 
that heat of urine which is common in these parts, from the 
month of July to November, provided the person abstains 
from wine. The fruit is not less useful than the leaves and 
the bark. The pulp that envelopes the seeds has an agreeable 
acid taste, and is eaten for pleasure : it is also dried and pow¬ 
dered, and used medicinally in pestilential fevers, the dysen¬ 
tery, ancl bloody flux : the dose is a drachm, passed through 
a fine sieve, taken either in common water, or in an infusion 
of the plantain. This powder is brought into Europe under 
the name of terra sigillata Lernnia. The woody bark of the 
fruit, and the fruit itself, when spoiled, help to supply the 
negroes with an excellent soap, which they make by drawing 
a lie from the ashes, and boiling it with palm-oil that begins 
to be rancid. The trunks of such of these trees as are decayed, 
the negroes hollow out into burying places for their poets, 
musicians, and buffoons. Persons of these characters they 
esteem greatly while they live, supposing them to derive their 
superior talents from sorcery, ora commerce with demons; 
but they regard their bodies with horror when dead, and will 
not give them burial in the usual manner, neither suffering 
them to be put into the ground, nor thrown into the sea or 
any river, because they imagine that the water would not 
then nourish the fish, nor the earth produce its fruits. The 
bodies shut up in these trunks become dry without rotting, 
and form a kind of mummies without the help of embalming. 
The baobal is very distinct from the calabash-tree of America, 
with which it has been confounded by Father Labat. 


The following is an account of a Remarkable Oak 
Tree :— 


Behold the oak does young and verdant stand 
Above the grove, all others to command ; 

His wide-extended limbs the forest crown’d, 
Shading the trees, as well as they the ground: 
Young murm’ring tempests in his boughs are bred, 
And gathering clouds from round his lofty head ; 
Outrageous thunder, stormy winds, and rain, 
Discharge their fury on bis head in vain; 
Earthquakes below, and lightnings from above, 
Rea l not his trunk, nor his fix’d root remove. 


Blackmon , 


ARE M A R KARL E OAK TREE. 


381 


Mr. Gilpin, in his forest scenery, gives the following account 
of an aged oak :— 

“ Close by the gate of the Water-walk, at Magdalen College 
m Oxford, grew an oak, which perhaps stood there a saplin 
when Alfred the Great founded the university. This period 
only includes a space of nine hundred years, which is no 
great age for an oak. It is a difficult matter indeed to ascer¬ 
tain the age of a tree. The age of a castle or abbey is the 
object of history: even a common house is recorded by the 
family that built it. All these objects arrive at maturity in 
their youth, if I may so speak. But the tree gradually com¬ 
pleting its growth, is not worth recording in the early part of 
its existence : it is then only a common tree; and afterwards, 
when it becomes remarkable for its age, all memory of its 
youth is lost. This tree, however, can almost produce his¬ 
torical evidence for the age assigned to it.” 

About five hundred years after the time of Alfred, William 
of Wainfleet, Dr. Stukely tells us, expressly ordered this col¬ 
lege to be founded near the great oak ; (Itiner . Curios.) and an 
oak could not, 1 think, be less than five hundred years of age, 
to merit that title, together with the honour of fixing the site 
of a college. When the magnificence of Cardinal Wolsey 
erected that handsome tower which is so ornamental to the 
whole building, this tree might probably be in the meridian 
of its glory; or rather, perhaps it had attained a green old 
age. But it must have been manifestly in its decline, at that 
memorable aera, when the tyranny of James gave the fellows 
of Magdalen so noble an opportunity of withstanding bigotry 
and superstition. It was afterwards much injured in the time 
of Chari es II, when the present walks were laid out: its roots 
were disturbed; and from that period it declined fast, and 
became reduced by degrees to little more than a mere trunk 
The oldest members of the university can scarcely recollect if 
in better plight: but the faithful records of history* have 
handed down its ancient dimensions. 

It once flung its boughs through a space of sixteen yards 
on every side from its trunk; and under its magnificent 
pavilion could have sheltered with ease three thousand men: 
though in its decayed state, it could, for many years, do little 
more than shelter some luckless individual, whom the driving 
shower had overtaken in his evening walk. In the summer 
of the year 1788, this magnificent ruin fell to the ground, 
alarming the college with its crashing sound. It then appeared 
how precariously it had stood for many years. Its grand tap¬ 
root was decayed; and it had hold of the earth only by two 
or three roots, of which none was more than a couple of inches 
in diameter. From a part of its ruins, a chair has been made 
* See Pr- Plot’s Hist, of Oxf. ch. vi. sect. 


,582 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VEGETABLES. 

rbr hie president of the college, which will long continue its 

me-nioiy. 

This will be a proper place for introducing the history of 
Some of the largest Trees now growing in England. 
—In Hainault Forest, near Barking in Essex, there is an oak 
which has attained the enormous bulk of thirty-six feet in cir¬ 
cumference. This extraordinary tree has been known forages 
bv the name of Fairlop. The tradition of the country traces 
it half way up the Christian aera. Beneath its shade, which 
overspreads an area of three hundred feet in circuit, an annual 
fair has long been held on the first Friday in July, and 
no booth is suffered to be erected beyond the extent of its 
boughs. 

At Cromwell Park, near Letbury in Gloucestershire, the 
seat of Lord Dacre, is a huge chesnut tree, probably as 
remarkable for antiquity as size; having been mentioned 
(according to Sir Richard Atkins) in king John’s days, six 
centuries ago, as the wonder of the neighbourhood, and mea¬ 
suring at present, at the foot, fifty-seven feet in circumference. 
It is supposed to be at least eight hundred years old. 

In Darley church-yard, near Matlock in Derbyshire, is a 
yew tree, thirty-three feet in girt. 

In the church-yard of Aldworth, in Berkshire, is a yew 
tree, the trunk of which, four feet from the ground, measures 
nine yards in circumference. It is of considerable height: all 
recollection of its age is lost. 

The Shelton Oak.—A bout a mile and a half from Shrews¬ 
bury, where the Pool road diverges from that which leads to 
Oswestry, there stands an ancient decayed oak. There is a 
tradition, that Owen Glendwr (Glynder) ascended this tree to 
reconnoitre; and finding that the king was in great force, and 
that the Earl of Northumberland had not joined his son Hot¬ 
spur, he fell back to Oswestry, and immediately after the 
battle of Shrewsbury, retreated precipitately to Wales. This 
tree is now in a complete state of decay, and hollow, even in 
the larger ramifications. The following are the dimensions of 


the Shelton Oak :— ft. in. 

Girt, at bottom, close to the ground. 44 5 

Ditto, 5 feet from ditto . 25 I 

Ditto, 8 feet from ditto . 27 

Height of the tree . 41 £ 


Vide Gent. Mag. vol. lxxxi. p. 305. 

The Bowthorpe Oak, situate in the park betw^ei 
Bourne and Stamford— 

° On a fine eminence, of slow ascent, 

The landscape round stretch’d to a vast extent,"' 






THE UPAS, OR POISON-TREE OF JAVA 383 

—is the property of Philip Duncombe Pauncefort, Esq. 
The trunk is thirty-nine feet six inches in circumference. 
1 he inside of the body is hollow, and the lower part of it was 
formerly used as a feeding place for calves, the upper, as a 
pigeon-house. The late possessor, George Pauncefort, Esq 
(in whose family it has been for many centuries,) in 1768 had it 
floored, with benches placed round, and a door of entrance: 
frequently twelve persons have dined in it with ease. 

“- crowds yearly flock to see 

In leafy pomp the celebrated tree; 

Charm’d to contemplate Nature’s giant son, 

Fed by the genial seasons as they run.” 

No tradition is to be found respecting it, it having, ever 
since the memory of the oldest inhabitants, or their ancestors, 
been in the same state of decay. 

We conclude this chapter with an essay on the Upas, or 
Poison-tree of Java; by Thomas Horsefield, M.D.—From 
the Seventh Volume of the Transactions of the Literary and 
Philosophical Society of Java. 

The literary and scientific world has in few instances been 
more grossly and impudently imposed upon, than by the 
account of the Bohan Upas, published in Holland about the 
year 1780. The history and origin of this celebrated forgery 
still remains a mystery. Foersch, who put his name to the 
publication, certainly was (according to the information I 
have received from credible persons, who have long resided 
on the island,) a surgeon in the Dutch East India Company’s 
service, about the time the account of the Upas appeared. 
It would be in some degree interesting to become acquainted 
with his character. I have been led to suppose that his 
literary abilities were as mean, as his contempt of truth was 
consummate. 

Having hastily picked up some vague information con¬ 
cerning the Upas, he carried it to Europe, where his notes 
were arranged, doubtlessly by a different hand, in such a 
form as, by their plausibility and appearance of truth, to be 
generally credited. 

But though the account just mentioned, in so far as relates 
to the situation of the Poison Tree, to its effects on the sur¬ 
rounding country, and to the application said to have been 
made of the Upas on criminals in different parts of the island, as 
well as the description of the poisonous substance itself, and its 
mode of collection, has been demonstrated to be an extravagant 
forgery,—the existence of a n ee in Java, from whose sap a poi¬ 
son is prepared, equal in fatality, when thrown into the circula¬ 
tion. to the strongest animal poisons hitherto known, is a 



384 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VEGETABLES. 

fact, which it is at present my object to establish and to 
illustrate. 

The tree which produces this poison, is called Antshar, 
and grows in the eastern extremity of the island. 

The Antshar is one of the largest trees in the forests of Java. 
The stem is cylindrical, perpendicular, and rises completely 
naked to the height of sixty, seventy, or eighty feet. Near 
the surface of the ground it spreads obliquely, dividing into 
numerous broad appendages or wings, much like the Canarium 
commune , and several others of our large forest trees. It is 
covered with a whitish bark, slightly bursting in longitudinal 
furrows. Near the ground this bark is, in old trees, more 
than half an inch thick ; and, upon being wounded, it yields 
plentifully the milky juice from which the celebrated poison 
is prepared. A puncture or incision being made in the tree, 
the juice or sap appears oozing out, of a yellowish colour,, 
somewhat frothy; from old trees, paler; and nearly white 
from young ones : when exposed to the air, its surface becomes 
brown. The consistence very much resembles milk, only it 
is thicker and viscid. This sap is contained in the true bark, 
or cortex, which, when punctured, yields a considerable 
quantity, so that in a short time a cupful may be collected 
from a large tree. The inner bark, or liber, is of a close 
fibrous texture, like that of the Morus pitpyrifera , and when 
separated from the other bark, and cleansed from the adhering 
particles, resembles a coarse piece of linen. It has been 
worked into ropes, which are very strong, and the poorer class 
of people employ the inner bark of younger trees, which is 
more easily prepared, for the purpose of making a coarse 
stuff, which they wear when working in the fields. But it 
requires much bruising, washing, and a long immersion in 
water, before it can be used ; and even when it appears com¬ 
pletely purified, persons wearing this dress, on being exposed 
to the rain, are affected with an intolerable itching, which 
renders their flimsy covering almost insupportable. 

It will appear, from the account of the manner in which the 
poison is prepared, that the deleterious quality exists in the 
gum, a small portion of which still adhering to the bark, pro¬ 
duces, whenit becomes wet, this irritating effect; and it is 
singular, that this property of the prepared bark is known to 
the Javanese, in all places where the tree grows, (for instance, 
in various parts of the provinces of Bangil and Malang, and 
even at Onarang,) while the preparation of a poison from its 
juice, which produces a mortal effect when introduced into 
the body by pointed weapons, is an exclusive art of the inha¬ 
bitants of the eastern extremity of the island. 

One of the regents in the eastern districts informed me, 
that having many years ago prepared caps or bonnets from 


IHE UPAS, OR POISON-TREE OF JAVA. 


385 


the inner bark of the Antshar, which were stiffened in the 
usual manner with thick rice-water, and handsomely painted, 
for the purpose of decorating his mantries, they all decidedly 
refused to wear them, asserting that they would cause their 
hair to fall off'. 

I first met with the Antshar in the province of Poegar, on 
my way to Bangoow r angee : in the province of Blambangan, 
l visited four or five different trees, from which this descrip¬ 
tion has been made, while two of them furnished the juice 
for the preparation of the upas. The largest of these trees 
had, where the oblique appendages of the stem entered the 
ground, a diameter of at least ten feet; and where the regularly 
round and straight stem began, a distance of at least ten feet 
from the points of the two opposite appendages at the surface 
of the ground, its diameter was full three feet. I have since 
found a very tall tree in Passooroowang, near the boundary 
of Malang, and very lately I have discovered several young 
trees in the forests of Japara, and one tree in the vicinity of 
Onarang. In all these places, though the inhabitants are 
unacquainted with the preparation and effect of the poison, 
they distinguish the tree by the name of Antshar. From the 
tree I found in the province of Passooroowang, I collected 
some juice, which was nearly equal in its operation to that of 
Blambangan. One of the experiments to be related below, 
was made with the upas prepared by myself, after my return 
to the chief village. I had some difficulty in inducing the 
inhabitants to assist me in collecting the juice, as they feared 
a cutaneous eruption and inflammation, resembling, according 
to the account they gave of it, that produced by the Ingas of 
this island, the Rhus vernix of Japan, and the Rhus radicans 
of North America; but they were only affected by a slight 
heat and itching of the eyes. In clearing the new grounds in 
the environs of Bangoowangee for cultivation, it is with much 
difficulty the inhabitants can be made to approach the tree, 
as they dread the cutaneous eruption which it is known to 
produce when newly cut down. 

But except when the tree is largely wounded, or when it is 
felled, by which a Jprge portion of the juice is disengaged, 
the effluvia of which, mixing with the atmosphere, affects the 
persons exposed to it with the symptoms just mentioned, 1 the 
tree may be approached and ascended like the other trees in 
the forests. 

The Antshar, like trees in its neighbourhood, is on all sides 
surrounded by shrubs and plants; in no instance have I ob¬ 
served the ground naked or barren in its immediate circum¬ 
ference. 

The largest tree I met with in Blambangan, was so closely 
environed by the common trees and shrubs of the forest in 

3 C 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VEGETABLES. 


386 

which it grew, that it was with difficulty I could approach it. 
Several vines and climbing shrubs, in complete health and 
vigour, adhered to it, and ascended to nearly half its height. 
And at the time I visited the tree and collected the juice, I 
was forcibly struck with the egregious misrepresentation of 
Foersch. Several young trees, spontaneously sprung from 
seeds that had fallen from the parent, reminded me of a line 
in D arwin’s Botanic Garden, 

“ Chained at his root two scion demons dwell 

while in recalling his beautiful description of the Upas, my 
vicinity to the tree gave me reason to rejoice that it is founded 
on fiction. The wood of the Antshar is white, light, and of 
a spongy appearance. 


CHAP. XXXV. 

curiosities respecting vegetables. — (Continued.) 

Cu rioas Plant near the Cape oj Good Hope—The Mandrake — 
Changeable Flower—Chinese Method of Preparing Tea — An¬ 
tiquity of Sugar—Curious Effects of Cinchona, or Peruvian 
Bark—Curious Particulars of a Pound Weight of Cotton¬ 
wool—Animated Stalk—Animal Flower. 

“ Soft roll your incense, herbs, and fruits, and flowers, 

In mingled clouds to Him, whose sun exalts, 

Whose breath perfumes you, and whose pencil paints.” 

Curious Plant near the Cape of Good Hope. 

The following account of a curious plant is taken from 
Thunberg’s Travels :— 

“ The fruit of a species of Mesembryan Thermum , (says the 
writer,) w 7 as sometimes brought to the tavern as a rarity, and 
was called Rosa de Jericho. When it is put into water, it 
gradually opens all its seed-vessels, and exactly resembles a 
sun ; and when it becomes dry again, it contracts itself, and 
closes by degrees. This is a no less necessary than singular 
property, which points out the admirable institution of an all¬ 
wise Creator; inasmuch as this plant, which is found in the 
most arid plains, keeps its seeds fast locked up in time of 
drought, but when the rainy season comes, and the seeds cap. 
grow, it opens its receptacles, and lets fall the seeds, in order 
that they may be dispersed abroad. The water in which this 
fruit h as lain, is sometimes given to women that are near 
their time, and is thought to procure them an easy deli¬ 
very .” 


I 


MANDRAKE.—CHANGEABLE FLOWER. 387 

The Mandrake. —This plant possesses a long taper root 
resembling the parsnip, running three or four feet into the 
ground ; immediately from the crown of the root arises a circle 
of leaves, at first standing erect, but when grown to the full 
size, they spread open and lie upon the ground ; these leaves 
are more than a foot in length, and about five inches broad in 
the middle, of a dark green colour, and a fetid scent; among 
these come out the dowers, each on a scape three inches in 
length; they are five-cornered, of an herbaceous white colour, 
spreading open at top like a primrose, having five hairy sta¬ 
mens, and a globular germ supporting an awl-shaped style, 
which becomes a globular soft berry, when full-grown as large 
as a nutmeg, of a yellowish green colour, and when ripe, full 
of pulp. 

Many singular facts are related of this plant, among which 
we select the following : the roots have been supposed to bear 
a resemblance to the human form, and are figured as such in 
the old herbals, being distinguished into the male with a long 
beard, and the female with a prolix head of hair. Mounte¬ 
banks carry about fictitious images, shaped from roots of 
bryony and other plants, cut into form, or forced to grow' 
through moulds of earthenware, as mandrake-roots. It was 
fabled to grow under a gallows, where the matter falling from 
the dead body, gave it the shape of a man; to utter a great 
shriek, or terrible groans, at the digging up : and it was as¬ 
serted, that he who would take up a plant of mandrake, should 
in common prudence tie a dog to it for that purpose, for, if 
a man should do it himself, he would surely die soon after. 
To this curious vegetable the poet alludes in the following 
lines : — 


“ Mark liow that rooted mandrake wears 
His human feet, his human hands ; 

Oft as his shapely form he rears, 

Aghast the frighted ploughman stands.” 


The Changeable Flower. —“ On the island of Lewchew, 
(says Mr. M'Leod,) is found a remarkable production, about 
the size of a cherry-tree, bearing flowers, which, alternately 
on the same day, assume the tint of the rose or lily, as they 
are exposed to sunshine or the shade. The bark of this tree 
is of a dark green, and the flowers bear a resemblance to our 
common roses. Some of our party, whose powers of vision 
were strong, (assisted by a vigorous imagination.) fancied that, 
by attentive watching, the change of hue, from white to red, 
under the influence of the solar ray, was actually perceptible 
to the eye : that, however, they altered their colour in the 
course of a few hours, was very obvious.” 


388 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VEGETABLES. 

As this is a chapter devoted to miscellaneous auicles of 
this c*ass, it may not be amiss to insert The Chinese Me¬ 
thod of preparing Tea. —Tea grows on a small shrub, 
the leaves of which are collected twice or thrice every year. 
Those who collect the leaves three times a year, begin at the 
new moon which precedes the vernal equinox, whether it 
falls at the end of February or the beginning of March. At 
that period most of the leaves are perfectly green, and hardly 
fully expanded : but these small and tender leaves are ac¬ 
counted the best of all; they are scarce, and exceedingly 
dear. 

The second crop, or the first with those who collect the 
leaves only twice a year, is gathered about the end of March 
or beginning of April. Part of the leaves have then attained 
to maturity; and though the rest have acquired only half 
their size, they are both collected without any distinction. 

The third (or second with some) and last crop, is more abun¬ 
dant, and is collected about the end of April, when the leaves 
have attained their full growth, both of size and number. 
Some people neglect the two first crops, and confine them¬ 
selves entirely to this, the leaves of which are selected with 
great care, and distributed into classes, according to their 
size or goodness.—Tea ought to be rejected as of a bad qua¬ 
lity, when old, and withered leaves are found amongst it, 
which may be easily known by infusing a little of it in water, 
for then the leaves dilate, and return to their natural state. 

The leaves of the tea shrub are oblong, sharp-pointed, in¬ 
dented on the edges, and of a very beautiful green colour. 
The flower is composed of five white petals, disposed in the 
form of a rose, and is succeeded bv a pod, of the size of a 
filbert, containing two or three small green seeds, which are 
wrinkled, and have a disagreeable taste. Its root is fibrous, 
and spreads itself out near the surface of the ground. 

This shrub grows equally well in a rich, as in a poor soil. 
It is to be found all over China, but there are certain places 
where the tea is of a better quality than in others. Some peo¬ 
ple give the preference to the tea of Japan, but we have reason 
to doubt whether there is any real difference. 

The manner of preparing tea is very simple. When the 
leaves are collected, they are exposed to the steam of boiling 
water, in order to soften them ; and they are then spread out 
upon metal plates, and placed over a moderate fire, where 
they acquire that shrivelled appearance which they have when 
brought to Europe. 

In China, there are only two kinds of the tea shrub ; but 
the Chinese, by their industry, have considerably multiplied 
each of them. If there are, therefore, large quantities c f tea 
in that country which are excessively dear, there is some 


METHOD OF PREPARING PEAS. 


389 


/ 


also /ery common, and sold at a low rate. The Chinese, 
however, are very fond of good tea, and take as much pains to 
procure it of an excellent quality, as the Europeans do to 
procure excellent wine. 

Bohea Tea. —The Chinese name of this tea is vou-y-tcha , 
that is to say, tea of the third kind, called von-y. It takes its 
name from a mountain in the province of Fokien. There are 
three kinds of this tea: the first of which, called common 
Bohea, grows at the bottom of the mountain; the second, 
called congfou, or camphou, grows at the top; and the third, 
named saot-chaon, grows in the middle. These names in 
England are corrupted into congo, and souchong. 

Bohea teas in general ought to be dry, and heavy in the 
hand; this is a sign that the leaves have been full and juicy. 
When infused, they ought to communicate to the water a 
yellow colour, inclining a little to green, which indicates 
that they are fresh, for old tea produces a red colour. Care 
must be taken above all to avoid red leaves, and to choose 
such as are large and entire. This is also a sign of freshness; 
for the longer tea is kept, the more it is shaken, which breaks 
the leaves, and mixes them with a great deal of dust. It 
sometimes happens, however, that the tea-dust is owing to the 
manner in which it is put into the box, as the Chinese tread 
upon it with their feet, to make the box hold a large quantity. 
The leaves of the cong-fou and saot-chaon ought to have a 
beautiful black shining tint, and to communicate to water a 
very bright yellow and a mild taste. 

The Pekoe is a particular kind of tea-shrub, the leaves of 
which are all black on the one side, and all white on the 
other. As the real Pekoe tea is very scarce and dear, the 
Chinese adulterate it, by mixing with it some of the small 
half-grown leaves, as vet white, which grow on the top of the 
common Bohea tea. This changes the quality of the Pekoe, 
for these leaves being scarcely formed, can have very little 
sap or flavour. 

Green Teas. —Green teas do not grow in the same place 
as the Bohea tea. They are brought from the province of 
Nankin, and are distinguished into three sorts. The first is 
known under the name of songlo tea , but oftener under that of 
green toukay; the second is called bing tea; and the third hai/s- 
suen tea, or hyson. There are also some other kinds, but the 
greater part of them are unknown, or of little importance to 
foreigners. 

The songlo and hayssuen teas come from the same shrub, 
their only difference is in the manner of their being prepared. 
Bino- tea grows on a different shrub, the leaves of which are 
thicker and larger than those of other kinds. All teas ought to 
have a green leaden tint: the older they are. the leaves become 


390 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VEGETABLES. 

more yellow, which is a very great fault. They ought also to 
have a burnt or scorched smell, not too strong, but agreeable; 
for when they have been long kept, they have a filthy smell, 
somewhat like that of pilchards. The French wish to find in 
green teas, and particularly in songlo and imperial, an odour 
similar to that of soap. In these several kinds of tea, there 
is a particular distinction to be made, as they are generally 
classed into one, two, or three kinds, according to the periods 
at which they were gathered. 

Antiquity of Sugar. —From the few remains of the 
Grecian and Roman authors which have survived the ravages 
of time, we can find no proof that the juice of the sugar-cane 
was known at a very early period. There can be no doubt, 
however, that in those countries where it was indigenous, its 
value was not long concealed. It is not improbable that it 
was known to the ancient Jews; for there is some reason to 
suppose, that the Hebrew w r ord, which occurs frequently in the 
Old Testament, and which is by our translators rendered some¬ 
times calamus , and sometimes sweet-cane , does in fact mean the 
sugar-cane. The sugar-cane was first made known to the 
western parts of the world, by the conquest of Alexander the 
Great. Strabo relates, that Nearchus's admiral found it in 
the East Indies, A. C. 325. It is evidently alluded to in 
a fragment of Theophrastus, preserved in Photius. Varro, 
w r ho lived A. C. 68. describes it in a fragment quoted by 
Isidorus, as a fluid pressed from reeds of a large size, which 
was sweeter than honey. Dioscorides, about A. C. 35, 
says, “ that there is a kind of honey called saccharon , which is 
found in India and Arabia Felix. It has the appearance of 
salt, and is brittle when chewed. If dissolved in water, it is 
beneficial to the bowels and stomach, is useful in diseases of 
the bladder and kidneys, and, when sprinkled on the eye, re¬ 
moves those substances that obscure the sight/’ This is the 
first account we have of its medicinal qualities. Galen often 
prescribed it as a medicine. Lucan relates, that an Oriental 
nation m alliance with Pompey used the juice of the cane as 
a common drink. Pliny says it was produced in Arabia and 
India, but that the best came from the latter country. It is also 
mentioned by Arrian, in his Petiplus of the Red Sea, by the 
name of (sachar) as an article of commerce from 

India to the Red Sea. iElian, Tertullian, and Alexander 
Aphrodisseus, mention it as a species of honey procured from 
canes. 

Curious Effects of Cinchona, or Peruvian Bark.— 
An account has been published in the Journal de Pharmacie , 
for May 1819, of some curious effects produced by Peruvian 


A POUND OF COTTON-WOOL. 


391 

Bark. A French merchant, M. Delpech, residing- at Guayra, 
in the Caraccas, had stored up a large quantity of fresh cin¬ 
chona, in apartments which were afterwards required for the 
reception of some travellers as guests. These apartments 
contained each eight or ten thousand pounds of bark ; and in 
consequence of its fermentation, the heat was much greater 
here than in the other parts of the house, rendering the place 
somewhat disagreeable. One of the beds placed in these 
rooms, was occupied by a traveller, ill of a malignant fever: 
after the first day he found himself much better, though he 
had taken no medicine; in a few days he felt himself quite 
recovered, without any medical treatment whatsoever. This 
unexpected success induced M. Delpech to make some other 
trials : several persons ill of fever, were placed successively 
in his magazine of cinchona, and they were all speedily cured, 
simply by the effluvia of the bark. 

It happened that a bale of coffee, and some common French 
brandy, were kept in the same place for some months : one of 
the brandy bottles happened to be uncorked, and, on exami¬ 
nation, was found to possess a slight aromatic taste, to be 
more tonic, and very superior to common brandy. The coffee 
was also much altered ; when roasted, it was more bitter than 
common coffee, and left in the mouth a taste similar to that 
c f an infusion of bark. 

It is to be observed, that the bark which produced all these 
effects was fresh ; and the question whether that of commerce 
would produce the same effects can only be answered by ex¬ 
periment 

Curious Particulars of a Pound Weight of Cotton¬ 
wool. —The wool came from the East Indies to London ; from 
London it went to Manchester, where it was manufactured 
into yarn ; from Manchester it was sent to Paisley, w'here it 
was woven ; it was then sent to Ayrshire, where it was tam¬ 
boured ; it came back to Paisley, and was there veined ; after¬ 
wards it was sent to Dumbarton, where it was hand-sewed, 
and again brought to Paisley, whence it was sent to Renfrew 
to be bleached; and w r as returned to Paisley, whence it went 
to Glasgow and was finished; and from Glasgow was sent per 
coach to London. The time taken to bring this article to 
market was three years, from the time it was packed in India, 
till the time it arrived in cloth at the merchant’s warehouse 
in London ; when it must have been conveyed 5000 miles by 
sea, and 920 by land, and contributed to support no less than 
150 people, by which the value had been increased 2000 per 
cent.—Thus, from materials of little value in their native 
state, do arts and manufactures administer to individual com* 
tor* and national revenue 


392 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VEGETABLES. 


We shall close this chapter with an account of two curious 
articles, not strictly vegetable, denominated the animated 
stalk, and the animal flower. 

The Animated Stalk. —This very remarkable animal was 
found by Mr. Ives, at Cuddalore, and he mentions several 
kinds of it: some appearing like dry straws tied together, 
others like grass; some have bodies much larger than others, 
with the addition of two scaly imperfect wings; their neck is 
no bigger than a pin, but twice as long as their body ; their 
heads are like those of a hare, and their eyes vertical and 
very brisk. They live upon flies, and catch these insects very 
dexterously with the two fore feet, which they keep doubled 
up in three parts, close to their head, and dart out very quick 
on the approach of their prey; and when they have caught it, 
they eat it very voraciously, holding it in the same manner 
as a squirrel does its food. On the outer joints of the fore 
feet are several very sharp hooks, for the easier catching ind 
holding of their prey ; while, with the other feet, which are 
four in number, they take hold of trees, or any other thing, 
the better to surprise whatever the)' - lie in wait for. They 
drink like a horse, putting their mouths into the water. Their 
excrements, which are very white, are almost as large as the 
body of the animal, and, as the natives say, dangerous to the 
eyes. 

The Animal Flower. —Animal flower, in zoology, is a 
name given to several species of animals belonging to the 
genus of Actinia of Linnaeus. They have likewise been dis¬ 
tinguished by the names of Urtica marina , or Sea-nett/e, and 
Sea-anemone , from their claws or tentacles beino- disposed in 
regular circles, and tinged with a variety of bright lively co¬ 
lours, resembling the petals of some of our most beautiful 
flowers. As to one species particularly, mentioned by Abbe 
Diequemarre, in the Phil. Trans, for 1773, article 37, the purest 
white, carmine, and ultramarine, are said to be scarcely 
sufficient to express their brilliancy. The bodies of some of 
them are hemispherical, of others cylindrical, and others are 
shaped like a fig. Their substance likewise differs : some are 
stifl' and gelatinous, others fleshy and muscular ; but all of 
them are capable of altering their figure, when they extend 
their bodies and claws in search of food. They are found in 
many of the rocky coasts of the West India Islands, and likewise 
on some parts of the coast of England. They have only one 
opening, which is the centre of the uppermost part of the 
animal; round this are placed rows of fleshy claws ; this open¬ 
ing is the mouth of the animal, and is capable of great exten¬ 
sion. The animals themselves, though exceedingly voracious, 
will beai long fasting. They may be preserved alive a whole 


THE ANIMAL FLOWER. 


3 US 

year, or perhaps longer, in a vessel of sea water, without any 
visible food ; but, when food is presented, one of them will 
successively devour tv r o muscles in their shells, or even swal¬ 
low a whole crab as large as a hen’s egg. In a day or two 
the crab-shell is voided at the mouth, perfectly cleared of all 
the meat. 1 he muscle-shells are likewise discharged whole, 
with the two shells joined together, but entirely empty, so 
that not the least particle of fish is to be perceived on opening 
them. An anemone of one species, will even swallow an indi¬ 
vidual of another species ; but, after retaining it ten or twelve 
hours, will throw it up alive and uninjured. Through this 
opening also, it produces its young ones alive, already fur¬ 
nished with little claws, which, as soon as they fix themselves, 
they begin to extend in search of food. 

In Hughes’s Natural History of Barbadoes, an account is 
also given of several species of animal flowers. They are 
described as only found in a bason in one particular cave; 
and of the most remarkable species mentioned by him, we 
have the following description :—“ In the middle of the bason, 
there is a fixed stone or rock, which is always under water. 
Round its sides, at different depths, seldom exceeding eighteen 
inches, are seen at all times of the year, issuing out of little 
holes, certain substances that have the appearance of fine 
radiated flowers, of a pale yellow or a bright straw colour, 
slightly tinged with green, having a circular border of thick¬ 
set petals, about tile size of, and much resembling those of 
a single garden marigold, except that this seeming flower 
is narrower at the discus, or setting on of the leaves, than 
any flower of that kind. I have attempted to pluck one of 
these from the rock, to which they are always fixed, but never 
could effect it; for as soon as my fingers came within two or 
three inches of it, it would immediately contract close toge¬ 
ther its yellow border, and shrink back into the hole of the 
rock ; but, if left undisturbed for about four minutes, it would 
come gradually in sight, expanding, though at first very cau¬ 
tiously, its seeming leaves, till at last it appeared in its former 
bloom. However, it would again recoil with a surprising 
quickness, when my hand came within a small distance of it. 
Having tried the same experiment by attempting to touch it 
with my cane, and a small slender rod, the effect was the 
same. Though I could not by any means contrive to take or 
pluck from the rock one of these animals entire, yet I once 
cut off (with a knife, which I had held for a long time out of 
sight, near the mouth of a hole out of which one of these 
animals appeared) two of these seeming leaves. These, when 
out of the water, retained their shape and colour, but, being 
composed of a membrane-like substance surprisingly thin, it 
soc n shrivelled up and decayed.” 

I ? *3 T' 


394 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VEGETABLES. 


The Abbe Diequemarre, by many curious, though cruel 
experiments, related in the Phil. Trans, for 1773, has shewn, 
that these animals possess, in a most extraordinary degree, 
the power of reproduction, so that scarce any thing more is 
necessary to produce as many sea anemones as we please, 
than to cut a single one into as many pieces. A sea anemone 
being cut in two by a section through the body, that pari 
where the limbs and mouth are placed, ate a piece of a muscle, 
offered to it soon after the operation, and continued to feed 
and grow daily for three months after. The food sometimes 
passed through the animal, but was generally thrown up 
again, considerably changed, as in the perfect sea anemone. 
In about two months, two rows of limbs were perceived grow- 
ing,out of the part where the incision was made. On offering 
food to this new mouth, it was laid hold of, eaten, and, the 
limbs continually increasing, the animal gradually became as 
perfect as those which had never been cut. In some instances, 
however, he found that when one of these creatures was cut 
through, new limbs would be produced from the cut place, 
those at the mouth remaining as before; so that a monstrous 
animal was the consequence, having two mouths, and feeding 
at both ends. 

Having put some of them into a pan of water, set over a 
slow fire, he found that they lost their life at fifty degrees of 
Reaumur’s thermometer. To avoid the imputation of cruelty 
in these experiments, the author argues the favourable conse¬ 
quences that have attended his operations on the sea anemo¬ 
nes, which have been so fortunate as to fall into his hands: 
as he has not only multiplied their existence, but also renewed 
their youth, “ which last/’ he adds, “ is surely no small advan¬ 
tage.” The reproductive power of the Barbadoes animal 
flower is prodigious. Many people coming to see these 
strange creatures, and occasioning some inconvenience to a 
person through whose grounds they were obliged to pass, he 
resolved to destroy the objects of their curiosity ; and, that 
he might do so effectually, he caused all the holes out of 
which they appeared, to be carefully bored and drilled with 
an iron instrument, so that we cannot suppose but their bodies 
must have been entirely crushed to a pulp: nevertheless, they 
again appeared in a few weeks, from the very same places. 

Animal flowers are found in as great beauty and variety on 
the coast of Galloway, as any where in the West Indies. They 
are repeatedly taken notice of in Sir J. Sinclair’s Statistical 
Account of Scotland. Mr. Little, minister of Colvend, men¬ 
tions the polypus, or sea anemone, among the productions of 
that coast. Mr. Muirhead, minister of Urr, gives the follow¬ 
ing particular description of them :—“ About five years ago, 
1 discovered in the parish of Colvend, the animal flower, i? 


FUNGUS, OK MUSHROOM. 


395 


as great perfection and variety as it is in Jamaica. The 
lively colours, and the various and elegant forms of the poly¬ 
pus on this coast, are truly equal to any thing related by 
natural historians, respecting the sea-flowers of any other 
country. To see a flower of purple, of green, blue, yellow, 
&c. striving to catch a worm, is really amusing.” And Mr. 
Marshall, minister of Brittle, has allotted a section of his 
Statistical Account of his parish, to animal flowers ; wherein 
he says, “ Till of late perhaps it has not been much adverted 
to, that the animal flower, or water polypus, is even common 
along the shores of Brittle, Colvend, and very likely round 
the whole coast of the stewartry of Galloway. The form of 
these polypi is elegant, and pleasantly diversified. Some 
are found resembling the sunflower, some the hundred-leaved 
rose, but the greater number bear the likeness of the poppy. 
The colours differ as much as the form. Sometimes the ani¬ 
mal flower is of a deep purple, frequently of a rose colour, 
but mostly of a light red or fleshy hue. The most beautiful 
of them, that could be picked up, have often been carried 
from the shore of Colvend, twelve or fifteen miles up into the 
the country, where they have lived, fed on worms, and even 
bred for several weeks, and might have existed much longer, 
if they could have been supplied with sea-water.” 


—»►►©©•<«— 


CHAP. XXXVI. 

curiosities respecting vegetables. — (Concluded.) 

If to this lower planet we advert. 

Seat of our birth and nurture, proofs abound 
Of infinite contrivance, matchless skill. 

Whether the site or figure we regard, 

Or distribution of the various parts 

Perfective of the system, strokes appear 

Too exquisite for bungling chance to hit. Bally. 

FUNGUS, OR MUSHROOM. 

By fungus, we mean the mushroom tribe. The ancients 
called them the children of the earth, to indicate the obscurity 
of their origin. The moderns have likewise been at a loss in 
what rank to place them; some referring them to the animal, 
some to the vegetable, and others to the mineral kingdom. 
Messrs. Wilck and Minchausen, have not scrupled to rank 
these bodies among animal productions; because, when frag¬ 
ments of them or their seeds were macerated in water, these 
gentlemen oerceived a quantity of animalcules discharged, 
which they supposed capable of being changed into the same 


396 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VEGETABLES. 


substance. It was an ancient opinion, that beef could produce 
bees; but it was reserved for Messrs. Wilck and Minchausen, 
to suppose that bees could produce beef. The former asserts, 
that fungi consist of innumerable cavities, each inhabited by a 
polype ; and he does not hesitate to ascribe the formation of 
them to their inhabitants, in the same way as it has been said 
that the coral, the lichen, and the mucor, were formed. Hed- 
wig has lately shewn how ill-founded this opinion is with 
respect to the lichen ; and M. Durande has demonstrated its 
falsity with regard to the corallines. 

“ Indeed, (says M. Bonnet, speaking of the animality of 
fungi,) nothing but the rage for paradox could induce any one 
to publish such a fable; and I regret that posterity will be 
able to reproach our times with it. Observation and experi¬ 
ment should enable us to overcome the prejudices of modern 
philosophy, now that those of the ancient have disappeared 
and are forgotten.” It cannot be denied, that the mushroom is 
one of the most perishable of all plants, and it is therefore 
the most favourable for the generation of insects. Consider¬ 
ing the quickness of its growth, it must be furnished with the 
power of copious absorption; the extremity of its vessels 
must be more dilated than in other plants. Its root seems, in 
many cases, to be merely intended for its support; for some 
species grow upon stones, or moveable sand, from which it is 
impossible they can draw much nourishment. We must 
therefore suppose, that it is chiefly by the stalk that they 
absorb. These stalks grow in a moist and tainted air, in 
which float multitudes of eggs, so small, that the very insects 
they produce are with difficulty seen by the microscope. 
These eggs may be compared to the particles of the byssus, 
100,000 of which, as M. Gleditsch says, are not equal to one- 
fourth of a grain. 

May we not suppose that a quantity of such eggs are ab¬ 
sorbed by the vessels of the fungus, and that they remain there 
without any change, till the plant begins to decay? Besides, 
the eggs may be only deposited on the surface of the plant, 
or they may exist in water, into which they are thrown for 
examination. Do not we see that such eggs, dispersed through 
the air, are hatched in vinegar, in paste, See. and wherever 
they find a convenient nidus for their development? Can 
it be surprising, then, that the corruption of the mushroom 
should make the water capable of disclosing certain beings 
that are really foreign to both ? It is not more easy to acqui¬ 
esce in the opinions of those naturalists who place the fungi 
in the mineral kingdom, because they are found growing on 
porous stones, thence called lapides futigarii; which, how¬ 
ever, must be covered with a little earth, and be watered 
with tepid water, in order to favour the growth. Such mush * 


FUNGUS, OR MUSHROOM. 


397 


rooms are no more the produce of the stone, than the lichen 
is of the rock to which it adheres, or the moss, of the tree on 
which it is found. 

We have only to observe the growth of mushrooms, to be 
convinced that this happens by deveiopment, and not by 
addition or combination of parts, as in minerals. The opinion 
of Boccone, who attributed them to an unctuous matter per¬ 
forming the function of seed, and acquiring extension by 
apposition of similar parts; and that of Morison, who con¬ 
ceived that they grew spontaneously out of the earth by a 
certain mixture of salt and sulphur, joined with oils from the 
dung of quadrupeds; have now no longer any adherents. 
Fungi are produced, they live, they grow by development; 
they are exposed to those vicissitudes natural to the different 
periods of life which characterize living substances; they 
perish and die ; they extract, from the extremity of their 
vessels, the juices with which they are nourished ; they elabo¬ 
rate and assimilate them to their own substance: they are, 
therefore, organized and living beings, and consequently be¬ 
long to the vegetable kingdom. 

But whether they are real plants, or only the production of 
plants, is still a matter in dispute with the ablest naturalists. 
Some ancient authors have pretended to discover the seed of 
mushrooms ; but the opinion was never generally received. 
Petronius, when he is laughing at the ridiculous magni¬ 
ficence of his hero Trimalcio, relates, that he had written 
to the Indies for the seed of morelle. These productions 
were generally attributed to the superfluous humidity of 
rotten wood, or other putrid substances. The opinion took its 
rise from observing that they grew most copiously in rainy 
weather. Such was the opinion of Trajus, king of Bauhin, 
and even of Columna, who, talking of the peziza, says, that 
its substance was more solid and harder, because it did not 
originate from rotten wood, but from the pituita of the earth. 
It is not surprising, that, in times when the want of experi¬ 
ment and observation made people believe that insects could 
be generated by putrefaction, we should find the opinion 
general, that fungi owed their origin to the putrescence of 
bodies, or to a viscous humour analogous to putridity 
Malpighi could not satisfy himself as to the existence of seeds, 
which other botanists have pretended to discover. He only 
says, that these plants must have them, or that they perpe¬ 
tuate themselves, and shoot by fragments. Micheli, among 
the moderns, appears to have employed himself most success¬ 
fully on this subject. He imagined, that he not only saw the 
seeds, but even the stamina, as well as the little transparent 
bodies destined to favour the dissemination and fecundation 
of these seeds Before this author. Lister thought he per- 


398 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VEGETABLES. 


ceived seeds in the Fungus perosus crassus magnus of John 
Bauhin : the little round bodies that are found in the pezizae 
and belvellse, at that time, passed for seeds; which did not 
appear at all probable to Marsigli, considering that the eye, 
when assisted with the very best microscopes, could perceive 
nothing similar in much larger fungi. Indeed, these bodies 
may be the capsules or covers of the seeds, if they are not 
the seeds themselves. However this may be, Marsigli, ob¬ 
serving that fungi were often without roots or branches, and 
that they wanted flowers and seeds, the means which nature 
employs for the production of perfect plants, thought himself 
warranted in doubting whether these beings could be ranked 
in the number of vegetables. The doubts of Marsigli prompted 
him to observe the formation of fungi. Their matrix he called 
situs: he imagined they grew in places where they met with 
an unctuous matter, composed of oil mixed with nitrous salt, 
which, by fermentation, produced heat and moisture, and in¬ 
sinuated itself between the fibres of wood; that is, he imagined 
them the production of a viscous and putrescent humour. 
Lancisi, in like manner, considered fungi as owing their 

7 7 o o 

existence to the putrefaction of vegetables, and supposed them 
a disease in the plants ; but he imagined “ that the fibres of 
the trees were necessary to their production,” as is the case 
in the formation of galls ; and compared them to the warts and 
other excrescences of the human body. He added, that such 
fungous vegetable tumors must necessarily assume various 
forms and figures, from the fluids which distend the tubes and 
vessels relaxed by putrescence, from the ductility of the fibres 
and their direction, and from the action of the air. This 
opinion has been refuted by the celebrated naturalist M. de 
Jussieu, in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences for 1728. 
He maintains, that the fungi have a great analogy with the 
lichen, which is allowed to be a vegetable ; that, like the 
lichen, they are divested of stalks, branches, and leaves; that, 
like it, they grow and are nourished upon the trunks of trees, 
on pieces of rotten wood, and on all sorts of putrid vege¬ 
tables; that they resemble the lichen too in the rapidity of 
their growth, and the facility with which many of them may 
be dried, and restored to their former figure upon being im¬ 
mersed in water; and lastly, that there is a great similiarity 
in the manner in which their seeds are produced. He affirms, 
that only the warts and excrescences which grow on animal 
bodies, and the knots and other tumors that are to be found 
on trees, can be compared with each other; for they are 
composed equally of the solid and liquid substance of the 
plant or animal on which they grow ; whereas, the mattei 
of the fungi is not only quite distinct from that of the 
plants on which they are found, but often entirely simfla* 


FUNGUS, OR MUSHROOM- 399 

to the substance of those that spring immediately from the 
earth. 

The organization (says M. de Jussieu) which distinguishes 
plants and other productions of nature, is visible in the fungi, 
and the particular organization of each species is constant at 
all times, and in all places ; a circumstance which could not 
happen, if there were not an animal reproduction of species, 
and consequently a multiplication and propagation by seed. 
This is not, he says, an imaginary supposition, for the seeds 
may be felt like meal upon mushrooms with gills, especially 
when they begin to decay ; they may be seen with a magni¬ 
fying glass, in those that have gills with black margins : and, 
lastly, says he, botanists can have no doubt that fungi are a 
distinct class of plants ; because, bv comparing the observa¬ 
tions made in different countries, with the figures and descrip¬ 
tions of such as have been engraved, the same genera and 
the same species are every where found. 

Notwithstanding this refutation by M. de Jussieu, another 
naturalist, M. de Necker, has lately maintained, in his My- 
cilologia, That the fungi ought to be excluded from the three 
kingdoms of nature, and be considered as intermediate beings. 
He has observed, like Marsigli, the matrix of the fungi; and 
has substituted the word carchte (initium faciens) instead of 
situs; imagining that the rudiment of the fungus cannot exist 
beyond that point in which the development of the filaments 
of fibrous roots is perceived. He allows, that fungi are nou¬ 
rished and grow like vegetables ; but he thinks that they 
differ very much from them in respect of their origin, struc¬ 
ture, nutrition, and rapidity of growth. He says, that the 
various vessels which compose the organization of vegetables, 
are not to be found in the fungi, and that they seem entirely 
composed of cellular substance and bark; so that this simple 
organization is nothing more than an aggregation of vessels 
endowed with a common nature, that suck up the moisture in 
the manner of a sponge ; with this difference, that the mois¬ 
ture is assimilated into a part of the fungus, and not merely 
imbibed for nutrition. 

Lastly, That the fructification, the only essential part of 
a vegetable, and which distinguishes it from all other organ¬ 
ized bodies, being wanting, fungi cannot be considered as 
plants. This, he thinks, is confirmed by the constant observation 
of those people who gather the morelle and the mushroom, 
and who never find them in the same spots where they had 
formerly grown. As the generation of fungi (says M. Necker) 
is always performed when the parenchymatous cellular sub 
stance has changed its nature, form, and function, we must 
conclude that it is the degeneiation of that part which produces 
these bodies. 


400 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VEGETABLES. 

But if fungi were owing merely to the degeneration of 
plants, they would be still better entitled to constitute a new 
kingdom. They would then be a decomposition, not a new 
formation, or new bodies. Besides, we cannot deny, that in 
those bodies which form the limit between the animal and 
vegetable kingdoms, the organization becomes simple, as the 
organs destined for nutrition are multiplied; but, as the last 
m the class of insects belongs to the animal kingdom, fungi 
ought, notwithstanding the simplicity of their organization, 
still to belong to the vegetable kingdom. 

The parenchymatous, or cellular substance, which, as 
M. Bonnet says, is universally extended, embraces the whole 
fibrous system, and becomes the principal instrument of 
growth, must naturally be more abundant in those produc 
tions ; and this accounts for the rapidity of their enlargement. 
Besides, growth, whether slow or rapid, never was employed 
to determine the presence or absence of the vegetable or ani¬ 
mal character. The dvaba verma , which, in a few w T eeks, 
shoots, and puts forth its leaves, flowers, and fruit, is not less 
a plant than the palm. The insect that exists but for a day, 
is as much an animal, as the elephant that lives for centuries. 
As to the seeds of the fungi, it is probable that nature meant 
to withdraw from our eyes the dissemination of these plants, 
by making the seeds almost imperceptible ; and it is likewise 
probable, that naturalists have seen nothing but their capsules. 
Since, however, from the imperfection of our senses, we are 
unable to perceive these seeds, because those bodies which 
have been called their seeds, and the fragments or cuttings 
of the plants themselves, have not produced others of the 
same species ; Nature seems to have reserved for herself the 
care of disseminating certain plants : it is in vain, for instance, 
that the botanist sows the dust found in the capsules of the 
orchis, though every one allows it to be the seed. 

But, after all, what are those parts in the fungi casually 
observed by naturalists, and which they have taken for the 
parts of fructification? These are quite distinct from the 
other parts; and whatever may be their use, they cannot have 
been formed by the prolongation of the cellular substance, or of 
the fibres of the tree on which the fungus grows : they are, 
therefore, owing, like flower and fruit, to the proper organi¬ 
zation of the plant. The plants, however, have a particular 
existence, independent of their putrefying nidus. The gills of 
certain fungi, which differ essentially from the rest of the 
plant in their conformation, would be sufficient to authorize 
this latter opinion. But can putrefaction create an organic 
substance? Nature undoubtedly disseminates through the 
air, and over the surface of the earth, innumerable seeds of 
fungi, as well as eggs of insects. The plant and the an ; mal 


THE METEORIC STONE. 


401 


are excluded, when the nidus, in which they are deposited, or 
the temperature, is favourable for their development. No 
fortuitous concourse, either of atoms or fluids, could produce 
bodies so exquisitely and so regularly organized. It is suf¬ 
ficient, to throw one’s eye on the beautiful plates which 
Schcefler has published of them, and compare them, by the 
glass, with the warts and other excrescences of animals, to be 
convinced that they have not the same origin. The function 
of the cellular substance in vegetables must be greatly 
superior to that in animals, if it could produce any thing but 
deformities. The greater part of fungi exhibit a configura¬ 
tion much too regular, constant, and uniform, to be the effect 
of chance or putrefaction. As this form is preserved the same 
in all places where fungi have been found, it follows, that they 
contain in themselves the principles of reproduction. They 
resemble the misletoe, and other parasitic plants, which are 
perfectly distinct from the trees on which they grow. The 
fungi, therefore, are organized and living substances,—or true 


CHAP. XXXVII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING STONES. 

The Meteoric Stone—Labrador Stone — Asbestos—Mushroom 
St'tne—The Changeable Stone — A Wonderful Diamond — 
A Singular Curiosity. 

There are more things in heaven and earth 

Than are dreamt of in our philosophy. ShaJtspeare. 

THE METEORIC STONE. 

The following description of a meteoric stone, which fell 
in the year 1511, is taken from a set of observations on 
natural history, meteorology, &c. made in the early part of 
the sixteenth century, by Andrea da Prato, of Milan. These 
have not been published ; but various copies of them exist. 
They have been commented upon by Dr. Louis Rossi, in the 
Giomale di Fisica, Chemica, fyc. from whence this descrip¬ 
tion is taken.—“ On the 4th of September, 1511, at the 
second hour of the night, and also at the seventh, there 
appeared in the air, at Milan, a running fire, with such 
splendour, that the day seemed to have returned; and some 
persons beheld the appearance of a large head, which caused 
great wonder and fear in the city. The same thing happened 
on the following night at the ninth hour. A few davs after, 
beyond the river Adela, there fell from heaven many stones, 







<jQ‘i CURIOSITIES RESPECTING STONES. 

which being collected at Cremasco (Crema), were found to 
weioR eight, and even eleven pounds each. Their colour 
was°similar to that of burnt stones.”—Dr. Bossi considers this 
as an authentic descriotion of the fall of an aerolite. 

The Labrador Stone, is a curious species of Feld-spar, 
or Rhombic Quartz, which exhibits all the colours ol a 
peacock’s tail. It was discovered some years ago by 
the Moravians, who have a colony among the Esquimaux, 
in Labrador. It is found of a light or deep gray colour, 
but for the most part of a blackish gray. When held 
in the light in various positions, it discovers a diversity of 
colours, such as the blue of lapis lazuli, grass-green, apple- 
green, pea-green, and sometimes, but more seldom, a 
citron yellow. Sometimes it has a colour between that of 
red copper and tornbuck-gray; at other times the colours 
are between gray and violet. For the most part, these 
colours are in spots, but sometimes in stripes on the same 
piece. The stones are found in pretty large angular pieces, 
appear foliated when broken, and the fragments are of a 
rhomboidal figure. 

We shall next introduce The Asbestos. —This is a stone 
found in several places in Europe and Asia, and particularly in 
Sweden, Corsica, Cornwall, and the island of Anglesea in 
Wales. It is of a silky nature, very fine, and of a grayish 
colour, insipid, and indissoluble in water. It may be split 
into threads and filaments, from one to ten inches in length, 
It is indestructible by fire; whence it may be employed foi 
many useful purposes. There are some sorts whose filaments 
are rigid and brittle, and others more flexible. The former can¬ 
not be spun into cloth, and the latter with difficulty. In con¬ 
sequence of its incombustibility, it was very much valued by 
the ancients for wrapping up the bodies of the dead. In the 
year 1702, an urn was discovered at Rome, with the bones of 
a human body wrapped in a cloth made of flexible asbestos. 
The method of preparing it is as follows : the stone is laid tc 
soak in warm water, then opened and divided by the hands, 
that the earthy matter may be washed out. This earth is 
white like chalk, and makes the water thick and milky. This 
being several times repeated, the filaments are afterwards 
collected and dried: they are commodiously spun with flax. 
When the cloth is woven, it is best preserved by oil from 
breaking. It is then put into the fire; and the flax being 
burnt out, the cloth remains pure and white. It might also 
be made into paper; and, from its incombustibility, wills, or any 
other thing of importance, could be written on it. The Chinese 
make furnaces of this mineral, which are very portable. 


THE MUSHROOM STONE. 


403 


* 


The Mushroom Ston e, or stone capable of producing mush¬ 
rooms.—In the Ephemerides of the Curious mention is made, 
of a stone, so called by Dr. J. G. Wolckamerus, who saw one in 
Italy, which never ceases to produce, in a few days, mushrooms 
of an excellent flavour, by the most simple and easy process ima¬ 
ginable. “ It is (says he) of the bigness of an ox’s head, rough 
and uneven on its surface, and on which are also perceived 
some clefts and crevices. It is black in some parts, and in 
others of a lighter and grayish colour. Internally it is porous, 
and nearly of the nature of pumice stone, but much heavier; 
and it contains a small piece of flint, which is so incorporated 
with it as to appear to have been formed at the same time the 
stone itself received its form. This gives room to judge, that 
these stones have been produced by a fat and viscid juice, 
which has the property of indurating whatever matter it 
filtrates into. The stone, when lightly covered with earth, 
and sprinkled with warm water, produces mushrooms of an 
exquisite flavour, which are usually round, sometimes oval, 
and whose borders, by their inflections and different curvities, 
represent in some measure human ears. The principal colour 
of these mushrooms is sometimes yellowish, and sometimes 
of a bright purple, but they are always diversified with spots 
of a deep orange colour, or reddish brown; and when these 
spots are recent, and still in full bloom, they produce a very 
agreeable effect to the sight. But what appears admirable is, 
that the part of the stalk which remains adhering to the stone 
when the mushroom has been separated from it, grows gradu¬ 
ally hard, and petrifies in time; so that it seems that this 
fungus restores to the stone the nutritive juice it received 
from it, and that it thus contributes to its increase.” John 
Baptist Porta says, that this stone is found in several parts of 
Italy; and that it is not only to be met with at Naples, taken 
out of mount Vesuvius, but also on mount Pantherico, in 
the principality of Arellino; on mount Garganus, in Apulia; 
and on the summit of some other high mountains. As to the 
form of these mushrooms, their root is strong, uneven, 
divided according to its longitudinal direction, and composed 
of fibres as fine as hairs, interwoven one with another. Their 
form, on first shooting out, resembles a small bladder, scarce!' 
larger than the bud of a vine; and if in this state they art 
squeezed between the fingers, an aqueous subacid liquor 
issues out. When at their full growth, their pedicle is of a 
finger’s length, larger at top than at bottom, and becomes 
insensibly slenderer in proportion as it is nearer the earth. 
These mushrooms are also formed in an umbrella shape, and 
variegated with an infinity of little specks, situated very near 
one mother. They are smooth and even on the upper part, 
but underneath leafy, like the common mushrooms. Their 






404 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING STONES. 

taste is likewise very agreeable, and the sick are l.ot debar¬ 
red from eating' them when dressed in a proper manner.— 
Some naturalists and physicians submitted these stones to 
chemical analysis, in order to be more competent judges of 
the uses they might be put to in medicine; when there first 
came forth, by distillation, an insipid water, and afterwards 
a spirituous liquor. The retort having been heated to a cer¬ 
tain point, there arose an oil, which had nearly the smell and 
taste of that of guaiacum; and a very acid salt was extracted 
from the ashes. 

We must not omit The Changeable Stone. —There are 
three of these remarkable stones in the British Museum; the 
largest of them about the size of a cherry-stone, but of an 
oval form. It is opaque, and coloured like a common yellow 
pea; it may be scratched, though not without difficulty, by 
a common knife, notwithstanding which, it seems to leave a 
mark upon glass. It does not ferment with nitrous acid. 
Wh en it has lain some hours in water, it becomes transparent, 
and of a yellow amber colour. The change begins soon after 
the immersion, and at one end, in form of a little shot; but in 
a small one of the same kind, the transparency begins round 
the edges. By degrees the spot increases, until the whole 
stone becomes uniformly clear throughout: when out of the 
water it loses its transparency, first at one end, and then gra¬ 
dually over the remainder, until the whole has become opaque, 
which change happens in less than it takes to become trans¬ 
parent. This change is not entirely peculiar to the hydro- 
phanes. Bergman informs us, that some steatites produce 
the same effect; and M. Magellan, that the crust of chalce¬ 
donies and agates frequently produce the same appearance. 
M essrs. Buckman and Veltheim were the first who particularly 
inquired into the nature of this stone, and investigated its 
properties. Their account is as follows :—“ As soon as the 
stone is put into water, it exhales a musty smell, several air 
bubbles arise, and it becomes gradually transparent. Some 
of the stones become colourless as soon as they are thoroughly 
transparent; others have a more or less deep yellow colour, 
some acquire a beautiful ruby colour; and others gain a fine 
colour of mother-of-pearl, or of a bluish opal. Whatever be 
the colour of the liquor in which the hydrophanes is immersed, 
it gains only its usual degree of transparency with the colour 
peculiar to it. When we look at it in its moist state, we per¬ 
ceive aluminous point, varying its situation as the position of 
the eye is altered.” This luminous point is not, according to 
Mr. Bruckman, the immediate image of the sun, but a reflec¬ 
tion of that image refracted in the substance of the stone 
itself; a phenomenon which probably gave rise to its name of 


WONDERFUL DIAMOND.-ANGULAR CURIOSITY 405 

Oc ulus Mundi. Mr. Bruckman left a piece of this stone, 
weighing 35 grains, seven hours in water, the space requisite 
to make it perfectly transparent; and in that time he found 
that it had gained three grains in weight. The hydrophanes 
becomes much sooner transparent when put into hot water; 
and the same happens if it be dipped in a very dilute acid, or 
rather a very dilute solution of alkali. When dipped in oil 
of vitriol, it becomes very quickly transparent, and will con¬ 
tinue so on account of the strong attraction of that acid for# 
moisture, which takes as much from the atmosphere as is 
necessary to keep the stone transparent; but its opacity will re¬ 
turn, if it be dipped in an alkaline liquor, and then dried. 

An account of a Wonderful Diamond, in the Island 
of Bornou. —The rajah of Mathan possesses the finest and 
largest diamond in the world, that has hitherto been disco¬ 
vered. This diamond, which is said to be of the finest water, 
weighs 367 carats. The celebrated Pitt diamond weighs only 
127 carats. The Mathan diamond is shaped like an egg, with 
an indented hollow near the smaller end. It was discovered 
at Ls.ndak, about ninety years ago ; and though the possession 
of it has occasioned numerous wars, it has been about eighty 
years in the possession of the Mathan family. Many years 
ago, the governor of Batavia sent a Mr. Stuvart to ascertain 
the weight, quality, and value of this diamond, and to endea 
vour to purchase it; and in his mission, he was accompanied 
by the sultan of Pontiana. After examining it, Mr. Stuvart 
offered 150,000 dollars for the diamond, the sum to which he 
was limited ; and, in addition to this sum, two war-brigs, with 
their guns and ammunition, together with a certain number 
of great guns, and a quantity of powder and shot. The rajah, 
however, refused to deprive his family of so valuable an here¬ 
ditary possession, to which the Malays attach the miraculous 
power of curing all kinds of diseases, by means of the water 
in which it is dipped, and with which they imagine the fortune 
of the family is connected. 

We shall close our department of remarkable Stones, with 
the following account of A Singular Curiosity.— Mr. 
Sloughton, the Spanish Consul at Boston, in North America, 
has in his possession a flint pebble, obtained amongst ballasl 
stone, thrown from a vessel at an eastern port. When broken, 
it presented two half heads in profile; all the outlines of fea¬ 
ture and hair were perfectly distinct, and the heads were of a 
darker colour than the rest of the stone. What is most sur¬ 
prising is, that the one face was male and the other female ; 
and enen the putting up of the hair was appropriate to the 
se.s^s : they were situated, in the stone, face to face. 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MOUNTAINS. 


4oe 


CHAP. XXXVIII.. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MOUNTAINS. 

Natural Description of Mountains—The Peak in Derbyshire 
Snowden in Wales—Skiddaw in Cumberland. 

-Sublime the uplifted mountains rise, 

And with their pointed heads invade the skies ; 

While the high cliffs their craggy arms extend, 

Distinguish states, and sever’d realms defend. Blachmore. 

NATURAL DESCRIPTION OF MOUNTAINS. 

Almost all the tops of the highest mountains are bare and 
pointed; which proceeds from their being continually assaulted 
by storms and tempests. All the earthy substances with 
which they might have been once covered, have for ages been 
washed away from their summits; and nothing is left but 
immense rocks, which no tempest has hitherto been able to 
destroy. Nevertheless, time is every day making depredations, 
and huge fragments are seen tumbling down the precipices, 
either loosened from their summits by the rains and frost, or 
struck down by lightning. Nothing can exhibit a more terri¬ 
ble picture than one of these enormous masses, commonly 
larger than a house, falling from its height, and rolling down 
the side of the mountain with a noise louder than thunder. 
Dr. Plot tells us of one in particular, which being loosened 
from its bed, rolled down the precipice, and was partly shat¬ 
tered into a thousand pieces. One of the largest fragments, 
however, still preserving its motion, travelled over the plain 
below, crossed a rivulet in the midst, and at last stopped on 
the other side of the bank ! These fragments are often struck 
off by lightning, and sometimes undermined by rains; but 
the most usual manner in which they are disunited from the 
mountain is by frost: the rains first insinuate and find their 
way between the interstices of the mountain, and continue 
there until by the intense cold they are converted into ice, 
when the water swells with an irresistible force, and produces 
the same effect as gunpowder, splitting the most solid rocks, 
and thus shattering their summits. Sometimes whole moun¬ 
tains are, by various causes, disunited from each other. In 
many parts of the Alps, there are amazing clefts, the sides of 
which so exactly correspond with the opposite, that no doubt 
can be entertained of their having been once joined. At 
Cajeta, in Italy, a mountain was split in this manner by an 
earthquake; and there is a passage opened through it, that 
appears as if done by the industry of man. 



LAN D-SLIPS. 


407 


In the Andes these breaches are often seen. That at 
Ihermopylee in Greece has been long famous. The moun¬ 
tain of the Troglodytes in Arabia has thus a passage through 
it; and that in the late duchy of Savoy, which Nature began, 
and which Victor Amadeus completed, is an instance of the 
same kind. “ In June, 1714, a part of the mountain of Dia- 
bleret, in the district of Valais, in France, suddenly fell down, 
between two and three p. m. the weather being very calm and 
serene. This mountain, which was of a conical fio-ure, de- 
stroyed fifty-five cottages in its fall. Fifteen persons, with 
about one hundred beasts, were also crushed beneath its ruins, 
which covered an extent of ground of a league square. The 
dust it occasioned instantly enveloped all the neighbourhood 
in darkness. The heaps of rubbish were more than three 
hundred feet high. They stopped the current of a river that 
ran along the plain, which now is formed into several new 
and deep lakes. There appeared, through the whole of this 
rubbish, none of those substances that seemed to indicate 
that this catastrophe had been occasioned by means of sub¬ 
terraneous fires. Most probably, the base of this rocky 
mountain had been decomposing through the lapse of many 
ages, and thus fell without any extraneous violence.” 

In 1618, the town of Fleurs, in France, was buried beneath a 
rocky mountain, at the foot of which it was situated. Such 
accidents are produced by various causes : by earthquakes; 
by being decayed at the bottom ; or by the foundation of one 
part of the mountain being hollowed by waters, and, thus 
wanting a support, breaking from the other. Thus it generally 
has been found in the great chasms in the Alps; and it is 
almost always the case in those disruptions of hills, called 
land-slips : these are nothing more than the sliding down of 
a higher piece of ground, driven from its situation by subter¬ 
raneous inundations, and settling upon the plain below. 
There is not an appearance in nature that so much astonished 
our ancestors as these land-slips. To behold a large upland, 
with its houses, corn, and cattle, at once loosened from its 
place, and floating as it were upon the subjacent water,—to 
see it quitting its ancient situation, and sailing forward like a 
ship,—is certainly one of the most extraordinary appearances 
that can be imagined, and, to a people ignorant of the powers 
of nature, might well be considered as a prodigy. Accord- 
ingly, we find all our old historians mentioning it as an omen 
of approaching calamities. In this more enlightened age, 
however, its cause is well known; and, instead of exciting 
ominous apprehensions in the populace, it only gives rise to 
some very ridiculous law-suits among the several claimants, 
whose the property thus divided from its kindred soil shall 
be; whether the land shall belong to the original pos 


408 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MOUNTAINS. 

sessor, or to him upon whose grounds it has encroached and 
settled. 

In the lands of Hatberg, in Ireland, there stood a declivity 
gradually ascending for nearly half a mile. On the 10th of 
March, 1713, the inhabitants perceived a crack on its side, 
like a furrow made with a plough, which they imputed to the 
effects of lightning, as there had been a thunder-storm the 
night before. However, on the evening of the same day, they 
were surprised to hear a hideous confused noise issuing all 
around from the side of the hill ; and their curiosity being 
awakened, they resorted to the place. There, to their amaze¬ 
ment, they found an extent of ground, of nearly five acres, all 
in gentle motion, and sliding down the hill upon the sub¬ 
jacent plain. This motion, together with the noise, continued 
the remaining part of the day, and the whole of the following 
night; the noise proceeding, probably, from the attrition of 
the ground beneath. The day following, this strange journey 
down the hill ceased ; and above an acre of the meadow below 
was found covered with what before composed a part of the 
declivity. But such tremendous land-slips, when a whole 
mountain’s side descends, happen very rarely. 

There are some of another kind, however, much more com¬ 
mon; and as they are always sudden, much more dangerous. 
These are snow-slips, or avalanches, well known, and greatly 
dreaded by travellers. They are justly described in the fol¬ 
lowing beautiful lines of one of our poets:— 

By an hundred winters piled, 

Where the glaciers, dark with death, 

Hang o’er precipices wild, 

Hang suspended by a breath. 

If a pulse but throb alarm, 

Headlong down the steeps they fail; 

For a pulse will break the charm, 

Bounding, bursting, burying all. 

It often happens, that when snow has long been accumu¬ 
lated on the tops and on the sides of mountains, it is borne 
down the precipice either by tempests, or by its own melting. 
At first, when loosened, the volume in motion is but small, 
but it gathers as it continues to roll; and by the time it has 
reached the habitable parts of the mountain, it is generally 
grown to an enormous bulk. Wherever it rolls, it levels all 
things in its way, or buries them in unavoidable destruction. 
Instead of rolling, it sometimes is found to slide along from 
the top ; yet even thus, it is generally fatal. Nevertheless, 
we had an instance a few years ago, of a small family in Ger- 
many, that lived for above a fortnight under one of these 
snow-slipi. Although they were buried during the whole of 


PEAK IN DERBYSHIRE. 


409 

that time in utter darkness, and under abed of some hundreds 
of feet deep, yet they were providentially taken out alive ; the 
weight of the snow being supported by a beam that kept up 
the roof, and nourishment supplied to them by the milk of a 
she-goat, that was buried under the same ruin. 

A Description of the Peak in Derbyshire, from 
Moritz’s Travels in several parts of England. 

Having arrived in Derbyshire, a distance of 170 miles from 
London, the author thus describes the town of Castleton, in 
which the Peak is situated :— 

“ I ascended one of the highest hills, and all at once per¬ 
ceived a beautiful vale below me, which was traversed by rivers 
and brooks, and inclosed on all sides by hills. In this vale 
lies Castleton, a small town, with low houses; so named from 
an old castle, whose ruins are still to be seen here. 

“ A narrow path, which wound itself down the side of the 
rock, led me through the vale into the street of Castleton, 
where I found an inn, and dined. After dinner, I made the • 
best of my way to the cavern. 

“ A little rivulet, which runs through the middle of the 
town, led me to its entrance. 

“ I stood here a few moments, full of wonder and astonish¬ 
ment at the amazing height of the steep rock before me, 
covered on each side with ivy and other shrubs. At its sum¬ 
mit are the decayed walls and towers of an ancient castle, 
which formerly stood on this rock ; and at its foot the mon¬ 
strous aperture, or mouth to the entrance of the cavern ; where 
it is totally dark, even at mid-day. 

“ As I was standing here full of admiration, 1 perceived at 
the entrance of the cavern, a man of a rude and rough appear¬ 
ance, who asked me if I wished to see the Peak ; and an echo 
strongly reverberated his coarse voice. 

“ Answering him in the affirmative, he next inquired if I 
should want to be carried to the other side of the stream; 
telling me at the same time what the sum would be which I 
must pay for it. 

“ This man had, along with his black stringy hair, and his 
dirty and tattered clothes, such a singularly wild and infernal 
look, that he actually struck me as a real Charon: his voice, 
and the questions he asked me, were not of a kind to remove 
this notion; so that far from its requiring any effort of imagi¬ 
nation, I found it not easy to avoid believing, that at length 
I had actually reached Avernus,—was about to cross Acheron, 
—and to be ferried by Charon! 

“ I had n) sooner agreed to his demand, than he told me, 
ail I had to do was boldly to follow him,—and thus we entered 
the cavern. 

3 ¥ 


410 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MOUNTAINS. 


“ In the entrance of the cavern lay the trunk of a tiee that 
had been cut down, on which several of the boys of the town 
were playing. 

“ Our way seemed to be altogether on a descent, though 
not steep ; so that the light, which came in at the mouth of 
the cavern near the entrance, gradually forsook it; and when 
we had gone forward a few steps farther, 1 was astonished by 
a sight, which, of all others, I here the least expected : I per¬ 
ceived to the right, in the hollow of the cavern, a whole sub¬ 
terranean village, where the inhabitants, on account of its 
being Sunday, were resting from their work, and with happy 
and cheerful looks were sitting at the doors of their huts 


along with their children. 

o 

“We had scarcely passed these small subterranean houses, 
when I perceived a number of large wheels, on which on week¬ 
days these human moles, the inhabitants of the cavern, made 
ropas. 

“ I fancied I here saw the wheel of Ixion.and the incessant 
labour of the Dana'ides. 

“ The opening through which the light came, seemed, as we 
descended, every moment to become less and less, and the 
daikness at every step to increase, till at length only a few 
rays appeared, as if darting through a crevice, and just tinge- 
ing the small clouds of smoke which at dusk raised themselves 


to the mouth of the cavern. 

“ This gradual increase of darkness awakens in a contem¬ 
plative mind a soft melancholy. As you go down the gentle 
descent of the cavern, you can hardly help fancying the mo¬ 
ment is come when you are about to bid a final farewell to the 
abodes of mortals. 

“ At length the great cavern in the rock closed itself, in the 
same manner as heaven and earth seem to join in the horizon. 
We then approached a little door, where an old woman came 
out of one of the huts, and brought two candles, of which we 
each took one. 

“ My guide now opened the door, which completely shut 
out the faint glimmering of daylight, which till then it was 
still possible to perceive, and led us to the inmost centre of 
this dreary temple of old Chaos and Night, as if till now we 
had only been traversing the outer coasts of their dominions. 
The rock was here so low that we were obliged to stoop very 
much for some few steps, in order to get through; but how 
great was my astonishment, when we had passed this narrow 
passage, and again stood upright, at once to perceive, as well 
as the feeble light of the candles would permit, the amazing 
length, breadth, and height of the cavern, compared to which, 
the monstrous opening through which we had already passed 
was nothing 


THE PEAK CAVERN. DERBYSHIRE. 



































































































































































* 











H '.. • ■ ■ ■ v 



























































PEAK IN DERBYSHIRE. 


4H 

“ After we had wandered here more than an ho ir, as beneath 
a dark and dusky sky, on a level sandy soil, the rock gradu¬ 
ally lowered itself, and we suddenly found ourselves on the 
edge of a broad river, which, from the glimmering of our 
candles amid the total darkness, suggested a variety of inte¬ 
resting reflections. To the side of this river a small boat was 
moored, with some straw in its bottom. Into this vehicle my 
guide desired me to step, and lay myself down in it quite flat 
because, as he said, towards the middle of the river the rock 
would almost touch the water. 

“ When I had laid mvself down as directed, he himself 
jumped into the water, and drew the boat after him. All 
around us was one still, solemn, and deadly silence; and as 
the boat advanced, the rock seemed to stoop, and come 
nearer and nearer to us, till at length it nearly touched my 
face ; and, as l lay, I could hardly hold the candle upright. I 
seemed to mvself to be in a coffin rather than in a boat, as 
1 had no room to stir hand or foot till we had passed this 
frightful strait, and the rock rose again on the other side,— 
where mv guide once more handed me ashore. 

v c5 # 

“ The cavern was now become all at once broad and high, 
and then suddenly it was again low and narrow. I observed 
on both sides, as we passed along, a prodigious number of 
great and small petrified plants and animals; but these we 
could not examine, unless we had been disposed to spend 
some days in the cavern. 

“ And thus we arrived at the opposite side, at the second 
river or stream, which, however, was not so broad as the first, 
as one may see across it to the other side : over this stream 
my guide carried me on his shoulders, because there was here 
no boat to ferry us. 

“ From thence we only went a few steps farther, when we 
came to a very small piece of water, which extended itself 
lengthways, and led us to the end of the cavern. 

“ The path along the edge of this water was wet and slip¬ 
pery, and sometimes so very narrow that I could hardly set 
one foot before the other. 

“ Notwithstanding, I wandered with pleasure on this sub¬ 
terraneous shore, and was regaling myself with the interesting 
contemplation of all these various wonderful objects, in this 
land of darkness, and shadow of death,—when, all at once, 
something like music at a distance sounded in my ears. 1 
instantly stopped, full of astonishment, and eagerly asked 
my guide what this might mean. He answered, “ Only have 
patience, and you shall soon see.” But as we advanced, the 
sounds of harmony seemed to die away, the noise became 
weaker, and at length it appeared to dwindle into a gentle 
hissing o* hum. like distant dropi of falling rain. 


*12 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MOUNTAINS. 


“ It is not difficult to imagine how great was my wonder, 
when ere long I actually saw and felt a violent shower of rain 
falling from the rock as from a thick cloud, threatening to ex¬ 
tinguish our candles, and leave us in entire darkness. It was 
this that had caused the melancholy sound which I had 
heard at a distance, the soft notes of which had been assisted 
by the distant echo. 

To this shower which fell from the ceiling or roof of the 
cavern through the veins of the rock, the inhabitants had 
given the name of a mizzling rain. 

“ We continued our march along the sides of the water, and 
often saw on its banks large apertures of the rock, which 
seemed to be new or subordinate caverns, all of which we 
passed without looking into. At length my guide prepared 
me for one of the finest sights we had yet beheld, and which 
was now soon to burst on our view. 

“We had gone but a few paces farther, when we entered 
what might easily be taken for a majestic temple, with lofty 
arches, supported by beautiful pillars, formed by the plastic 
hand of some ingenious artist. 

“ This subterraneous temple, in the structure of which no 
human hand had borne a part, appeared to me at that 
moment to surpass all the most stupendous buildings I had 
ever seen, in point of regularity, magnificence, and beauty. 

“ Deeply impressed with awe and reverence at this grand 
display of the Creator’s works, my mind became insensibly 
solemnized ; and I felt that it became me silently to adore 
the Author of all, and acknowledge the hand of the divine 
Architect. 

From the Peak in Derbyshire, we shall conduct our reader 
to Snowden in Wales; to the top of which Miss Eliza¬ 
beth Smith, a young lady of uncommon attainments, made an 
excursion, and published an account of her adventure, in 
nearly the following language. 

“Snowden is the loftiest of the Welsh mountains, being 
3020 feet above the level of the sea. 

“ We set off, about eleven at night, for the foot of Snowden, 
and travelled eight miles through a fine mountainous country, 
by moon-light. Before one, we arrived at a little hut wffiere 
the guide lives ; and after having him called up, and loaded 
with a basket of bread and milk, and a tin box for specimens, 
we began our march at a quarter past one. The clouds were 
gathering over the mountains, and threatening us with either 
darkness or rain. We how'ever escaped both, and w f ere only 
amused with every variety they could give the landscape, by 
hiding or obscuring the moon, and blotting out now one moun¬ 
tain, and now another, from our view'; till about two o’clock. 


SNOWDEN IN WALES. 


413 


when the dawn began to appear, they covered the moon, and 
we saw her no more. We proceeded by a very easy ascent 
over boggy ground till half past two, when, coming suddenly 
to the top of the first range of hills, and meeting with a vio 
lent wind which blew 7 from the quarter where the sun was to 
rise, (for we ascended the mountain on the south west,) Mrs 
G. S. was frightened, and seeing a very steep ascent before 
her, said she would sit down and wait our return. My mother 
said she would stay with her, and I proposed our all going- 
back together; but my mother very kindly insisted on my 
proceeding. We therefore divided our provisions; the ladies 
returned to the hut from which they had set out, and I went on 
with the guide, who could not speak a word of English. We 
steered our course more towards the south, and toiled up 
several mountains, in some parts covered with loose stones, 
which had fallen from their broken summits, but in general 
overgrown with different sorts of moss, and a kind of short 
grass, mixed with immense quantities of the galium pusillum. 
1 picked up a few other plants, but on the whole was dis¬ 
appointed in the botanical way, as I found very little that I 
had not before met with on the mountains in this neighbour- 
hood; however, this is not the time of the year (July) for 
mountain curiosities. I went on as fast as I could, without 
stopping, except now and then for a moment to look down on 
the mountains under my feet, as clouds passed over them, 
thinking each summit I saw before me was the last, and un¬ 
able to gain any information from my guide to satisfv mv im- 
patience, for I wished to be at the top before sun-rise, and 
pink clouds now began to appear over the steep I was climb¬ 
ing. I also knew that the ladies would be very impatient for 
my return ; nor was I without anxiety on their account, as I 
was not sure they would find their way back to the hut. These 
ideas occupied my mind all the way up; and if that deceitful, 
but comforting lady, Hope, had not continually presented to 
me the range of hills I was ascending as the last step in am¬ 
bition’s ladder, I am not sure that, with all my eagerness to 
get on the top, I should not have returned back. 

“ I was debating this point very earnestly with myself, in 
ascending an almost perpendicular green slope, when, on a 
sudden, I saw at my feet an immense chasm, all in darkness, 
and of a depth I cannot guess, certainly not less than a hun¬ 
dred feet; I should suppose much more. It answers in some 
respects to the idea I have formed of the crater of a violent 
valcano, but evidently is not that, as there is no mark of fire, 
the rock being composed, as it is in general throughout this 
country, of a sort of slate. Nor does the mountain appear to 
have been thrown down, but the pit to have sunk in ; which 
must probably has been occasioned by subterranean water*, 


414 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MOUNTAINS. 

•as there is water at the bottom of the pit, and the mountain' 
is full of springs. You think now you are at the top, but you 
are mistaken. I am standing indeed at the top of the abyss, 
but with a high rocky peak on each side of me, and descend¬ 
ing almost perpendicularly into the lake at the bottom. 

I have been taking a rough sketch of one of these peaks, with 
the lake in the deepest shadow ; I am turning over my paper* 
which the wind renders very difficult, in order to draw 
another; I look up, and the upper part illuminated by a beau¬ 
tiful rose-coloured light, while the opposite part still casts a 
dark shade over its base, and conceals the sun from my view. 
If I were ready to jump into the pit with delight at first see¬ 
ing it, my ecstasy now was still greater. The guide seemed 
quite delighted to see me so much pleased, and took care, in 
descending, to lead me to the edge of every precipice, which 
he had not done in going up. I, however, presently recol¬ 
lected, that I was in a great hurry to get back, and set off 
along the brink of the cavity for the highest peak, where I 
arrived at a quarter past four, and saw a view, of which it is 
impossible to form any idea from description. For ma»v 
miles around, it was composed of tops of high mountains, of 
all the various forms that can be imagined : some appeared 
swimming in an ocean of vapour; on others, the clouds lay 
like a cap of snow, appearing as soft as down. They were all 
far below Snowden, and I was enjoying the finest blue sky, 
and the purest air I ever breathed. The whole prospect was 
bounded by the sea, except to the east and south-east, and 
the greatest part of the lands in those parts were blotted out 
by clouds. The sun, however, rose so far toward the north¬ 
east, as to be still hanging over the sea. I took a sketch of a 
small part of the mountains, with some of the little lakes 
which appear at their feet,—sat down, for the first time, on a 
circle of stones which is built on the top of the hill,—and made 
great havock in the bread and milk, in which achievement 
the guide equalled, if not surpassed me,—and at half past four, 
almost frozen, I began to descend. My anxiety about my 
friends increased, as I came near the spot where I had heft 
them ; I made all possible haste, and found them safe in the 
hut, at ten minutes past six. It certainly would have been 
pleasanter to have had more time, and some one to enjoy the 
expedition with me; but I am delighted that I have been, and 
would not for any thing give up the recollection of the sub¬ 
lime scene.” 

We shall close this chapter with an account of Skid daw.— 
This is a mountain of England, in Cumberland, one of the 
most remarkable in the kingdom, being above 3000 feet in 
perpendicnlar height, from the surface of the Derwent-water, 


THE AN DES. 


415 

which lake is far distant from the sea, and high above its level 
from this circumstance. Skiddavv is reckoned the highest 
mountain in England. The prospect from its top is very ex¬ 
tensive, and, being detached from othar mountains, forms a 
grand obj ect from various points of view. It is easy of access, 
and the sides are covered with grass. At the top, the atmo¬ 
sphere is uncommonly rare. It is covered with loose brown 
slate-stone. 


CHAP. XXXIX. 

curiosities respecting mountains.— (Continued.) 

The Andes — Pichinca—Monte Bolea — Pausilipo—Monte Nuovo 

—Spectre oj the Broken — Gauts, or Indian Appenines — Pico 

— written Mountains — Athos—Sulphur Mountains. 

-His proud head the airy mountain hides, 

Among; the clouds; his shoulders and his sides, 

A shady mantle clothes. Denliam. 

THE ANDES. 

The Andes is a great chain of mountains in South America, 
which, running from the most northern part of Peru, to the 
Straits of Magellan, between 3000 and 4000 miles, are the 
longest and most remarkable in the world. The Spaniards 
call them the Cordilleras de los Andes: they form two ridges; 
the lowermost of which is overspread with woods and groves, 
and the uppermost covered with everlasting snow. Those 
who have been at the top, affirm that the sky is always serene 
and bright, the air cold and piercing, and yet so thin that 
they were scarce able to breathe. When they looked down¬ 
wards, the country was hid by the clouds that hovered on the 
mountain's sides. 

The mountains just mentioned, which have been frequently 
ascended, are much inferior in height to many others in this 
enormous chain. 

The following is the account given of the mountain called 
Pichincha, by Don George Juan, and Don Antonio de Ulloa, 
two mathematicians, sent by the kings of France and Spain, 
to make observations in relation to the figure of the earth. 
These mathematicians suffered extremely, as well from the 
severity of the cold, as from the impetuosity of the winds, 
which on these heights blow with incessant violence; diffi¬ 
culties the more painful, as they had been little used to such 
sensations Thus, in the torrid zone, nearly under the equi 



41(3 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MOUNTAINS. 

noctial line, where it is natural to suppose they had im>st to 
fear from the heat, their greatest pain was caused by the ex¬ 
cessiveness of the cold. Their first scheme, for shelter and 
lodging in these uncomfortable regions, was to pitch a lield- 
tent for each company : but on Pichinca, this could not be 
done, from the narrowness of the summit; they were there¬ 
fore obliged to be contented with a hut so small, that the 
whole of the company could scarcely creep into it. Nor will 
this appear strange, if the reader considers the bad situation 
and smallness of the place, it being one of the loftiest crags 
of a rocky mountain, 100 fathoms above the highest desert of 
Pichinca. Such was the position of their mansion, when 
all the other adjacent parts soon became covered with ice and 
snow. The ascent up this stupendous rock, from the base, 
or the place where the mules could come to their habitation, 
was so craggy, as only to be climbed on foot; and to perform 
it, cost them four hours’ continual labour and pain, arising not 
only from the violent efforts of the body, but the subtilty of 
the aii, which was so thin, and probably overcharged 
with the lighter respirable gases, as to render respiration 
difficult. 

Our philosophers generally kept within their hut. Indeed, 
they were obliged to do this, on account of the intenseness 
of the cold, the violence of the wind, and their being continu¬ 
ally involved in so thick a fog, that an object at six or eight 
paces was hardly discernible. When the mist cleared up, the 
clouds, by their gravity, moved nearer to the surface of the 
earth, and on all sides surrounded the mountains to a vast 
distance, foiruing no bad representation of the sea, with 
their rock, like an island, stationed in its centre. When this 
happened, they heard the horrid noises of the tempests, which 
then spent their fury on Quito and the neighbouring country. 
They saw the lightnings issue from the clouds, and heard the 
thunders roll far beneath them ; and whilst the lower parts 
were involved in tempests of thunder and rain, they enjoyed 
a delightful serenity, the wind was hushed, the sky became 
clear, and the enlivening rays of the sun moderated the seve¬ 
rity of the cold. But their circumstances were very different, 
when the clouds reascended : their thickness rendered respi¬ 
ration difficult; the snow and hail fell continually; and the 
wind returned with all its violence; so that it was impossible 
entirely to overcome the fears of being, together with their 
hut, blown down the precipice, on the edge of which it was 
built, or of being buried by the daily accumulations of ice 
and snow. 

The wind was often so violent in these regions, that its 
velocity dazzled (he sight, whilst their fears were increased, 
from the dreadful concussions of the precipice, caused by the 


THE AN UES. 


417 


fall of enormous fragments of rocks. These crashes were the 
more alarming, as no other noises are heard in such solitary 
abodes : and during the night, their rest, which they so greatly 
wanted, was frequently disturbed by these sudden sounds. 
When the weather was fair near their hut, and the clouds 
gathered about some of the other mountains which they had 
selected for their observations, so that they could not make 
all the use they desired of this interval of good weather, they 
left their hut, to exercise themselves. Sometimes they de¬ 
scended to a small distance ; and, at other times, amused 
themselves with rolling large fragments of rocks down the 
precipice; and these frequently required the joint strength of 
them all, though they often saw the same effected by the 
mere force of the wind. But they always took care, in their 
excursions, not to go so far out, but that, on the least appear¬ 
ance of the clouds gathering about their cottage, which often 
happened very suddenly, they could regain their shelter. The 
door of their hut was fastened with thongs of leather, and on 
the inside not the smallest crevice was left unstopped ; besides 
which, it was very compactly covered with straw : but, not¬ 
withstanding all their care, the wind penetrated through. 

fhe days were often little better than the nights ; and all 
the light they enjoyed, was that of a lamp or two, which they 
kept continually burning. Though their hut was small, and 
crowded with inhabitants, besides the heat of the lamps, yet 
the intenseness of the cold was such, that every one of them 
was obliged to have a chafing-dish of coals. These precau¬ 
tions would have rendered the rigour of the climate support¬ 
able, had not the imminent danger of perishing, by being 
blown down the precipice, roused them every time it snowed, 
to encounter the severity of the outward air, and sally out, 
with shovels, to force from the roof of their hut, the masses of 
snow which were gathering on it- Nor would it, without this 
precaution, have been able to support the weight. They were 
not indeed without servants and Indians, but these were so 
benumbed with the cold, that it was with great difficulty they 
could get them out of a small tent, where they kept a con¬ 
tinual fire. So that, all our artists could obtain from them, 
was to take their turns in this labour; and even then they 
went very unwillingly about it, and consequently performed it 
but slowly. 

The reader may easily judge what our philosophers suffered 
from the asperities of such a climate. Their feet were swelled, 
and so tender, that they could not even bear the heat of the 
fire, and walking was attended with extreme pain. Their 
hands were covered with chilblains; their lips swelled and 
chopped, so that every motion in speaking drew blood ; con¬ 
sequently they were obliged to observe strict taciturnity, and 
is. ' 3 G 


t 


418 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MOUNTAINS. 


were little disposed to laugh, as, by causing an extension of 
the lips, it produced such wounds as were very painful for 
two or three days after. 

Their common food in this inhospitable region was a little 
rice boiled with some flesh or fowl, procured from Quito; 
and, instead of fluid water, their pot was filled with ice : they 
had the same resource with regard to what they drank ; and 
while they were eating, every one was obliged to keep his 
plate over a chafing-dish of coals, to prevent his provisions 
from freezing. The same was done respecting the water. At 
first they imagined the drinking of strong liquors would diffuse 
a heat through the body, and consequently render it less 
sensible of the painful sharpness of the cold ; but, to their 
surprise, they felt no manner of strength in such liquors, nor 
were they any greater preservatives against the cold than even 
common water. 

It is affirmed, that there are in the Andes sixteen volcanoes, 
or burnino- mountains, which throw out fire and smoke with a 
terrible noise. The height of Chimborazo, said to be the 

o 

highest peak of the Andes, has been determined by geome¬ 
trical calculations to be 20,282 feet. As all or most rivers 
have their source in mountains, it is no wonder a great num¬ 
ber run down the sides of the Andes. Some hurry along with 
a prodigious rapidity, while others form beautiful cascades, 
or run through holes in rocks, which look like bridges of a 
stupendous height. There is a public road through the moun¬ 
tains, 1000 miles in length, part of which runs from Quito to 
Cusco. 

Monte Bolea. —This is a hill or mount in the neighbour¬ 
hood of Verona, in the north of Italy, celebrated for the 
uncommon abundance and remarkable variety of the organic 
remains which it exhibits, as well as for the striking rela¬ 
tions these bear to minerals of volcanic origin. This spot has 
long attracted the attention of philosophic inquirers, and 
even excited the curiosity of the vulgar. Various collections 
of its petrifactions have been made, and a considerable num¬ 
ber of labourers are occasionally employed in digging an. 
preparing specimens. There are many treatises purposely 
devoted to the description and arrangement of its fossils, to 
a minute examination of its geognostic relations, and to labo¬ 
rious disquisitions on the manner in which it must have been 
formed. 

In the neighbourhood of the mount, and over a great part 
of the territory of Verona, there are seen undoubted products 
of volcanic eruptions, together with masses of petrified animal 
and vegetable substances. The hill itself presents a great 
variety and singular combination of mineral phenomena, of 


THE PAUSIl.lPO. 


419 

different origin and nature. Its greater propc rtion is com¬ 
posed of an aggregation of organic remains, and seems a 
cemetery of shells, fishes, marine animals, birds, and qua 
drupeds. Some of its beds consist of a range of certain species 
possessing a considerable similarity; while in others, animals of 
the most opposite habits, and inhabiting different regions of the 
globe, as well as different elements of nature, are strangely 
brought into contact, and confusedly blended in one hetero¬ 
geneous mass. Shell-fish of the rivers and of the sea, corals, 
fishes of various kinds, insects, bones of different species of 
birds, remains of elephants, bears, and other quadrupeds, re¬ 
quiring for their existence different climates, are here united 
in an extraordinary assemblage. Connected with these, we 
find basaltic columns, scoriae, lava, and other volcanic pro¬ 
ductions. These facts lead us to conclude, that this spot has 
witnessed wonderful revolutions, and that it has been subject, 
at different periods of its history, or perhaps nearly at the same 
time, to the dominion of two powerful elements, of which the 
ravages only are now visible. 

Pausilipo, —which is the next we would speak of, is a 
celebrated mountain of Naples, five miles from Puzzoli, 
famous for its grotto, or rather a subterraneous passage 
through it, which is near a mile long, about twenty feet 
broad, and from thirty to forty in height. The gentry who 
go there to gratify their curiosity, generally drive through it 
with lighted torches; but the country people find their way 
with little difficulty, by the light which enters at each end, 
and by two holes pierced through the mountain from the top, 
near the middle of the passage. This mountain is rendered 
an object of still greater fame and veneration, bv possessing 
the tomb of Virgil, which is overgrown with ivy, and 
shadowed with the spreading boughs of an ancient laurel 
tree. 


Monte Nuovo, —is a mountain in the environs of Naples, 
which blocks up the valley of Averno. “This mountain (Mr. 
Swinburne tells us) arose in 1538: after repeated quakings the 
earth burst asunder, and made way for a deluge of hot 
ashes and flames, which rising extremely high, and darkening 
the atmosphere, fell down again and formed a circular mound 
four miles in circumference, and one thousand feet high, with 
a laiw, cup in the middle. The wind rising afterwards, wafted 
the lighter particles over the country, blasted vegetation, and 
killed the animals which grazed; the consequence was, that 
the ] !ace was deserted, till Don Pedro de Toledo, viceroy 
of N i pins, encouraged the inhabitants by his example to 
retur i 



# 


420 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MOUNTAINS 

“ Part of Mo nte Nuovo is cultivated, but the larger portion 
of its declivity is wildly overgrown with prickly broom, and 
rank weeds that emit a very fetid sulphureous smell. The 
water in the valley is shallow, its inside towards the moun¬ 
tain is clad with shrubs, and the little area at the bottom 
planted with fig and mulberry trees ; a most striking specimen 
of the amazing vicissitudes that take place in this extraordi¬ 
nary country. I saw no traces of lava, or melted matter, and 
few stones within. Near the foot of this mountain the subter¬ 
raneous fires act with such immediate power, that even the 
sand at the bottom of the sea is heated to an intolerable 
degree.” 

The next object that claims our attention is The Spectre 
of the Broken. —A curious phenomenon observed on the 
Broken, one of the Hartz mountains in Hanover, of which the 
/ollowing account is given by M. Haree, “ On being here, 
says he, for the thirtieth time, and having procured informa¬ 
tion respecting the above-mentioned atmospheric phenomenon, 
1 was at length, on the 23d of May, 1797, so fortunate as to 
have the pleasure of seeing it for myself; and perhaps a 
description of it may afford satisfaction to others who visit 
the Broken through curiosity. The sun rose about four o’clock, 
and the atmosphere being quite serene towards the east, his 
rays could pass without any obstruction over the Heinrich 
shohe. 

In the S. W. however, towards Achtermannshoe, a brisk 
west wind carried before it thin transparent vapours, which 
were not yet formed into thick heavy clouds. About a quar¬ 
ter past four I went towards the inn, and looked round to 
see whether the atmosphere would permit me to have a free 
prospect to the S. W.; when I observed, at a very great 
distance, towards Achtermannshohe, a human figure of a mon¬ 
strous size. A violent gust of wind having; almost carried 
away my hat, I clapped my hand to it, by moving my arm 
towards my head; and the colossal figure did the same. The 
pleasure which I felt on this discovery can hardly be described, 
for I had already walked many a weary step in the hopes of 
seeing this shadowy image, without being able to gratify my 
curiosity. I immediately made another movement by bend¬ 
ing my body ; and the colossal figure before me repeated it. 
1 was desirous of doing the same thing once more,—but my 
colossus had vanished. 

“ I remained in the same position, waiting to see whether it 
would return ; and in a few minutes it again made its appear¬ 
ance on the Achtermannshohe. I paid my respects to it a 
second time ; and my compliment was returned by a similar 
inclination of the body, in the figure before me. I then called 


THE GAONTS, OR INDIAN APPENINES. 


421 


the landlord of the Broken, and having both put ourselves in 
the same position I had taken alone, we looked towards the 
Achtermannshohe, but saw nothing. We had not, however, 
atood long, before two similar colossal figures were formed 
over the above eminence, which, after repeating the various 
gesticulations of our bodies, vanished. We, however, still 
retained our position, keeping our eyes fixed on the same 
spot, and in a little while the two figures again stood before 
us, and were joined by a third, who had by this time added 
himself to our company. Every movement that we made by 
bending our bodies, these figures imitated,—but with this 
difference, that the phenomenon sometimes was weak and 
faint, and at others strong and well defined. 

“ Having thus had an opportunity of discovering the whole 
secret of this extraordinary appearance, I can give the follow¬ 
ing information to such of my readers as may be desirous of 
seeing it for themselves. When the rising sun, and, according 
to analogy, the case will be the same when the setting sun 
throws his rays over the Broken, upon the body of a man 
standing opposite to fine light clouds floating around, or ho¬ 
vering past him, he needs only fix his eyes stedfastly upon 
them, and in all probability he will see the singular spectacle 
of his own shadow, extending to the length of five or six 
hundred feet, at the distance of about two miles before him.” 
It is said, there is, in the Manchester Transactions, an account 
of a similar phenomenon observed by Dr. Ferrier, on a hill in 
England.” 

The Gaets, or Indian Appenines. —These form a stu¬ 
pendous wall of mountains, which extends from Cape Comorin, 
the southern point of the Peninsula of Hindoostan, to theTapty, 
or Surat river, at unequal distances from the sea coast; it is 
seldom more than sixty miles, commonly about forty, and in 
one part approaches within six miles. These mountains rise 
abruptly from the country of Concan, bounding, in the form 
of a terrace, a vast extent of fertile and populous plains, which 
are so elevated as to render the air cool and pleasant. The 
height is supposed to be from 3000 to 4000 feet. 

This celebrated ridge does not terminate in a point when it 
approaches the Tapty ; but, departing in this place from its 
meridional course, it bends eastward in a serpentine line, pa¬ 
rallel to the river, and is afterwards lost among the hills in 
the neighbourhood of Burrhampour. In its course along the 
Tapty, it forms several passes or descents towards that river, 
from whence it derives the name of Gauts, which means a 
landing-place. The alternate N. E. and S. W. winds, called 
monsoons, occasion a rainv season only on one side, viz. on 
the windwaid side of these mountains 



422 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MOUNTAINS. 

We would now wish to draw the attention of the reader 
from the Indian Appenines, to Pico, a mountain which rears 
its lofty head in an island of the same name.—It is filled with 
dismal dark caverns, or volcanoes, which frequently emit flame, 
smoke, and ashes, to a great distance. At the foot of it, 
towards the east, is a spring of fresh water, which is generally 
cold, but sometimes is so heated with subterraneous fire, as 
to rush forth in torrents, with a kind of ebullition like boiling 
water; equalling that in heat, and sending forth a steam of 
sulphureous fetid vapours, mixed with liquefied stones, mine¬ 
rals, and flakes of earth, all on fire, in such quantities, and 
with such violence, as to form a kind of promontory, on the 
declivity of the coast, and at the distance of 1200 paces from 
the fountain, which is vulgarly called Mysterious.—Such is 
the account given by Ortelius. 

Written Mountains, Mountains of Inscriptions, 
or Jibbel El Mokatteb. —This is a mountain, or chain of 
mountains, said to be in the wilderness of Sinai ; and the 
marble, of which it is composed, is reported to be inscribed to 
a considerable extent with innumerable characters, reaching 
from the ground sometimes to the height of twelve or fourteen 
feet. These were mentioned by a Greek author in the third 
century ; but although some of them have been copied by 
Pococke, Montague, and other late writers, some have affected 
to entertain doubts whether even the mountains themselves 
really exist. 

The vast number of these inscriptions, the desert place in 
which they are found, and the length of time requisite for 
executing the task, induced a notion that they are the work 
of the Israelites during their forty years’wandering in the wil¬ 
derness. Others are of opinion, that they consist merely of 
the names of travellers, and the dates of their journeys. 
M. Niebuhr, who visited this country in September, 1762, 
made every attempt in his power, though without success, to 
obtain a sight of this celebrated mountain. After much vain 
inquiry, he was at last conducted to some rocks, upon which 
there were inscriptions in unknown characters. They are 
most numerous in a narrow pass between two mountains, 
named Omer-ridstein; and, says M. Niebuhr, “ the pretended 
Jibbel El Mokatteb, may possibly be in its neighbourhood.” 
Some of these inscriptions were copied by our author, but he 
does not look upon them to be of any consequence. At length, 
when M. Niebuhr arrived at the mountain to which the shiek 
had promised to conduct him, he found no inscription; but 
on climbing up to the top, he discovered an Egyptian ceme¬ 
tery, the stones of which were covered with hieroglyphics. 
The tomb-stones were from five to seven feet long, some being 




MOUNT A 1 HOS. 


423 

erect, and others lying flat; and “ the more carefully they are 
examined, (says lie,) the more certainly do they appear to be 
sepulchral stones, having epitaphs inscribed on them.” The 
translator of Volney’s Travels ascribes these inscriptions to 
the pil glims who have visited Mount Sinai; but they ought 
surely to have been written in a language which somebody 
could understand ; yet from the copies that have been taken 
of them by Dr. Pococke and others, it does not appear that 
they could be explained by any person. When Dr. Clayton, 
bishop of Clogher, visited this part of the world, about i723, 
he expressed the greatest desire to have the matter concern¬ 
ing these written mountains ascertained, and even made an 
offer of <£500 sterling to any literary person, who would un¬ 
dertake the journey, and endeavour to decipher the inscrip¬ 
tions ; but no such person appeared. 

The next object that rises in our view is Mount Athos,— 
a mountain of Chalcidia in Macedonia, equally celebrated 
in ancient and modern times. The ancients entertained 
extravagant notions concerning its height. Mela affirmed 
it to be so high as to reach above the clouds, which at 
that time might have been considered a bold assertion ; and 
Martian-us Capellinus says, that its elevation w'as six miles. 
It was a received opinion, that mount Athos was above the 
middle region of the air, and that it never rained upon or near 
its summit, because the ashes left on the altars there, were 
always found as they had been left, dry and unscattered. 

The modern Greeks, struck with its singular situation, and 
the venerable appearance of its towering ascent, erected so 
many churches, monasteries, hermitages. See. upon it, that it 
became in a manner inhabited by a company of religious 
devotees; and from thence received the name of Monte 
Santo, or the Holy Mountain; which appellation it still 
retains, though many of those consecrated buildings are now 
fallen into ruin and decay. 

According to the accounts of modern travellers, this moun¬ 
tain advances into the Archipelago, on the south of the gulf 
of Contessa, and is joined to the continent by an isthmus 
about half a league in breadth. It is estimated to be thirty 
miles in circumference, and two in perpendicular height. It 
may be travelled over in about three days, and is to be seen 
at the great distance of ninety miles. There is a fine prospect 
from the top ; but, like all other high mountains, the cold on 
its summit is excessive. It abounds with many different kinds 
of plants and trees, particularly the pine and fir. In the 
valleys grows a plant called etegia, whose branches serve to 
make pens for writing. In short, this mountain is said to be 
adorned with a variety of herbage and evergreens, a multi- 




CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MOUNTAINS. 


424 

tude of springs and streams, with woods extending* almost to 
the sea shore, which happy combination of circumstances 
renders it one of the most agreeable places in the world. 
There are twenty-four large old monasteries upon it, sur- 
luunded with high walls, and inhabited by Camoyers, a cer¬ 
tain description of Greek monks. 

Through this mountain, or rather through the isthmus 
behind it, Xerxes king of Persia is said to have cut a passage 
for his fleet, when about to invade Greece. In this arduous 
task he spent three whole years, and employed in it all the 
forces on board his fleet. He is also said, before the work 
begun, to have written the following ridiculous letter to the 
mountain : “ Athos, thou proud and aspiring mountain, that 

liftest up thy head to the very skies, I advise thee not to be 
so audacious, as to put rocks and stones, that cannot be cut, 
in the way of my workmen. If thou makest that opposition, 
I will cut thee entirely down, and throw thee headlong into the 
sea!’* The directors of this enterprise are said to have been 
Bubaris, the son of Megabysus, and Artacheus, the son of 
Arbeus, both Persians ; but as no traces of such a great work 
remains, the truth of the whole relation has justly been ques¬ 
tioned. This venerable mountain constitutes one entire 
chain, extending seven miles in length, and three in breadth, 
and is situated about seventy miles east of Salonichi, the 
ancient Thessalonica. 

We will now accompany Sir George Mackenzie to The 
Sulphur Mountains, in the Island of Iceland.— 
“ Ha\ing taken an early breakfast, (says he,) we set out to¬ 
wards the Sulphur Mountain, which is about three miles 
distant from Krisuvik. At the foot of the mountain was a 
small bank, composed chiefly of white clay mixed with sul¬ 
phur, from all parts of which steam issued. Ascending it, we 
got upon a ridge immediately above a deep hollow, from which 
a profusion of vapour arose, and heard a confused noise of 
boiling and splashing, joined to the roaring of steam excaping 
from narrow crevices in the rock. This hollow, together with 
the whole side of the mountain opposite, as far no as we could 
see, was covered with sulphur and clay, chiefly vA a white or 
yellowish colour. Walking over this soft and steaming sur¬ 
face, we found to be very hazardous* and we were frequently 
very unjeasy when the vapour concealed us from each other. 

“ The day, however, being dry and and warm, the surface 
was not so slippery as to occasion much risk of our falling. 
The danger of the crust of sulphur breaking, or of the clay 
sinking with us, was great; and we were several times 
in mminent peril of being scalded. Mr. Bright ran at 
one time a great hazard, and suffered considerable pain 


SULPHUR MOUNTAINS. 426 

from accidentally plunging one of his legs into the hot 
clay. 

“ From whatever spot the sulphur was removed, steam in¬ 
stantly escaped ; and in many places, the sulphur was so hot 
that we could scarcely handle it. From the smell, we per¬ 
ceived that the steam was mixed with a small quantity of 
sulphuretted hydrogen gas. When the thermometer was sunk 
a few inches into the clay, it rose generally to within a few 
degrees of the boiling point. By stepping cautiously, and 
avoiding every little hole from which steam issued, we soon 
discovered how far we might venture. Our good fortune, 
however, ought not to tempt any person to examine this won¬ 
derful place, without being provided with two boards, with 
which every part of the banks may be traversed in perfect 
safety. 

“ At the bottom of this hollow, we found a caldron of 
boiling mud, about fifteen feet in diameter, similar to that on 
the top of the mountain, which we had seen the evening 
before; but this boiled with much more vehemence. We 
went within a few yards of it, the wind happening to be re¬ 
markably favourable for our viewing every part of this singular 
place. The mud was in constant agitation, and often thrown 
up to the height of six or eight feet. Near this spot was an 
irregular space, filled with water boiling briskly. At the foot 
of the hill, is a hollow formed by a bank of clay and sulphur, 
whence steam rushed with great force and noise from among 
the loose fragments of rock. 

<D # # 

“ Further up the mountain, we met with a spring of cold 
water, a circumstance little expected in a place like this. 
Ascending still higher, we came to a ridge composed entirely 
of sulphur and clay, joining two summits of the mountain 
Here we found a much greater quantity of sulphur than 
on any other part of the surface, over which we had yet gone. 
It formed a smooth crust, from a quarter of an inch to several 
inches in thickness. The crust was beautifully crystallized, 
and immediately beneath it we found a quantity of loose 
granular sulphur, which appeared to be collecting and crys¬ 
tallizing, as it was sublimed along with the steam. Sometimes 
we met with clay of different colours, white, red, and blue, 
under the crust; but we could not examine this place to any 
depth, as, the moment the crust was removed, steam issued, 
and proved extremely annoying. We found several pieces of 
wood, which were probably the remains of planks that had 
been formerly used in collecting the sulphur, small crystals of 
which partially covered them. 

“ There appeared to be a constant sublimation of this sub¬ 
stance ; and were artificial chambers constructed for the 
reception and condensation of vapours, much of it might pro- 

3 H 


426 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MOUNTAINS. 

bably be collected. As it is, there is a large quantity on the 
surface; and, by searching, there is little doubt that great 
stores may be found. The inconvenience proceeding from 
the steam issuing on every side, and from the heat, is cer¬ 
tainly considerable ; but, by proper precautions, neither would 
be felt so much as to render the collection of the sulphur a 
matter of any great difficulty. The chief obstacle to working 
these mines, is their distance from a port whence the pro¬ 
duce could be shipped. But there are so many horses in 
the country, whose original price is trifling, and whose main¬ 
tenance during summer costs nothing, that the conveyance of 
sulphur to Reikiavik, presents no difficulties which might not 
probably be surmounted. 

“ Below the ridge on the farther side of this great bed of 
sulphur, we saw a great deal of vapour escaping with much 
noise. We crossed to the opposite side of the mountain, and 
found the surface sufficiently firm to admit of walking cau¬ 
tiously upon it. We had now to make our way towards the 
principal spring, as it is called ; and this was a task of much 
apparent danger, as the side of the mountain, for the extent of 
about half a mile, is covered with loose clay, into which our 
feet sunk at every step. In many places there was a thin 
crust, below which the clay was wet, and extremely hot. 
Good fortune attended us ; and without any serious inconve¬ 
nience, we reached the object we had in view. A densp 
column of steam, mixed with a little water, was forcing its 
way impetuously through a crevice in the rock, at the head 
of a narrow valley, or break in the mountain. The violence 
with which it rushes out is so great, that the noise thus occa¬ 
sioned, may often be heard at the distance of several miles ; 
and, during night, while lying in our tent at Krisuvik, we 
more than once listened to it with mingled emotions of awe 
and astonishment. Behind the column of vapour was a dark- 
coloured rock, which gave it its full effect. 

“ It is quite beyond our power to offer such a description of 
this extraordinary place, as to convey adequate ideas of its 
wonders or its terrors. The sensations of a person, even of 
firm nerves, standing on a support which feebly sustains him, 
over an abyss, where, literally, fire and brimstone are in 
dreadful and incessant action,—having before his eyes treme'n 
dous proofs of what is going on beneath him,—enveloped in 
thick vapours,—and his ears stunned with thundering noises ; 
must be experienced before they can be understood.” 





MONT BLANC. 


427 


CHAP. XL. 

curiosities respecting mountains.— ( Continued .) 

“ So pleas’d at first the tow’ring mounts we try. 

Mount o’er the vales, and seem to tread the sky; 

Th’ eternal snows appear already past, 

And the first clouds and mountains seem the last. 

But, those attain’d, we tremble to survey 
The growing labours of the lengthen’d way ; 

Th’ increasing prospect tires our wand’ring eves. 

Hills peep o’er hills, and mounts on mounts arise.*’ 

MONT BLANC, IN SAVOY. 

Narrative of a Journey from the village of Chamouni, to 
the summit of Mont Blanc, undertaken on August 8, 1787; 
by Colonel Beaufov. From the Annals of Philosophy .— 

“ The desire of ascending to the highest part of remarkably 
elevated land is so natural to every man, and the hope of re¬ 
peating various experiments in the upper regions of the air is 
so inviting to those who wish well to the interests of science, 
that, being lately in Switzerland, I could not resist the incli¬ 
nation I felt to reach the summit of Mont Blanc. One of 
the motives, however, which prompted the attempt, was much 
weakened by the consideration that I did not possess, and in 
that country could not obtain, the instruments that were requi¬ 
site for many of the experiments which I was anxious to make: 
and the ardour of uncommon curiosity was diminished, when I 
learned that Dr. Paecard and his guide, who in the year 1786 
had reached the supposed inaccessible summit of the hill, 
were not the only persons who had succeeded in the attempt; 
for that, five days before my arrival at the foot of the moun- 
tain, M. de Saussure, a professor in the university of Geneva, 
had gained the top of the ascent. 

“ But while I was informed of the success which had attended 
the efforts of M. de Saussure, I was told of the difficulties 
and dangers that accompanied the undertaking; and was 
often assured, with much laborious dissuasion, that, to all 
the usual obstacles, the lateness of the season would add the 
perils of those stupendous masses of snow which are often 
dislodged from the steeps of the mountain, together with the 
hazard of those frightful chasms which present immeasurable 
gulfs to the steps of the traveller, and the width of which was 
hourly increasing. M. Bourret, whose name has often been 
announced to the world by a variety of tracts, and by many 
excellent drawings, confirmed the account, and assured me 
diat he himself had made the attempt on the next day to that 


42b CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MOUNTAINS. 

on which M. de Saussure descended, but was obliged, as on 
many former occasions, to abandon the enterprise. Having, 
however, formed my resolution, I sent to the different cot¬ 
tages of the vale of Chamouni, from the skirts of which the 
mountain takes its rise, to inquire if any of them were willing 
to go with me as my assistants and guides; and had soon 
the satisfaction to find that ten were ready to accept the pro¬ 
posal. I engaged them all. Having announced to them my 
intention of setting out the next morning, I divided among 
them provisions for three days, together with a kettle, a cha- 
fing-dish, a quantity of charcoal, a pair of bellows, a couple 
of blankets, a long rope, a hatchet, and a ladder, which 
formed the stores that were requisite for the journey After 
a night of much solicitude, lest the summit of Mont Blanc 
should be covered with clouds, in which case the guides would 
have refused the undertaking as impracticable, I rose at five 
in the morning, and saw, with great satisfaction, that the 
mountain was free from vapour, and that the sky was every 
where serene. My dress was a white flannel jacket, without 
any shirt beneath, and white linen trowsers, without drawers. 
The dress was white, that the sunbeams might be thrown off; 
and it was loose, that the limbs might be unconfined. Besides 
a pole for walking, I carried with me cramp-irons for the 
heels of my shoes, by means of which the hold on the frozen 
snow is firm, and in steep ascents the poise of the body is 
preserved. 

“ My guides being at length assembled, each w T ith his allotted 
burden; one of them, a fellow of great bodily strength and 
vigour of mind, Michael Cachet by name, who had accompa¬ 
nied M. de Saussure, desired to take the lead. We ranged 
ourselves in a line, and at seven o’clock, in the midst of the 
wives, and children, and friends, of my companions, and in¬ 
deed of the whole village of Chamouni, we began our march. 
The end of the first hour brought us to the Glacier des Bois- 
sons, at which place the rapid ascent of the mountain first 
begins, and from which, pursuing our course along the edge 
of the rocks that form the eastern side of this frozen lake, we 
arrived in four hours more at the second glacier, called the 
Glacier de la Cote. Here, by the side of a stream of w r atei 
which the melting of the snow had formed, we sat down to a 
short repast. 

“ To this place the journey is neither remarkably laborious, 
nor exposed to danger, except that name should be given to 
the trifling hazard that arises from the stones and loose pieces 
of the broken rock, which the goats, in leaping from one pro¬ 
jection to another, occasionally throw down. Our dinnei 
being finished, we fixed our cramp-irons to our shoes, and 
b*gan to cross the glacier; but we had not proceeded far. 


MONT BLANC. 


4^ 

when we discovered that the frozen snow, which lay in the 
ridges between the waves of ice, often concealed, with a 
covering of uncertain strength, the fathomless chasms which 
traverse this solid sea; yet the danger was soon in a great 
degree removed by the expedient of tying ourselves together 
with our long rope, which being fastened at proper distances 
to our waists, secured from the principal hazard such as might 
fall within the opening of the gulf. Trusting to the same 
precaution, we also crossed upon our ladder, without appre¬ 
hension, such of the chasms as were exposed to view ; and, 
sometimes stopping in the middle of the ladder, looked down 
in safety upon an abyss which baffled the reach of vision, and 
from which the sound of the masses of ice that we repeatedly 
let fall, in no instance ascended to the ear. In some places 
we were obliged to cut foot-steps with our hatchet; yet, 
on the whole, the difficulties were far from great, for in 
two hours and a half we had passed the glacier. 

“We now, with more ease, and much more expedition, pur¬ 
sued our way, having only snow to cross, and in two hours 
arrived at a hut which had been erected in the year 1786, by 
the order, and at the expense, of M. de Saussure. The hut 
was situated on the eastern side of a rock, which had all the 
appearance of being rotten with age, and which in fact was in 
a state of such complete decay, that on my return the next 
evening, I saw scattered on the snow many tons of its frag¬ 
ments, Which had fallen in my absence; but the ruin was not 
on the side on which the hut was built. Immediately on our 
arrival, which was at five in the afternoon, the guides began 
to empty the hut of its snow, and at seven we sat down to 
eat; but our stomachs had little relish for food, and felt a 
particular distaste for wine and spirits. Water, which we 
obtained by melting snow in a kettle, was the only palatable 
drink. Some of the guides complained of a heavy disheart¬ 
ening sickness ; and my Swiss servant, who had accompanied 
me at his own request, was seized with excessive vomiting, 
and the pains of the severest headach. But from these com¬ 
plaints, which apparently arose from the extreme lightness of 
the air in those elevated regions, I myself and some of the 
guides were free, except, as before observed, that we had 
little appetite for food, and a strong aversion to the taste of 
spirituous liquors We now prepared for rest; on which two 
of the guides, preferring the open air, threw themselves down 
at the entrance of the hut, and slept upon the rock. I too 
was desirous of sleep; but my thoughts were troubled with 
the apprehension that, although I had now completed one 
naif of the road, the vapours might collect on the summit of 
the mountain, and frustrate all my hopes. Or if at any time 
the rent I wished for came, my repose was soon disturbed by 


43U CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MOUNTAINS. 

the noise of the masses of snow, which were loosened by the 
wind from the heights around me, and which, accumulating in 
bulk as they rolled, tumbled at length from the precipices 
into the vales below, and produced upon the ear the effect of 
redoubled bursts of thunder. 

“ At two o’clock I threw aside my blankets, and went out 
of the hut to observe the appearance of the heavens. The 
stars shone with a lustre that far exceeded the brightness 
which they exhibit when seen from the usual level; and had 
so little tremor in their light, as to leave no doubt on my 
mind, that, if viewed from the summit of the mountain, thev 
would have appeared as fixed points. How improved in those 
altitudes would be the aids which the telescope gives to 
vision! indeed, the clearness of the air was such as led me to 
think that Jupiter’s satellites might be distinguished by the 
naked eye ; and had he not been in the neighbourhood of the 
moon, I might possibly have succeeded. He continued dis¬ 
tinctly visible for several hours after the sun was risen, and 
did not wholly disappear till almost eight. 

“ At the time I rose, my thermometer, which was on 
Fahrenheit’s scale, and which I had hung on the side of the 
rock without the hut, was 8° below the freezing point. Im¬ 
patient to proceed, and having ordered a large quantity of 
snow to be melted, I filled a small cask with water for my own 
use, and at three o’clock w 7 e left the hut. Our route was 
across the snow; but the chasms which the ice beneath had 
formed, though less numerous than those that we had passed 
on the preceding day, embarrassed our ascent. One in parti¬ 
cular had opened so much in the few days that intervened 
between M. de Saussure’s expedition and our own, as for the 
time to bar the hope of any further progress; but at length, 
after having wandered with much anxiety along its bank, I 
found a place which I hoped the ladder was sufficiently long 
to cross. The ladder was accordingly laid down, and was 
seen to rest upon the opposite edge, but its bearing did not 
exceed an inch on either side. We now considered that, 
should we pass the chasm, and should its opening, which had 
enlarged so much in the course of a few r preceding days, in¬ 
crease in the least degree before the time of our descent, no 
chance of return remained. We also considered that, if the 
clouds which so often envelop the hill should rise, the hope 
of finding, amidst the thick fog, our way back to this only 
place in which the gulf, even in its present state, was passable, 
was little less than desperate. Yet, after a moment’s pause, 
the guides consented to go with me, and we crossed the 
chasm. 

“ We had not proceeded far, when thirst, which, since our 
arrival in the upper regions of the air, had been always trou- 


r 


MONT BLANC. 43] 

blesome, became almost intolerable. No sooner had I drank 
than the thirst returned, and in a few minutes my throat 
became perfectly dry. Again I had recourse to the water, 
and again my throat was parched. The air itself was thirsty; 
its extreme of dryness had robbed my body of its moisture. 

I he guides were equally affected : wine they would not taste, 
but the moment my back was turned, their mouths were 
equally applied to my cask of water. Yet we continued to 
proceed till seven o’clock, when, having passed the place 
where M. de Saussure, who was provided with a tent, had slept 
the second night, we sat down to breakfast. 

“ All this time the thermometer was 4° below the freezing 
point. We were now at the foot of Mont Blanc itself; for, 
though it is usual to apply that term to the whole assemblage 
of several successive mountains, yet the name properly belongs 
only to a small mountain of a pyramidal form, that rises from 
a narrow plain, which at all times is covered with snow. Here 
the thinness of the atmosphere began to affect my head with 
a dull and heavy pain. 1 also found, to my great surprise, 
an acute sensation of pain, very different from that of weari¬ 
ness, immediately above my knees. Having finished our 
repast, we pursued our journey, and soon arrived at a chasm 
which could not have existed many days, for it was not formed 
at the time of M. de Saussure’s ascent. Misled by this last 
circumstance, (for we concluded, that as he had seen no rents 
whatever from the time that he passed the place where he 
slept the second night, none were likely to be formed,) 
we had left our ladder about a league behind ; but as the 
chasm was far from wide, we passed it on the poles that we 
used for walking, an expedient which suggested to me that 
the length of our ladder might be easily increased by the 
addition of several poles laid parallel, and fastened to its end; 
and that the hazard of finding our retreat cut off from the 
enlargement of the chasms, might by this means be materially 
diminished. 

“ At this place I had an opportunity of measuring the height 
of the snow which had fallen during the preceding winter, and 
which was distinguished by its superior whiteness from that 
of the former year. I found it to be five feet. The snow of 
each particular year appeared as a separate stratum; that 
which was more than a twelvemonth old, was perfect ice, while 
that of the last winter was fast approaching to a similar state. 
At length, after a difficult ascent, which lay among preci¬ 
pices, and during which we were often obliged to employ the 
hatchet in making a footing for our feet, we reached, and 
reposed ourselves upon, a narrow flat, which is the last of three 
from the foot of the small mountain, and which, according to 
M. de Saussure, is but 150 fathoms below the level of the 


432 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MOUNTAIN! 

summit. Upon this platform I found a beautiful dead butter¬ 
fly, the only appearance which, from the time I entered on 
on the snow, 1 had seen of any animal. The pernicious effects 
of the thinness of the air were now evident on us all; a desire, 
of sleep, almost irresistible, came on ; my spirits had left me : 
sometimes indifferent to the event, I wished to lie down; at 
others, I blamed myself for the expedition; and, though just 
at the summit, had thoughts of turning back, without accom¬ 
plishing my purpose. Of my guides, many were in a worse 
situation ; for, exhausted by excessive vomiting, they seemed 
to have lost all strength, both of mind and body. 

But shame at length came to our relief. I drank the last 
pint of water that was left, and found myself amazingly re¬ 
freshed, and invigorated for renewed toil. Yet the pain 
in my knees had increased so much, that at the end of every 
twenty or thirty paces I was obliged to rest till its sharpness 
was abated. My lungs with difficulty performed their office, 
and my heart was affected with violent palpitation. At last, 
however, but with a sort of apathy which scarcely admitted 
the sense of joy, we reached the summit of this mountain; 
when six of our guides, and with them my servant, threw 
themselves on their faces, and were immediately asleep. I 
envied them their repose, but my anxiety to obtain a good 
observation for the latitude subdued my wishes for indulgence. 
The time of my arrival was half an hour after ten, so that the 
hours which elapsed from our departure from Chamouni, were 
only twenty-seven and a half, ten of which we had passed in 
the hut. The summit of the hill is formed of snow, which 
spreads into a sort of plain, which is much wider from east to 
west than from north to south, and in its greatest width is 
perhaps thirty yards. The snow is every where hard, and in 
many places is covered with a sheet of ice. 

“ When the spectator begins to look around him from this 
elevated height, a confused impression of immensity is the 
first effect produced upon his mind; but the blue colour of the 
canopy above him, deep almost to blackness, soon arrests his 
attention. He next surveys the mountains, many of which, 
from the clearness of the air, are to his eye within a stone’s 
throw from him; and even those of Lombardy (one of which 
appears of an altitude but little inferior to that of Mont 
Blanc) seem to approach his neighbourhood ; while those on 
the other side of the vale of Chamouni, glittering with the 
sunbeams, are to the view directly below his feet, and affect 
his head with giddiness. On the'other hand, all objects, of 
which the distance is great, and the level low, are hid from 
his eye by the blue vapour which intervenes, and through 
which I could not discern the Lake of Geneva, (at the height 
of 15,700 English feet, which, according to M. de Saussme, was 


MONT BLANC. 433 

the level on which I stood,) though even the Mediterranean 
Sea must have been within the line of vision. The air was 
still, and the day so remarkably fine, that I could not disco¬ 
ver in any part of the heavens the appearance of a single 
cloud. 

“ As thetimeof the sun passing the meridian now approached, 
1 prepared to take my observation. I had with me an admir¬ 
able Hadley’s sextant, and an artificial horizon, and I corrected 
the mean refraction of the sun’s rays. Thus I was enabled to 
ascertain with accuracy, that the latitude of the summit of 
Mont Blanc is 45° 49' 59" north. 

“ I now proceeded to such other observations as the few 
instruments which I had brought permitted me to make. At 
twelve o’clock the mercury in the thermometer stood at 38° 
in the shade; at Chamouni, at the same hour, it stood, when 
in the shade, at 78°. I tried the effect of a burning-glass on 
paper, and on a piece of wood, which I had brought w ith me 
for the purpose, and found (contrary, I believe, to the gene¬ 
rally received opinion,) that its power was much greater than 
in the lower regions of the air. Having continued two hours 
on the summit of the mountain, I began my descent at half 
an hour after twelve. I found that, short as my absence had 
been, many new rents were opened, and that several of those 
wdiich I had passed in my ascent were considerably wider. 
In less than six hours w r e arrived at the hut in which we had 
slept the evening before, and should have proceeded much 
further down the mountain, had we not been afraid of passing 
the Glacier de la Cote at the close of the dav, when the 
snow’, from the effect of the sunbeams, was extremely rotten. 
Our evening’s repast being finished, 1 was soon asleep; but 
in a few hours I was awakened with a tormenting pain in my 
face and eyes. My face was one continued blister, and my 
eves I was unable to open ; nor was I without apprehensions 
of losing* my sight for ever, till my guides told me, that if I 
had condescended to have taken their advice, of wearing, as 
thev did, a mask of black crape, the accident would not have 
befallen me, but that a few days would perfectly restore the 
use of my eyes. After 1 had bathed them with w'arm water 
for half an hour, I found, to my great satisfaction, that I could 
open them a little ; on which 1 determined upon an instant 
departure, that I might cross the Glacier de la Cote before 
the sun was sufficiently high for its beams to be strongly re¬ 
flected from the snow. But, unluckily, the sun was already 
above the horizon ; so that the pain of forcing open my eyes 
in the bright sunshine, in order to avoid the chasms and other 
hazards of my way, rendered my return more irksome than 
my ascent. Fortunately, one of the guides, soon after I had 
passed the glacier, picked up in the snow a pair of green 


434 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MOUNTAINS. 

spectacles, which M. Bourret had lost, and which gave me 
wonderful relief. 

“ At. eleven o’clock of August 10, after an absence of fifty- 
two hours, of which twenty were passed in the hut, I returned 
again to the village of Chamouni. From the want of instru¬ 
ments, (the scale of the barometer I had being graduated no 
lower than twenty inches, which was not sufficiently extended,) 
the observations I made were but few, yet the effects which 
the air in the heights I visited produced on the human body, 
may not perhaps be considered as altogether uninteresting; 
nor w ill the proof 1 made of the power of the lens on the sum¬ 
mit of Mont Blanc, if confirmed by future experiments, be 
regarded as of no account in the theories of light and heat. 
At any rate, the having determined the latitude of Mont Blanc 
may assist in some particulars the observations of such per¬ 
sons as shall visit it in future ; and the knowledge which my 
journey has afforded, in addition to that which is furnished 
by M. de Saussure, may facilitate the ascent of those who, 
with proper instruments, mav wish to make on that elevated 
level, experiments in natural philosophy.” 

CHAP. XLI. 

curiosities respecting mountains.— (Concluded.) 

VOLCANIC MOUNTAINS. 

Description of Vesuvius — Hecla — Etna. 

-The fluid lake that works below, 

Bitumen, sulphur, salt, and iron scum, 

Heaves up its boiling tide. The lab’ring mount 
Is torn with agonizing throes. At once, 

Forth from its side disparted, blazing, pours 
A mighty river, burning in prone waves, 

That glimmer thro’ the night, to yonder plain. 

Divided there, a hundred torrent streams, 

Each ploughing up its bed, roll dreadful on. 

Resistless. Villages, and woods, and locks, 

Fall flat before their sweep. The region round. 

Where myrtle walks, and groves of golden fruit 
Rose fair, where harvest war’d in all its pride. 

And w here the vineyard spread its purple store, 

Maturing into nectar,—now despoil’d 
Of herb, leaf, fruit, and flow’r, from end to end 
Lies buried under fire, a glowing sea ! Mallet. 

Vesuvius, —is a celebrated volcano of Italy, six miles 
east of Naples. This mountain has two tops; one nly of 
which goes by the name of Vesuvius, the other being now 



VESUVIUS. 


435 

called Somma; but Sir William Hamilton is of opinion, that 
the latter is what the ancients called Vesuvius. 

The perpendicular height of Vesuvius is only three thou¬ 
sand seven hundred feet, though the ascent from the toot to 
the top is three Italian miles. One side of the mountain is 
well cultivated and fertile, producing great plenty of vines ; 
but the south and west sides are entirely covered with cinders 
and ashes, while a sulphureous smoke constantly issues from 
the top, sometimes attended with the most violent explosions 
of stones, the emission of great streams of lava, and all the 
other attendants of a most formidable volcano. 

The first eruption recorded in history, took place in the 
year 79 ; at which time the two cities of Pompeii and Hercu¬ 
laneum were entirely buried under the stones and ashes 
thrown out. Incredible mischief was also done to the neigh- 
bouring country, and numbers of people lost their lives, 
among whom was Pliny the elder. It is the opinion of the 
best judges, however, that this eruption was by no means the 
first that had ever happened: the very streets of those cities 
which were at that time overwhelmed, are unquestionably 
paved with lava. Since that time thirty different eruptions 
have been recorded, some of which have been extremely 
violent. In 1538, a mountain three miles in circumference, 
and a quarter of a mile in perpendicular height, was thrown 
up in the course of one night. 

In 1766, Sir William Hamilton began to observe the 
phenomena of this mountain ; and since that time the public 
have been favoured with more exact and authentic accounts 
of the various changes which have taken place in Vesuvius, 
than were to be obtained before. The first great eruption 
taken notice of by this gentleman was that of 1769, when 
Vesuvius never ceased for ten years to send forth smoke, nor 
were there many months in which it did not throw out stones, 
scoriae, and cinders, which increasing to a certain degree, 
were usually followed by lava; so that from the year 1767 
to 1769 there were nine eruptions, some of which were very 
considerable. 

In the month of August that year, an eruption took place, 
which, for its extraordinary and terrible appearance, may be 
reckoned among the most remarkable of any recorded con¬ 
cerning this or any other volcano. During the whole of July, 
the mountain continued in a state of fermentation. Subter~ 
raneous explosions and rumbling noises were heard ; quan¬ 
tities of smoke were thrown up with great violence, sometimes 
with red-hot stones, scoriae, and ashes; and towards the end 
of the month, these symptoms increased to such a degree, 
as to exhibit, in the night, the most beautiful fireworks. 

On Thursday the fifth of August, the volcano appeared most 


436 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MOUNTA NS 

violently agitated i a white and sulphureous smoke issued with 
unceasing impetuosity from its crater, one puff seeming to 
impel another; so that a mass of vapour was soon accumu¬ 
lated, to all appearance, four times the height and size of the 
volcano itself. These clouds of smoke were exceedingly 
W'hite, resembling an immense accumulation of bales of the 
whitest cotton. °In the midst of this very white smoke, vast 
quantities of stones, scoriae, and ashes, were thrown up to the 
height of two thousand feet; and a quantity of liquid lava, 
seemingly very heavy, was lifted up just high enough to clear 
the rim of the crater, and take its way down the sides of the 
mountain. This lava, having run violently for some hours, 
suddenly ceased, just before it had reached the cultivated 
parts of the mountain, near four miles from the spot whence 
it issued. 

The heat, all this day, was intolerable at the towns of 
Somma and Ottaiano ; and was sensibly felt at Palma and 
Lauri, which are much farther off. Reddish ashes fell so 
thick on the two former, that the air was darkened to such a 
degree, that objects could not be distinguished at the distance 
of ten feet. Long filaments of a vitrified matter, like spun- 
glass, were mixed, and fell with these ashes ; several birds in 
cages were suffocated; and the leaves of the trees in the 
neighbourhood of Somma were covered with white and very 
corrosive salt. About twelve at night, on the seventh, the 
fermentation of the mountain seemed greatly to increase. 
Our author was watching the motions of the volcano from 
the mole at Naples, which has a full view of it. Several 
awfully fine and picturesque effects had been observed from 
the reflection of the deep red fire within the crater of Vesuvius, 
and which mounted high amongst those huge clouds on the 
top of it; when a summer storm, called in that country a tropea , 
came on suddenly, and blended its heavy watery clouds with 
the sulphureous and mineral ones, which were already, like 
so many other mountains, piled up on the top of the volcano. 
At this moment a fountain of fire was shot up to an in¬ 
credible height, casting so bright a light, that the smallest 
objects were clearly distinguishable at any place within six 
miles or more of Vesuvius. The black stormy clouds, pass¬ 
ing swiftly over, and at times covering the whole or part of the 
bright column of fire, at other times clearing away and giving 
a full view of it, with the various tints produced by its rever¬ 
berated light on the white clouds above, in contrast with the 
pale flashes of forked lightning that attended the tropea, formed 
such a scene as no combination of language can express. 
One of the king’s gamekeepers, who was out in the fields 
near Ottaiano while this storm was at its height, was sur- 
prised to find the drops of rain scald his face and hands ; a 


VESUVIUS. 


437 


phenomenon probably occasioned by the clouds having ac¬ 
quired a great degree of heat in passing through the above- 
mentioned column of fire. 

On the eighth, the mountain was quiet till towards six p. m 
when a great smoke began to gather over its crater; and 
about an hour after, a rumbling subterranneous noise was 
heard in the neighbourhood of the volcano ; the usual throws 
of red-hot stones and scoriae began and increased every in¬ 
stant. The crater, viewed through a telescope, seemed much 
enlarged by the violence of the explosions on the preceding 
night; and the little mountain on the top was entirely gone. 
About nine, a most violent report was heard at Portici and 
its neighbourhood, which shook the houses to such a degree 
as made the inhabitants run out into the streets. Many win¬ 
dow's w r ere broken, and walls cracked, by the concussion of 
the air on this occasion, though the noise was but faintly 
heard at Naples. In an instant, a fountain of liquid trans¬ 
parent fire began to rise, and, gradually increasing, arrived at 
last to the amazing height of ten thousand feet and upwards. 
Puffs of smoke, as black as can possibly be imagined, rapidly 
succeeded one another, and, accompanying the red-hot trans¬ 
parent and liquid lava, interrupted its splendid brightness 
here and there by patches of the darkest hue. Within these 
puffs of smoke, at the very moment of emission, a bright but 
pale electrical fire was observed playing briskly about in zig¬ 
zag lines. The wind was south-west, and, though gentle, was 
sufficient to carry these puffs of smoke out of the column of 
fire, and a collection of them by degrees formed a black and 
extensive curtain behind it; in other parts of the sky it was 
perfectly clear, and the stars bright. A fiery fountain of such 
immense magnitude, on the dark ground just mentioned, 
made the finest contrast imaginable ; and the blaze of it, re¬ 
flected from the surface of the sea, which was at that time 
perfectly smooth, added greatly to this sublime spectacle. 
The lava, mixed with stones and scoriee, having risen to the 
amazing height already mentioned, w 7 as partly directed by the 
wind towards Ottaiano, and partly falling, still red-hot and 
liquid, upon the top of Vesuvius, covered its whole cone, 

as w r ell as that of the summit of Somma, and the valley 

•/ 

between them. 

The falling matter being nearly as inflamed and vivid as that 
w'hich w 7 as continually issuing fresh from the crater, formed 
with it one complete body of fire, w’hich could not be less 
than two miles and a half in breadth, and of the extraordinary 
height above mentioned, casting a heat to the distance of at 
least six miles round. The brushwood on the mountain of Somma 
was soon in a blaze ; and the flame of it being of a different 
colour, from the deep red of the matter thrown out by the 


438 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MOUNTAINS 


volcano, and from the silvery blue ol the electrical fire, still 
added to the contrast of this most extraordinary scene. The 
black cloud increasing greatly, spread over Naples, and threat¬ 
ened the city with speedy destruction ; for it was charged 
with electrical fire, which kept constantly darting about in 
bright zigzag lines. This fire, however, rarely quitted the 
cloud, but usually returned to the great column of fire whence 
it proceeded ; though once or twice it was seen to fall on the 
top of Somma, and set fire to some dry grass and bushes. 
Fortunately, the wind carried back the cloud just as it reached 
the city, and had begun to occasion great alarm. The column 
of fire, however, still continued, and diffused such a strong 
light, that the most minute objects could be discerned at the 
distance of ten miles or more from the mountain. Mr. Mor¬ 
ris informed our author, that at Sorrento, which is twelve 
miles distant from Vesuvius, he read the title page of a book 
by that volcanic light. 

All this time the miserable inhabitants of Ottaiano were 
involved in the utmost distress and danger by the showers of 
stones which fell upon them, and which, had the eruption 
continued for a longer time, would most certainly have re¬ 
duced their town to the same situation with Herculaneum and 
Pompeii. 

The mountain of Somma, at the foot of which the town of 
Ottaiano is situated, hides Vesuvius from the view of its inha¬ 
bitants ; so that till the eruption became considerable, it was 
not visible to them. On Sunday night, when the noise in¬ 
creased, and the fire began to appear above the mountain of 
Somma, many of the inhabitants flew to the churches, and 
others were preparing to quit the town, when a sudden and 
violent report was heard ; soon after which, they found them¬ 
selves involved in a thick cloud of smoke and ashes, a horrid 
clashing noise was heard in the air, and presently fell a vast 
shower of stones and large pieces of scorise, some of which 
were of the diameter of seven or eight feet, which must have 
weighed more than lOOlbs. before they were broken, as some 
of the fragments which Sir William Hamilton found in the 
streets still weighed upwards of 601bs. When these large vitri¬ 
fied masses either struck against one another in the air, or fell 
on the ground, vivid sparks of fire proceeded from them, 
which communicated to every thing that was combustible. 
These masses were formed of the liquid lava; the exterior 
parts of which were become black and porous, by cooling in 
their fall through such a vast space; whilst the interior parts, 
less exposed, retained an extreme heat, and were perfectlv red. 
In an instant, the town and country about it were on fire in 
many parts, for there were several straw huts in the vineyards, 
which had been erected for the watchmen of the grapes, all 


VESUVIUS 


439 


of which were burnt to the ground. A great magazine of 
wood in the heart of the tow n became one sheet of fire ; and 
had there been much wind, the flames must have spread uni¬ 
versally, and the inhabitants have perished in their houses ; 
for it was impossible for them to make their escape by flight. 
Some, who attempted it with pillow's, tables, chairs, the tops 
of wine casks, See. on their heads, were either knocked down 
by the falling masses, or soon driven to make a speedy retreat 
under arches, and in the cellars of their houses. Many were 
wounded, but only two persons died of their wounds. To 
add to the horror of the scene, incessant volcanic lightning 
w r as darting its corruscations about the black cloud that sur¬ 
rounded the inhabitants, and the sulphureous smell and heat 
would scarcely allow them to draw their breath. 

In this dreadful situation they remained about twenty-five 
minutes, when the volcanic storm ceased all at once, and 
Vesuvius assumed a sullen silence. Sometime after the erup¬ 
tion had ceased, the air continued greatly impregnated with 
electrical matter. The duke of Cottosiano told our author, 
that having, about half an hour after the great eruption had 
ceased, held a leaden bottle, armed with a pointed wire, out 
at his window at Naples, it soon became considerably charged: 
but whilst the eruption was in force, its appearance was too 
alarming to allow any one to think of such experiments. He 
was informed also by the prince of Monte Mileto, that his son, 
the duke of Populi, who was at Monte Mileto on the 8th of 
August, had been alarmed by a shower of cinders that fell 
there, some of which he had sent to Naples, weighing tw r o 
ounces ; and that stones of an ounce weight had fallen upon 
an estate of his, ten miles farther off. Monte Mileto is about 

thirtv miles from the volcano. The Abbe Cagliani also related, 
• • • * '— ^ # • 

that his sister, a nun in a convent at Manfredonia, had writ¬ 
ten to inquire after him, imagining that Naples must have 
been destroyed, when they, at so great a distance, had been 
so much alarmed by a shower of ashes which fell on the city at 
eleven p. m. as to open all the churches, and go to prayers. 
As the great eruption began at nine, these ashes must have 
travelled 100 miles in two hours. 

Nothing could be more dismal than the appearance of Ot- 
taiano after this eruption. Many of the houses were unroofed, 
and some lay half buried under the black scoriae and ashes; 
all the windows toward the mountain were broken, and some 
of the houses themselves burnt; the streets were choked up with 
ashes, and in some narrow places it was not less than foul 
feet deep. A few of the inhabitants, who had just returned 
were employed in clearing them away, and piling theai up in 
hillocks, to get at their ruined houses. 

The palace of the prince of Ottaiano is situated on an emi- 


440 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MOUNTAINS. 

nence abcve the town, and nearer the mountain. The steps 
leading up to it were deeply covered with volcanic matter; 
the roof was totally destroyed, and the windows broken; but 
the house itself being strongly built, had not suffered much 
dilapidation. An incredible number of fragments of lava 
were thrown out during the eruption, some of which were of 
immense magnitude. The largest measured by Sir William 
Hamilton was 108 feet in circumference, and seventeen in 
height: this was thrown at least a quarter of a mile clear of 
the mouth of the volcano. Another, sixty-six feet in circum¬ 
ference, and nineteen in height, being nearly of a spherical 
figure, was thrown out at the same time, and fell near the 
former : this last had all the marks of being rounded, nay, 
almost polished, by continual exposure to rolling torrents, or 
the still rougher beat of a sea-shore. Our author conjectures 
that it might be a spherical volcanic salt, such as that of 
forty-five feet in circumference mentioned by M. de St. Fond, 
in his Treatise on Extinguished Volcanoes. A third, of sixteen 
feet in height, and ninety-two in circumference, was carried 
much farther, and lay in the valley between Vesuvius and the 
Hermitage : it appeared, also, from the large fragments that 
surrounded this mass, that it had been much larger while in 
the air. 

Vesuvius continued to emit smoke for a considerable time 
after this great eruption, so that our author was apprehensive 
that another would soon ensue ; but from that time nothing 
comparable to the above has taken place. From the period 
of this great eruption, to 1786, our informant kept an exact 
diary of the operations of Vesuvius, with drawings; which 
shewed, by the comparative quantity ofsmoke emitted each time, 
the degree of fermentation within the volcano. The operations 
of these subterraneous fires, however; appear to be very capri¬ 
cious and uncertain : one day there will be the appearance 
of a violent fermentation, and the next every thing will be 
calmed ; but whenever there has been a considerable ejection 
of scoriae and cinders, it has been constantly observed, that 
the lava soon made its appearance, either by boiling over the 
crater, or forcing its way through the crevices in the conical 
part of the mountain. 

In the year 1794, there w r as a very tremendous eruption, 
and the mischief done was very considerable : the lava covered 
and totally destroyed 5000 acres of rich vineyards and culti¬ 
vated land, and drove the inhabitanst of Torre del Greco from 
the town, a great part of the houses being either buried, or 
so injured as to be uninhabitable ; the damage done in the 
vineyards by the ashes was also immense. Eruptions of this 
volcano also took place in 1804 and 1805 ; but this article 
will conclude bv noticing only the eruption that happened on 


VESUVIUS. 


441 


the evening of the 31st of May, 1806, when a bright flame 
rose from the mountain to the height of about 600 feet, sinking 
and rising alternately, and affording so clear a light, that a 
letter might have been read at the distance of a league round 
the mountain. On the following morning, without any earth¬ 
quake preceding, as had been customary, the volcano began 
to eject inflamed substances from three new mouths, pretty 
near to each other, and about 650 feet from the summit. The 
lava took the direction of Torre del Greco and Annunciata, 
approaching Portici on the road leading from Na 
Pompeii. 

Throughout the whole of the 2d of June, a noise w T as heard, 
resembling that of two armies engaged, when the discharges 
of artillery and musketry are very brisk. The current of lava 
now resembled a wall of glass in a state of fusion; sparks and 
flashes issuing from it from time to time with a powerful 
detonation. Vines, trees, houses, in short, whatever objects 
it encountered on its way, were instantly overthrown and 
destroyed. In one part, where it met with the resistance of a 
wall, it formed a cascade of fire. In a few days, Portici, Re¬ 
sina, and Torre del Greco, were covered with ashes thrown 
out by the volcano ; and on the 9th, the two former places 
were deluged with a thick black rain, consisting of a species 
of mud, filled with sulphureous particles. 

On the 1st of July, the ancient crater had wholly disappeared, 
being filled with ashes and lava, and a new one was formed in 
the eastern part of the mountain, about 600 feet in depth, 
and having about the same width at the opening. Several 
persons, on the above day, descended about half way down 
this new mouth, and remained half an hour very near the 
flames, admiring the spectacle presented by the liquid lava, 
which bubbled up at the bottom of the crater, like the fused 
matter in a glasshouse. This eruption continued until Sep¬ 
tember, made great ravages, and was considered as one of 
the most terrible that occurred within the memory of the 
oldest inhabitants. Sir William Hamilton observes, that the 
inhabitants of Naples, in general, pay so little attention to the 
operations of this -olcano, that many of its eruptions pass 
unnoticed by at least two-thirds of them. It is remarkable 
to observe, with what readiness and satig froid they inhabit 
the towns and villas on the brow of the mountain, and how 
quickly they return to spots which have suffered the most se¬ 
verely. The inhabitants are not much alarmed by a stream 
of lava, which moves slowly, from which they can always 
remove, and carry off their moveable property ; their greatest 
danger consists in the clouds of burning ashes, which fly to a 
great distance, and the fall of which can neither be anticipated 
nor avoided. 

19. 


pies to 


3 K 


442 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MOUNTAINS. 

Mount Hecla. —This is a volcano of Iceland, and one of 
those whose operations are the most powerful of any in the 
world. It was visited in 1722, by Dr. Van Troil, a Swedish 
gentleman, together with Mr. (afterwards Sir Joseph) Banks, 
Dr. Solander, and Dr. James Lind, of Edinburgh On their 
first anding, they found a tract of land sixty or seventy miles 
in extent, entirely ruined by lava, which appeared to have 
been in the highest state of liquefaction. Having undertaken 
a journey to the top of the mountain, they travelled from 300 
to 360 English miles, over an uninterrupted tract of lava, and 
had at length the pleasure of being the first who had arrived 
at the summit of the mountain. 

Hecla, according to their accounts, is situated in the south 
part of the island, about four miles from the sea coast; and 
is divided into three parts at the top, the middle point being 
the highest. From an exact observation with Ramsden's 
barometer, it is 5000 feet above the level of the sea. They 
were obliged to quit their horses at the first opening from 
which the fire had burst. They describe this as a place with 
lofty walls and high glazed cliffs, unlike any thing which they 
had ever seen before. A little higher up they found a large 
quantity of grit and stones ; and still farther, another open¬ 
ing, which, though not deep, descended lower than that of 
the highest point. Here, they imagined, they plainly discerned 
the effects of boiling water ; though not far from thence the 
mountain was covered with snow, excepting some spots, 
which difference they perceived to be occasioned by the hot 
vapour issuing from the crevices in the mountain. As they 
ascended towards the top, they found the spots become larger ; 
and about 200 yards below the summit, a hole about a yard 
and a half in diameter was observed, whence issued so hot a 
steam, that they could not measure the degree of heat with 
the thermometer. 

The cold began now to be very intense; Fahrenheit’s ther¬ 
mometer, which at the foot of the mountain was at fifty-four, 
now fell to twenty-four; the wind also became so violent, 
that they were sometimes obliged to lie down, for fear of being 
blown down the most dreadful precipices. On the very 
summit, they experienced at the same time a high degree of 
heat and of cold ; for, in the air, Fahrenheit’s thermometer 
stood constantly at twenty-four, but when set on the ground, 
rose to 153 ; the barometer stood at 22.247. Though they 
wished very much to remain here for some time, they found 
that they could not effect their purpose with safety; they 
therefore descended quickly. 

The mountain seems to be made up, not of lava, but of 
■sand, grit, and ashes; which are thrown up with discoloured 
stones, partly melted by the fire. Several sorts of pumict 


ETNA. 


44 * 


stones were founa on it, among which was one with some 
sulphur. Sometimes the pumice w r as so much burnt, that it 
was as light as tow. Its form and colour w T ere sometimes very 
fine, but at the same time so soft, that it was difficult to re 
move it from one place to another. The common lava was 
found in both large and small pieces ; as well as a quantity of 
black jasper, burned at the extremities, and resembling trees 
and branches. Some slate, of a strong red colour, was ob¬ 
served among the stones thrown out by the volcano. In one 
place the lava had taken the form of chimney-stacks half 
broken down. 

As they descended the mountain, they observed three open¬ 
ings. In one, every thing looked as red as brick ; from 
another, the lava had flowed in a stream about fifty yards 
broad, and, after proceeding some length, had divided into 
three large branches. Further on they perceived an opening, 
at the bottom of which was a mount in form of a sugar loaf; 
in throwing up of which, the fire appeared to have exhausted 
itself. The reason that no one before them had ever ascended 
to the top of this mountain, was partly owing to superstition, 
and partly to the steepness and difficulty of the ascent, which 
<was in a great measure removed by an eruption in 1766. 

We now proceed to describe the celebrated Mount Etna.— 

Now Etna roars with dreadful ruins nigh, 

Now hurls a bursting cloud of cinders high, > 

Involv’d in smoky whirlwinds to the sky ; ? 

With loud displosion to the starry frame. 

Shoots fiery globes and furious floods of flame; 

Now from her bellowing caverns burst away 
Vast piles of melted rocks in open day. 

Her shatter’d entrails wide the mountain throws, 

And deep as hell her flaming centre glows. Warton. 

Etna is a famous volcanic or burning mountain in Sicily, 
situated on the eastern coast, not far from Catania. The 
height of this mountain is more than 10,000 feet above the level 
of the sea, and its circumference at the base is 180 miles. 
Over its sides are seventy-seven cities, towns, and villages, 
the number of the inhabitants of which is about 115,000. 
From Catania to the summit, the distance is thirty miles ; and 
the traveller must pass through three distinct climates, which 
may be denominated the torrid, the temperate, and the frigid. 
Accordingly, the whole mountain is divided into three distinct 
regions, called the fertile, the woody, and the barren. 

The first, or lowest region, extends through a beautiful 
ascent from twelve to eighteen miles. The city of Catania, 
and several villages, are situated in this first zone, and it 
aboun is in pastures, orchards, and various kinds of fruit trees 


444 


CURIOSITIES respecting mountains. 

Its great fertility is ascribed to the decomposition of lava, arid 
of those vegetables which have been introduced by the arts 
of agriculture, and the exertions of human industry. The figs 
and fruit in general, in this part, are reckoned the finest in 
Sicily. The lava of this region flows from a number ot small 
mountains, which are dispersed over the immense declivity of 
Etna. 

The woody region, or temperate zone, extends from eight 
to ten miles in a direct line, towards the top of the mountain; 
and comprehends a surface of about forty or forty-five square 
leagues. It forms a zone of the brightest green all around the 
mountain, which exhibits a pleasing contrast to its white and 
hoary summits. It is called the woody region, because it 
abounds with oaks, beeches, and firs. The soil is similar to 
that of the lower region ; the air is cool and refreshing, and 
every breeze is loaded with a thousand perfumes, the whole 
ground being covered over with the richest aromatic plants. 
Many parts of this space are the most heavenly spots upon 
earth ; and if Etna resemble Hell within, it may with equal 
justice be said to resemble Paradise without 

The upper region, called the frigid zone, is marked out by 
a circle of snow and ice. The surface of this zone is for the 
most part flat and even, and the approach to it is indicated 
by the decline of vegetation, by uncovered rocks of lava and 
heaps of sand, by near views of an expanse of snow and ice, 
as well as of torrents of smoke issuing from the crater of the 
mountain, and by the difficulty and danger of advancing 
amidst streams of melted snow, sheets of ice, and gusts of 
chilling wind. The curious traveller, however, thinks himself 
amply recompensed, upon gaining the summit, for the peril 
which he has encountered. At night, the number of stars 
seem increased, and their light appears brighter than usual. 
The lustre of the milky-way is like a pure flame, that shoots 
across the heavens, and with the naked eye we may observe 
clusters of stars totally invisible in the lower regions. 

Dr. Woodw ? ard mentions the existence of volcanoes as a spe¬ 
cial favour of Providence, and says, “ There are scarcely any 
countries, that are much annoyed with earthquakes, that have 
not one of these fiery vents. And these are constantly all in 
flames whenever any earthquake happens, as they disgorge 
that fire, which, whilst underneath, was the cause of the dis¬ 
aster. Indeed, (saith he,) were it not for these diverticula , 
whereby it thus gains an exit, it would rage in the bowels 
of the earth much more furiously, and make greater havock 
than it now does. So that, though those countries where 
there are such volcanoes are usually more or less troubled with 
earthquakes ; yet, were these volcanoes wanting, they would 
be much more annoyed with them than they now are, vea, in 


GROTTO IN SOUTH AFRICA. 44o 

all probability, to that degree as to render the earth, for a 
vast space around them, perfectly uninhabitable. In one word, 
so beneficial are these to the territories where they are, 
that there do not want instances of some which have been 
rescued from earthquakes by the breaking forth of a new 
volcano there ; this continually discharging that matter, which 
being till then barricaded up and imprisoned in the bowels 
of the earth, was the occasion of very great and frequent 
calamities.” 

In every case, where we cannot discern the beneficent ten¬ 
dency of particular phenomena in the universe, we ought to 
attribute this to our limited capacities, and not arraign the 
almighty Sovereign. However dreadful and destructive subter¬ 
raneous fires may appear; on proper reflection, it may be 
inferred that they are as necessary in promoting and sustain¬ 
ing the operations of this part of the universe, as the natural 
heat in men’s bodies is to the preservation and support of 
their being. 


CHAP. XLII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING GROTTOS , CAVES, be. 

Grotto in South Africa—Grotto del Cani—Grotto oj Antiparos 
— Grotto of Guacharo—Snow Grotto—Cave of Fingal—Cave 
near Mexico—The Nitre Caves of Missouri—Okey Hole — 
JBorrowdale — Needle’s Eye. 

-Sweet interchange 

Of hill and valley, rivers, woods, and plains, 

Now land, now sea, and shores with forests crown’d. Milton. 

Grotto in South Africa. From Thom’s account of his 
Journey to South Africa.—“ In the country of Kango is the 
greatest natural curiosity of South Africa, a grotto of unknown 
extent. This I visited, and spent four or five hours in it. It 
was generally supposed that the end of it had been discovered, 
but we proved it to be still unknown ; though, from the in¬ 
formation I received, we proceeded into it further than any 
others, and our entrance into the third newly discovered cham¬ 
bers, or cave, was only prevented by a descent of fourteen feet. 
This o-reat and astonishing work of God is divided into various 
apartments, from fourteen to seventy feet in length, and eight 
to one hundred in breadth. By measurement, I found that we 
had pro needed aboutnine hundred feetinto the cavern of a moun¬ 
tain, of five hundred feet in perpendicular height; the grott) 






446 CURIOSITIES—GROTTOS AND CAVES. 

is about two hundred feet above the level of the river running; 
by the hill. 

“ The stalactites, united or disunited, form a hundred figures, 
so that, without any effort of imagination, nature would seem 
here to have assumed the province of art: for her canopies, 
organs, pulpits, vast candles, immense pillars, heads even of 
men and animals, meet the astonished visitor on all sides ; so 
that he supposes himself in a new part of the universe. Eye, 
thought, and feeling, are equally overpowered; and, to com¬ 
plete this remarkable assemblage, there are various baths, or 
cisterns of water, as clear as crystal, divided by partitions, as 
if a most ingenious sculptor had wrought for some weeks in 
this subterraneous place of nature. Ten young colonists, 
with two slave guides, and my servant, were with me. We 
had a flambeau and a number of large candles ; but even these 
did not chase away the darkness which eclipsed the beauties 
of this great work of nature, which had been forming from 
age to age, and was first discovered in the year 1788. It is a 
remarkable circumstance, that no traveller appears to have 
visited it, or the various sub-districts which I have described 
above, since that time till we entered it/ 

The Grotto del Cani. —This is a little cavern near Poz*. 
zuoli, four leagues from Naples: the air contained in it is of a 
mephitical or noxious quality; it is in truth carbonic acid 
gas, whence also it is called Bocca Venenosa, the Poisonous 
Mouth. “ Two miles from Naples, (says Dr. Mead,) just by the 
Lago de Agnano, is a celebrated mofeta, commonly called La 
Grotto del Cani, which is destructive of all animal life that 
comes within the reac h of its vapours. It is a small grotto, 
about eight feet high, twelve long, and six broad; from the 
ground arises a thin, subtile, warm fume, visible enough to a 
discerning eye, which does not spring up in little parcels here 
and there, but in one continued stream, covering the whole 
surface of the bottom of the cave ; having this remarkable 
difference from common vapours, that it does not, like smoke,, 
disperse into the air, but quickly after its rise falls back again, 
and returns to the earth, or hovers to a certain height, above 
which it never rises. This fact is ascertained by the colour 
of the sides of the grotto, which, as high as the vapour 
ascends, is of a darkish green, but above this it has only the 
appearance of common earth. As I found no inconvenience 
from standing in it myself, so I believe no animal, if its head 
were kept above this mark, would be in the least injured. 
But "when, as is often the case, a dog, or any other creature,, 
is forcibly kept below it, or the animal is so small that it 
cannot hold its head above this noxious vapour, it presently 
loses all voluntary motion, falls down as dead, or in a swoon 


GROTTO OF ANTI PAROS. 


447 


the limbs at first become convulsed and trembling, till at la 3 t 
no more signs of life appear, than a very weak and almost 
insensible beating of the heart and arteries ; which, if the 
animal is left a little longer, quickly ceases also, and then its 
fate is irrevocable ; but if it be snatched out and laid in the 
air, it soon revives, and, if thrown into the adjacent lake, 
resuscitation is still more rapid.” 

We now proceed to the famous Grotto of Antiparos.—- 
This grotto takes its name from the small island in which it 
is situated. The following is Mr. Charles Saunders’s account 
of his descent into this celebrated grotto. 

“ Its entrance lies in the side of a rock, and is a spacious 
arch, formed of rough crags, overhung with fantastic wreaths 
of climbing shrubs. Our party amounted to six, attended by 
the same number of guides, furnished with lighted torches. 
We presently lost every ray of daylight, but following our 
leaders, we entered into a low narrow passage, lined on all 
sides with stones, that, from the reflection of the torches, 
glittered like diamonds, and displayed the colours of the 
rainbow. At the end of this passage, our guides desired us 
to tie a rope about our waists, and then led us to the brink of 
a frightful precipice. The descent was steep, and the place 
dark and gloomy. The exchange of the lane of diamonds 
for this abyss of darkness was very unwelcome ; but I had 
travelled far to gratify my curiosity, and I hazarded the event. 
The rope being held by the guides at top, I was first letdown, 
and, after dandling; a minute or two, reached the bottom with 

9 O O 

my feet. 

“ My friends, encouraged by my example, followed; and we 
pursued our way under a roof of ragged rocks for thirty yards, 
hoping every moment to see the opening of the expected 
grotto ; but our guides plainly told us we had far to go, and 
much to encounter, before we should reach it, and those who 
wanted courage and perseverance had better return. None of 
us, however, would act so cowardly a part, though the sight 
of another precipice, much deeper and more formidable than 
the first, almost shook our resolution. By the light of the 
torches, we could perceive that we were to plunge into a 
place encumbered with vast pieces of rough rugged rocks, 
and that we should be forced sometimes to climb over, and 
sometimes to creep under them; while on the other side were 
numerous dark caverns, like so many wells, which if one’s foot 
should slip, would swallow us up. Two of our guides went 
before us, and as we stood on the edge, we were terrified 
to see them go lower, till they appeared at a frightful depth 
beneath us. When they were at the bottom, they hallooed to 
us, and we very reluctantly followed. In the midst of the 


448 


CURIOSITIES-GROTTOS AND CAVES. 


way, we came to a place where a rock that was perpen¬ 
dicular, and a vast cavern, on one side threatened us with 
destruction, whilst a wall of rugged rock seemed impassable 
on the other. Here again we hesitated whether to proceed or 
not: but the guides assured us they had often gone the same 
way with safety, we therefore took fresh resolution, and on 
we went to a corner, where was placed an old, slippery, rotten 
ladder, which we ventured to descend. 

" At the bottom we perceived ourselves at the entrance of 
another passage, which was rather dismal, but not w'holly 
without beauty. A wide gradual descent led us into a noble 
vault, with a bottom of fine, green, glossy marble, over which 
we were to slide on our seats; and it was with difficulty we 
could keep ourselves from going too fast, and tumbling over 
one another. The walls and arch of the roof is as smooth in 
most places as if chiselled by a skilful workman, and are formed 
of a glistering red and white granite, supported in several 
places with columns of a deep blood-coloured shining por¬ 
phyry. Here, to our terror, we lost sight of the two guides 
that went before us, and at the end of the passage found our¬ 
selves at the brink of another precipice, the bottom of which 
we reached by the help of a ladder, not much better than the 
former. 

“ Had not the dread of falling taken up my attention, I should 
have admired many of the natural ornaments of this obscure 
cavity. The rock to which the ladder was fixed was one 
mass of red marble, covered with white branches of rock 
crystal, and might be compared, from the hue of the rock, 
behind, to an immense sheet of amethysts. From the foot of 
this ladder, we were compelled to slide, face downwards, 
throu gh another shallow vault of polished green and white 
marble, for about twenty feet; and we then rejoined our 
guides, who prudently gave us some refreshment, to enable 
us to face the dangers we had yet to encounter. 

“We now advanced through a narrow slanting passage of 
rough coarse stone, so much resembling snakes curled round, 
that nothing was wanting but a hissing sound, to make us 
fancy that thousands of those noisome reptiles surrounded us. 
There was still another terrible precipice to pass; but as we 
heard that it was the last, we made no hesitation in descend* 
ing the ladder. After this, we proceeded upon even ground 
for about forty yards, when we w^ere again entreated lay our 
guides to fasten the ropes about our w r aists; not for the pur¬ 
pose of suspending us over a height, .but as a means of secu¬ 
rity against the lakes and deep waters that are numerous in 
this part of the cavern. At length we reached the last pas- 
sage, the dismal gloom of which might furnish images for a 
poetical description of Tartarus. The sides and roof were 


GROTTO OF ANTIPAliOS. 


449 


formed of black stone, and the way was so rugged, that we were 
often obliged to slide upon our backs The angles of the rocks 
cut our clothes, and bruised our flesh in a miserable manner. 

“ Though I belie ved myself so near the object of my curiosity, 

I wished sincerely that I had never been allured, by the ac¬ 
counts of travellers, to venture into such a horrible place, 
when suddenly we lost sight of four out of our six guides. 
The want of their torches increased the melancholy gloom ; 
and the supposition that they had fallen into some of the 
black pools of water that abound here, added to the appre¬ 
hension for our own safety, as well as concern for their fate. 

•/ 

The two remaining guides assured us, that their companions 
were safe, and that we should soon be rewarded for all that 
we had suffered, if we would but advance. Our passage was 
now become very narrow, and we were obliged to crawl on all 
fours over rugged rocks, when, hearing a little hissing noise, 
in an instant we were left in utter darkness. To our inex¬ 
pressible terror, the guides told us that they had accidentally 
dropped their torches into one of the pools ; but that there 
was no danger in crawling forward, as we should soon over- 
take their fellows. I now gave myself up for lost, and expected 
that I must perish in this dreadful cavern. Whilst I thus 
yie ded to despair, one of the guides came to me, blindfolded 
me with his hand, and dragged me a few paces forward. I 
imagined his design was to rob and murder me; however, in 
the midst of my panic, he lifted me over a huge stone, and 
set me on my feet, withdrawing his hand from my eyes at the 
same time. 

“What words can express my transport and astonishment: 
instead of darkness and despair, all was splendour and mag¬ 
nificence. The six guides welcomed me into the Grotto of 
Antiparos. Those whom we had missed, only went before to 
prepare the grotto for our reception, which was illuminated 
with fifty torches, and produced an effect no words can describe. 
Imagine yourself in an arched cavern, 485 yards deep, 120 
yards wide, 113 long, and, as near as we could measure by 
the eye, about 60 yards high, lined on every part with brilliant 
crystallized white marble, and well illuminated. The roof is 
a grand vaulted arch, hung all over with pendent icicles of 
shining white marble, some of them ten feet long, and covered 
with clusters of the same material, resembling festoons and 
garlands of flowers, glittering like precious stones. From 
the sides of the arch proceed fantastic forms of the same glit¬ 
tering spar, that fancy can easily shape into trees, entwined 
with flowers and climbing shrubs; and in some parts the con¬ 
gelations have taken the appearance of the meanders of a 
winding stream. The floor, though rough and uneven, is full 
of crystals of all colours. 

3 L 


450 


CURIOSITIES—GROTTOS AND CAVES. 


“ It is impossible to convey any adequate idea of the splen¬ 
dours of this natural temple, the ornaments of which are formed 
of the droppings of water, that, in great length of time, become 
congealed into a kind of brilliant spar. 

“ Having contemplated this charming spectacle with delight, 
and raised our aspiration to that Being, whose creative powers 
are displayed in the most obscure, as well as in the most visi¬ 
ble part of his works, we returned, impressed with the con¬ 
viction, that no good can be attained without difficulty and 
perseverance.” 

The Grotto of Guacharo. —The gulf of Cariacho is fre¬ 
quented by innumerable flocks of marine birds, of various kinds. 
“ When the natives wish to catch any of these wild fowl, (says 
M. Lavayse,) they go into the water, having their heads covered 
each with a calabash, in which they make two holes for seeing 
through. They thus swim towards the birds, throwing a 
handful of maize on the water from time to time, which be 
comes scattered on the surface. The ducks and other birds 
approach to feed on the maize, and at that moment the swim¬ 
mer seizes them by the feet, pulls them under water, and 
wrings their necks before they can make the least movement, 
or, by their noise, spread an alarm among the flock. The 
swimmer attaches those he has caught to his girdle, and he 
generally takes as many as are necessary for his family.” 

Amongst the natural curiosities of this neighbourhood, is a 
lake full of crocodiles, and various other reptiles, one of which, 
if we are to believe a common tradition of the people, resem¬ 
bles the winged dragon of the poets. In going from Carupano 
to Guiria, our author passed through the “ smiling valley” of 
Rio Corbe, watered bv numerous streams, and which he calls 
the Temple and Compagna of Venezuela. Speaking of the 
ce lo brated Grotto of Guacharo, in the mountains of Bergantin, 
M. Lavayse observes, “ In every country the same causes 
have produced similar effects on the imagination of our spe¬ 
cies. The grotto of Guacharo is, in the opinion of the Indians, 
a place of trial and expiation: souls, when separated from their 
bodies, go to this cavern ; those men who die without reproach 
do not remain in it, but immediately ascend, to reside wdth 
the great Manitou in the dwellings of the blessed; and such 
men as have committed but slight faults, of a venial nature, 
are kept there for a longer or shorter period, according to 
their crime; while those of the wicked are retained there 
eternally. 

“ Immediately after the death of their parents and friends, 
the Indians proceed to the entrance of this cavern, to listen 
to their groans. If they think they hear their voices, they 
also lament, and address a prayer to the Great Spirit, and 


GROTTO OF GUACHARO 


46'» 

another to the devil, Muboya; after which they drown their 
grief with intoxicating beverages : but, if they do not hear 
the voices of their friends, they express their joy by dances 
and festivals. In all this, there is but one circumstance that 
creates surprise; it is, that the Indian priests have not availed 
themselves of such credulity to augment their revenues. Many 
Indians, though otherwise converted to Christianity, have not 
ceased to believe, that to be in the cave of Guacharo is syno¬ 
nymous with dying. 

“ Thus, in the majestic forests of South America, as in the 
ancient civilization of Hindoostan ; under the harsh climates 
of the north of Europe and Canada, as in the burning regions 
of Africa ; in all parts, men of every colour are distinguished 
from other animals by this irresistible foreboding of a future 
life, in which an Omnipotent Being recompenses the good 
and punishes evil doers. Whatever may be the modifications, 
differences, or absurdities, with which imagination, ignorance, 
and greedy imposture, have enveloped this belief, it appears 
to be one of the strongest moral proofs of the identity of our 
species, and to be a natural consequence of reflection.”— 
Sketches of South America. 

We will now beg the attention of our readers, while we relate 
some particulars respecting The Snow Grotto. —This is an 
excavation made by the waters on the side of Mount Etna, by 
making their way under the layers of lava, and carrying away 
the bed of pozzolano below them. It occurred to the proprie 
tor, that this place was very suitable for a magazine of snow; 
for in Sicily, at Naples, and particularly at Malta, they are 
obi iged, for want of ice, to make use of snow for cooling their 
wine, sherbet, and other liquors, and for making sweetmeats. 
This grotto was hired, or bought, by the knights of Malta, 
who having neither ice nor snow on the burning rock which 
they inhabit, have hired several caverns on Etna, into which, 
people whom they employ, collect and preserve quantities of 
snow, to be sent to Malta when needed. This grotto has 
therefore been repaired within, at the expense of the order; 
flights of steps are cut into it, as well as two openings from 
above, through which they throw in the snow, and by means 
of which the grotto is enlightened. Above the grotto they 
have also levelled a piece of ground of considerable extent: 
this they have inclosed with thick and lofty walls, so that 
when the winds, which at this elevation blow with great vio¬ 
lence, carry the snow from the higher parts of the mountain, 
and deposit it in this inclosure, it is retained and amassed by 
the walls. The people then remove it into the grotto, through 
the two openings ; -and it is there laid up and preserved in 
such a manner as to resist the force of the summer heats, as 


452 CURIOSITIES—GROTTOS AND CAVES. 

the layers of lava, with which the grotto is arched above, 
prevent them from making any impression. 

When the season for exporting the snow comes on, it is 
put into large bags, into which it is pressed as closely as 
possible; it is then carried by men out of the grotto, and 
laid upon mules, which convey it to the shore, where small 
vessels are waiting to carry it away. But before those lumps 
of snow are put into bags, they are wrapped in fresh leaves; 
so that while they are conveyed from the grotto to the shore, 
the leaves may prevent the rays of the sun from making any 
impression upon them. 

The Sicilians carry on a considerable trade in snow, which 
affords employment to some thousands of men, horses, and 
mules. They have magazines of it on the summits of their 
loftiest mountains, from which they distribute it through all 
their cities, towns, and houses ; for every person in the island 
makes use of the snow. They consider the practice of cool¬ 
ing their liquors as absolutely necessary for the preservation 
of health ; and in a climate, the heat of which is constantly re¬ 
laxing the fibres, cooling liquors, by communicating a proper 
tone to the fibres of the stomach, must greatly strengthen 
them for the performance of their functions. In this climate a 
scarcity of snow is no less dreaded than a scarcity of corn, 
wine, or oil. We are informed by a gentleman who was at 
Syracuse in 1777, when there was a scarcity of snow, that the 
people of the town learned that a small vessel laden with that 
article was passing the coast: without a moment’s deliberation, 
they ran in a body to the shore, and demanded her cargo; 
which when the crew refused to deliver up, the Syracusans 
attacked and took, though with the loss of several men. 

The next object that claims our regard is The Cave of 
Fingal, or An-ua-vine, in the Island of Staffa. 
From Faujas St. Fond’s Travels in England, Scotland, and 
the Hebrides. 

“ This superb and magnificent monument of a grand subter¬ 
raneous combustion, the date of which has been lost in the 
lapse of ages, presents an appearance of order and regularity 
so wonderful, that it is difficult for the coldest observer, and 
a pel son the least sensible to the phenomena which relate 
to the convulsions of the globe, not to be singularly astonished 
prodigy, which may be considered as a kind of natural 

1° shelter myself from all critical observation on the 
emotions which I experienced while contemplating the most 
extraordinary of any cavern known, I shall borrow the ex¬ 
pressions of him who first described it. Those who are 
acquainted with the character of this illustrious naturalist. 


Dy tni: 
palace 


THE CAVE OF F1NGAL. 


453 


Sir Joseph Banks, will not be apt to accuse him of being 
liable to be hurried away by the force of a too ardent imagi¬ 
nation ; but the sensation which he felt at the view of this 
magnificent scene was such, that it was impossible to escape 
a degree of just enthusiasm. 

“ The impatience which every body felt to see the wonders 
we have heard so largely described, prevented our morning’s 
rest; every one was up and in motion before the break of day, 
and with the first light arrived at the south-west part of the 
island, the seat of the most remarkable pillars. We were no 
sooner arrived at this place, than we were struck with a scene 
of magnificence which exceeded our expectation, though 
formed as we thought upon the most sanguine foundations 
The whole of that end of the island is supported by ranges 
of natural pillars, mostly above fifty feet high, standing in 
natural colonnades, according as the bays or points of land 
formed themselves, upon a firm basis of solid shapeless masses 
of rock. In a short time we arrived at the mouth of the cave, 
the most magnificent, I suppose, that has ever been described 
by travellers. 

‘ The mind can hardly form an idea of any thing more mag¬ 
nificent than such a space, supported on each side by ranges 
of columns, and roofed by the bottoms of those from which 
they have been broken, in order to form it, between the angles 
of which a yellow stalagmitic matter has exuded ; this serves 
to define the angles precisely, and at the same time vary the 
colour with a great deal of elegance, and, to render it still 
more agreeable, the whole is lighted from without; so that 
the farthest extremity is very plainly seen from the outside, 
and the air within, being agitated by the flux and reflux of the 
tides, is perfectly dry and wholesome, entirely free from the 
vapours with which natural caverns in general abound.” 

The following description of the same place by Mr. Troil, 
is also worthy of our notice :— 

“ How splendid (says this prelate) do the porticos of the 
ancients appear in our eyes, from the ostentatious magnifi¬ 
cence of the descriptions we have received of them ! and with 
what admiration are we seized, on seeing even the colonnades of 
our modern edifices! but when we behold the cave of Fingal, 
formed by nature in the isle of Staffa, it is no longer possible 
to make a comparison, and we are forced to acknowledge that 
this piece of architecture, executed by nature, far surpasses 
that of the Louvre, that of St. Peter at Rome, and even what 
remains of Palmira and Pestum, and all that the genius, the 
taste, and the luxury of the Greeks, were ever capable of 
inventing .”—Letters on Iceland. 

Such also was the impression made by the cave of Fingal, 
on Sir Joseph Banks, and on the Bishop of Linckceping.— 


454 


CURIOSITIES-GROTTOS AND CAVES. 


** 1 have seen many ancient volcanoes, and have given de 
scriptions of several superb basaltic causeways and delightful 
caverns in the midst of lavas; but I have never found any 
thing which comes near this, or can bear any comparison with 
it, either for the admirable regularity of the columns, the 
height of the arch, the situation, the forms, the elegance of 
this production of nature, or for its resemblance to the master¬ 
pieces of art, though this had no share in its construction. 
It is therefore not at all surprising that tradition should 
have made it the abode of a hero. 

“ This amazing monument of nature is thirty-five feet wide at 
the entrance, fifty-six feet high, and a hundred and forty feet 

e upright columns which compose the frontispiece, are 
of the most perfect regularity. Their height, to the beginning 
of the curvature, is forty-five feet. 

“ The arch is composed of two unequal segments of a circle, 
which form a sort of natural pediment. 

“ The mass which crowns, or rather which forms the roof, is 
twenty feet thick in the lowest part. It consists of small 
prisms, more or less regular, inclining in all directions, closely 
united and cemented underneath, and in the joints, with a 
yellowish white calcareous matter, and some zeolitic infiltra¬ 
tions, which give this fine ceiling the appearance of mozaic 
work. 

“ The sea reaches to the very extremity of the cave. It is 
fifteen feet deep at the mouth ; and its waves, incessantly agi¬ 
tated, beat with great noise against the bottom and walls of 
the cavern, and every where break into foam. The light also 
penetrates through its whole length, diminishing gradually 
inwards, and exhibiting the most wonderful varieties of co¬ 
lour. 

“ The right side of the entrance presents, on its exterior part, 
a vast amphitheatre, formed of different ranges of large trun¬ 
cated prisms, the top of which may be easily walked on. 
Several of these prisms are jointed, that is, concave on the 
one side, and convex on the other; and some of them are 
divided by simple transverse intersections. 

“ These prisms, consisting of a very durable and pure black 
basaltes, are from one to three feet in diameter. Their forms 
are triangular, tetrapedral, pentagonal, and hexagonal; and 
some of them have seven or eight sides. I saw several large 
prisms, on the truncatures of which are distinctly traced the 
outlines of a number of smaller prisms ; that is, these prisms 
are formed of a basaltes, which has a tendency to subdivide 
itself likewise into prisms. I had before observed the same 
phenomenon in the basaltic prisms of Vivarais. 

" The cave can be entered only by proceeding along the plat- 



CAVE OF FINGAL. 


455 


form on the right side, which I have mentioned above. But 
the way grows very narrow and difficult as it advances ; for 
this sort of interior gallery, raised about fifteen feet above the 
level of the sea, is formed entirely of truncated perpendicular 
prisms of a greater or less height, between which considerable 
address is necessary to choose one’s steps, the passages being 
so strait and so slippery, owing to the droppings from the 
roof, that I took the very prudent resolution, suggested by 
our two guides, to proceed barefooted, and take advantage 
of their assistance, especially in a particular place, where I 
had room only to plant one foot, whilst I clung with my right 
hand to a large prism to support myself, and held the hand of 
one of the guides by the other. This difficult operation took 
place at the darkest part of the cave ; and one half of the body 
was at the time suspended over an abyss, where the sea dashed 
itself into a cloud of foam. 

“ I was desirous of penetrating to the farthest extremity, and 
I accomplished my purpose, though not without considerable 
difficulty and danger. I more than once found my attention 
distracted from the observations which I was happy to have 
an opportunity of making, to the thought of how I should get 
back again. 

“ As 1 drew near to the bottom of the cave, the bold balcony, 
on which I walked, expanded into a large sloping space, com¬ 
posed of thousands of broken vertical columns. The bottom 
was bounded by a compact range of pillars of an unequal 
he ight, and resembling the front of an organ.” 

It is worthy of remark, that at the time w’hen Mr. Troil 
visited the cave, the sea, by one of those uncommon chances 
which do not happen once in ten years, was so calm, that it 
permitted him to enter with a boat. 

“ At the very bottom of the cave, (says he,) and a little 
above the surface of the water, there is a kind of small cave, 
which sends forth a very agreeable noise every time that the 
water rushes into it .”—Letters on Iceland. 

“ As the sea was far from being completely still when I visited 
it, I heard a noise of a very different nature every time that 
the waves, in a rapid succession, broke against its bottom. 
This sound resembled that which is produced by striking a 
large hard body with great weight and force against another 
hard body in a subterraneous cavity. The shock was so vio¬ 
lent, that it was heard at some distance, and the whole cavern 
seemed to shake with it. Being close to the place whence 
the sound issued, and where the water is not so deep, upon 
the retreat of the wave, I endeavoured to discover the cause 
of this terrible collision. I soon observed, that, a little below 
the basis which supported the organ-fronted colonnade, there 
was an aperture which formed the outlet of a hollow, or per- 


I 


456 


CURIOSITIES — GROTTOS AND CAVES. 

haps a small cave. It was impossible to penetrate into this 
cavity; but it mav be presume*d that the tremendous noise was 
occasioned by a broken rock, driven by the violent impetu¬ 
osity of the surge against its sides. By the boiling motion of 
the water, however, in the same place, it is evident that there 
are several other small passages, through which it issues, after 
rushing into the principal aperture in a mass. It is therefore 
not impossible, when the sea is not sufficiently agitated to 
put the imprisoned rock in motion, that the air, strongly 
compressed by the weight of the water, which is in incessant 
fluctuation, should, on rushing out by the small lateral 
passages, produce a particularly strange sound. It might 
then be truly regarded as an organ created by the hand ol 
nature ; and this circumstance would fully explain why the 
ancient and real name of this cave, in the Erse language, is. 
The Melodious Cave.” 

Sir Joseph Banks, in the description which he has given us 
of the cave of Staffa, says, that “ between the angles a yellow 
stalagmitic matter has exuded, which seemed to define the 
angles precisely.” That is true ; but the learned naturalist 
has not told us the nature of this yellowish matter. 

Mr. Troil mentions it also : he says, that the “ colour of 
the columns is a dark gray, but that the joints are filled with 
a quartzose stalactites, which distinctly marks the separation 
of the columns, and which, by the variety of its tints, has the 
most agreeable effect on the eye. On breaking off several 
pieces of it, which it is not very easy to do, owing to the 
height of the vault, I found that it was nothing but a calca¬ 
reous matter, coloured by the decomposition of the iron of the 
lava, and intermixed with a little argillaceous earth. This 
stalactites has also very little adhesion, and is, in general, of 
an earthy nature. In several of the prisms I found some glo¬ 
bules of zeolites, but in very small quantity. I also broke off 
from between two prisms, which were so apart as to admit of 
introducing my hand, an incrustation in which the white and 
transparent zeolites was formed into very perfect small cubical 
crystals, several of which were coloured red by the ferrugi¬ 
nous lime arising from the decomposition of the lava. But I 
must repeat, that zeolites is very rare in this cave, and having 
myself broken off all the specimens that 1 was able to see, 1 
doubt whether those who may visit the place after me wil 
find any quantity of it.” 

Dimensions of the Cave of Fingal.—Breadth of the entrance, 
taken at the mouth and at the level of the sea, thirty-five 
feet; height, from the level of the sea to the pitch of the arch, 
fifty-six feet; depth of the sea, opposite to the entrance, and 
twelve feet distant from it, at noon of the 27th of September, 
fifteen feet; thickness of the roof, measured from the pitch of 


MEXICAN CAVE.—CAVES OF MISSOURI. 457 

the arch without to its highest part, twenty feet; interior 
length of the cave from the entrance to the extremity, one 
hundred and forty feet; height of the tallest columns on the 
right side of the entrance, forty-five feet; depth of the sea in 
the interior part of the cave, ten feet nine inches, in some 
places eight feet, and towards the bottom somewhat less 

Cave near Mexico. —A traveller of credit gives us an 
account, in the Philosophical Transactions, of a remarkable 
cave, some leagues to the north-west of Mexico, gilded all 
over with a sort of leaf-gold, which had deluded many 
Spaniards by its promising colour, but they could never 
reduce it into a body, either by quicksilver or fusion. This 
traveller went thither one morning with an Indian for his 
guide, and found its situation was pretty high, and in a place 
very proper for the generation of metals. 

As he entered into it, the light of the candle soon dis¬ 
covered on all sides, but especially over his head, a glittering 
canopy of these mineral leaves, at which he greedily snatch¬ 
ing, there fell down a great lump of sand, that not only put 
out his candle, but almost blinded him, and calling aloud to 
his Indian, who stood at the entrance of the cave, as being 
afraid of spirits and hobgoblins, it occasioned such thundering 
and redoubled echoes, that the poor fellow, imagining he had 
been wrestling with some infernal ghosts, soon quitted his 
station, and thereby left a free passage for some rays of light 
to enter, and serve him for a better guide. The traveller’s 
sight was somewhat affected by the corrosive acrimony of the 
mineral dust; but having relighted his candle, he proceeded 
in the cave, heaped together a quantity of the mineral mixed 
with sand, and scraped off from the surface of the earth 
some of the glittering leaves, none of which exceeded the 
breadth of a man’s nail, but with the least touch were 
divided into many lesser spangles, and with a little rubbing 
they left his hand gilded all over. 

We must not neglect to notice The Nitre Caves of 
Missouri. —“ On the banks of the Merrimack and the Gas¬ 
conade are found numerous caves, which yield an earth im¬ 
pregnated largely with nitre, which is procured from it by 
lixiviation. On the head of Current’s river are also found 
several caves from which nitre is procured, the principal of 
which is Ashley’s cave, or Cave Creek, about eighty miles 
south-west of Potosi. This is one of those stupendous and 
extensive caverns, that cannot be viewed without exciting 
our wonder and astonishment, which is increased by beholding 
those complete works for the manufacture of nitre, situated 
in its interio r 


3 M 


458 


CURIOSITIES-GROTTOS AND CAVEs. 

“The native nitrate of potash is found in beautiful white 
crystals, investing the fissures of the limestone rock which 
forms the walls of this cave ; and several of those in its vicinity 
exhibit the same phenomenon. —Schoolcroft f oh the Lead 
Mines of Missouri 

Okey Hole. —This is a famous natural cavern of England, 
on the south side of Mendip hills. The entrance is in the 
fal. of those hills, which is beset all about with rocks, and 
there is near it a precipitate descent of twelve fathoms deep, 
at the bottom of which there continually issues from the rocks 
a considerable current of water. The naked rocks above the 
entrance are about thirty fathoms high, and the whole ascent 
of the hill above, which is very steep, is about a mile. The 
entrance into this vault is at first upon a level, but ad¬ 
vancing farther, the way is rocky and uneven, sometimes 
ascending, and sometimes descending. 

The roof of this cavern, in the highest part, is about eight 
fathoms from the ground, but in many places it is so low, that 
one must stoop to get along. The breadth is not less various 
than the height, for in some places it is five or six fathoms 
wide, and in others not more than one or two. It is in length 
about two hundred yards. At the farthest part of the cavern 
there is a stream of water, large enough to drive a mill, which 
passes all along one side of the cavern, and at length slides 
down about six or eight fathoms among the rocks, and, finding 
its way through the clefts, falls into the valley beneath. The 
river within the cavern is well stored with eels, and has some 
trouts. In dry summers, a great number of frogs are seen 
all along this cavern, even to the farthest part of it; and on 
the roof are vast numbers of bats. 

From Okey Hole we proceed to Borrowdale, —which is 
a most romantic valley among the Derwent-Water Fells, in the 
county of Cumberland. These fells or hills are some of the 
loftiest in England, and it is in one of them that the black 
lead, or wadd, is found, from which all parts of the world are 
supplied. The mines are opened once in seven years, and 
when a sufficient quantity of this valuable and singular 
mineral is taken out, they are carefully closed again. In 
travelling among these mountains, the idea that presents itself 
to the astonished spectator, is that of the earth having been 
agitated like the ocean in a storm ; the hills appear like waves, 
one behind another, and were it not for the abrupt and sudden 
scarps, and the immense masses of rugged rocks, that give 
the idea of fixedness and stability, the fanev might be 
bewildered so far as to imagine they were in a state of undu¬ 
lation, and ready to mingle with each other. 


THE NEEDLE’S EYE. 


459 


Borrowdale is watered by the clearest brooks, which, preci¬ 
pitated from the hills, form many beautiful waterfalls, and 
then meet together in the dale in one large stream, and pass 
out of it under the name of Borrowdale Beck, when they 
spread out into an extensive lake, forming many beautiful 
islands; the lake is called Derwent-water, or Keswick Lake, 
Borrowdale is four miles from Keswick, in passing from 
which, the traveller has the lake on his left hand, and 
stupendous rocky precipices on the other; with huge stones, 
or rugged masses of rock, which have tumbled from above, 
perhaps rent from the mountain by the expansion of the 
water in its crevices or fissures, which, congealing into ice, 
occasions the scattered fragments that lie in his way. As 
he approaches the dale, he sees the shelves, or ledges of the 
rocks, covered with herbage, shrubs, and trees, and villages 
and farms rise in his view; the larger cattle are seen feeding 
in the lower grounds, and the sheep in very large flocks upon 
the mountains. 

We shall close this division with an account of The 
Needle’s Eye. —This name is given to a subterraneous 
passage on the coast of Banffshire, one hundred and fifty 
yards long from sea to sea, but through which a man can 
with difficulty creep. At the north end of it is a cave, twenty 
feet high, thirty broad, and one hundred and fifty long, con¬ 
taining a space of ninety thousand cubic feet. The whole is 
supported by immense columns of rocks, is exceedingly grand, 
and has a surprisingly fine effect on the spectator, after creep 
ing through the narrow passage. 


. 


460 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MINES 


CHAP. XLIII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MINES. 

Diamond Mine in the Brazils—Mines of Peru-Volcanic 
Eruptions of Mud and Salt—Pitch Wells—Visit to a Coal - 
Pit. 


Through dark retreats pursue the winding ore, 

Search Nature’s depths, and view her boundless store; 

The secret cause in tuneful numbers sing. 

How metals first were fram’d, and whence they spring 
Whether the active sun, with chemic flames, 

Through porous earth transmits its genial beams; 

With heat impregnating the womb of night, 

The offspring shines with its paternal light: 

Or whether, urged by subterraneous flames. 

The earth ferments, and flows in liquid streams 
Purg’d from their dross, the nobler parts refine. 

Receive new forms, and with fresh beauties shine: 

Or whether by creation first they sprung, 

When yet unpois’d the world’s great fabric hung: 

Metals the basis of the earth were made. 

The bars on which its fix’d foundations laid; 

All second causes they disdain to own, 

And from th' Almighty’s fiat sprung alone. Yalden. 

Description of a Diamond Mine on the river Tigitonhonha, 
in the Brazilian territory ; by Mr. Mawe. 

“ I could not (says the writer) resist the favourable oppor¬ 
tunity now offered me of gratifying the curiosity which had 
so long occupied my mind, by visiting the diamond mines, in 
company with the principal officer in the administration of 
them, who was therefore qualified to furnish me with the 
amplest information. A fine horse was waiting for me at the 
door, and I rode up to the house of the governor, who intro¬ 
duced me to his amiable lady, daughters, and family, with 
whom I had the honour to take breakfast. Several officers of 
the diamond establishment arrived on horseback to accom¬ 
pany us, their presence being required on this occasion. 

“Having arrived at the place, I remained here five days, 
during which I was occupied in viewing and examining 
various parts of the works, of which I shall here attempt to 
give a general description. 

“The river Tigitonhonha is formed by a number of streams, 
and is as wide as the Thames at Windsor, and in general from 
three to nine feet deep. The part now in working is a curve 
or elbow, from which the current is diverted into a canal cut 
across the tongue of land round which it winds, the river 


DIAMOND MINE. 


461 


being stopped, just below the head of the canal, by an embank¬ 
ment formed of several thousand bags of sand. This is a 
work of considerable magnitude, and requires the co-operation 
of all the negroes to complete it; for the river being wide 
and not very shallow, and also occasionally subject to over¬ 
flow, they have to make the embankment so strong as to 
resist the pressure of the water, admitting it to rise four or 
five feet. 

“ The deeper parts of the channel of the river are laid dry by 
means of large caissons or chain-pumps, worked by a water¬ 
wheel. The mud is then carried off, and the cascalhao is dug 
up, and removed to a convenient place for washing. This 
labour was, until lately, performed by the negroes, who carried 
the cascalhao in gamellas on their heads; but Mr. Camara 
has formed two inclined planes, about one hundred yards in 
length, along which carts are drawn by a large water-wheel, 
divided into two parts, the ladles or buckets of which are so 
constructed, that the rotary motion may be altered by 
changing the current of water from one side to the other; 
this wheel, by means of a rope made of untanned hides, 
works two carts, one of which descends empty on one 
inclined plane, while the other, loaded with cascalhao, is 
drawn to the top of the other, where it falls into a cradle, 
empties itself, and descends in its turn. At a work called 
Canjeca, formerly of great importance, about a mile up the 
river on the opposite side, there are three cylindrical engines 
for drawing the cascalhao, like those used in the mining 

O O 

country of Derbyshire, and also railways over some uneven 
ground. This was the first and only machinery of conse¬ 
quence, which I saw in the diamond district, and there appear 
many obstacles to the general introduction of it. Timber, 
when wanted of large size, has to be fetched a distance of one 
hundred miles, at a very heavy expense ; there are few persons 
competent to the construction of machines, and the workmen 
dislike to make them, fearing that this is onlvoartof a general 
plan for suspending manual labour. 

44 The stratum of cascalhao consists of the same materials 
with that in the gold district. On many parts, by the edge 
of the river, are large conglomerate masses of rounded pebbles 
cemented by oxide of iron, which sometimes envelop gold 
and diamonds. They calculate on getting as much cascalhao 
in the dry season, as will occupy all their hands during the 
months which are more subject to rain. When carried from 
the bed of the river whence it is dug, it is laid in heaps, con¬ 
taining apparently from five to fifteen tons each. 

44 Water is conveyed from a distance, and is distributed to 
the various parts of the works by means of aqueducts con¬ 
structed with great ingenuity and skill. The method of wash- 


V62 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MINES. 

ing for diamonds at this place, is as follows :—A shed is- 
erected in the form of a parallelogram, twenty-five or thirty 
yards long, and about fifteen wide, consisting of upright posts, 
which support a roof thatched with long grass. Down the 
middle of the area of this shed, a current of water is conveyed 
through a canal, covered with strong planks, on which the 
cascalhao is laid two or three feet thick. On the other side 
of the area is a flooring of planks, from four to five yards long,, 
imbedded in clay, extending the whole length of the shed, 
and having a slope, from the canal, of three or four inches tc 
a yard. This flooring is divided into about twenty compart¬ 
ments or troughs, each about three feet wide, by means of 
planks placed on their edge. The upper ends of all these 
troughs (here called canoes) communicate with the canal, and 
are so formed that water is admitted into them between two 
planks that are about an inch separate. Through this opening 
the current falls about six inches into the trough, and may 
be directed to any part of it, or stopped, at pleasure, by means 
of a small quantity of clay. For instance, sometimes water 
is required only from one corner of the aperture, then the 
remaining part is stopped ; sometimes it is wanted from the 
centre, then the extremes are stopped; and sometimes only a 
gentle rill is wanted, then the clay is applied accordingly. 
Along the lower ends of the troughs a small channel is dug, 
to carry off' the water. On the heap of cascalhao, at equal 
distances, are placed three high chairs, for the officers or over¬ 
seers. After they are seated, the negroes enter the troughs, 
each provided with a rake of a peculiar form, and short handle, 
with which he rakes into the trough about fifty or eighty 
pounds weight of cascalhao. The water being then let in 
upon it, the cascalhao is spread abroad, and continually 
raked up to the head of the trough, so as to be kept in con¬ 
stant motion. This operation being performed for the space of 
a quarter of an hour, the water then begins to run clearer; 
having washed the earthy particles away, the gravel-like mat¬ 
ter is raked up to the end of the trough ; after the current 
flows away quite clear, the largest stones are thrown out, and 
afterwards those of inferior size, then the whole is examined 
with great care for diamonds. When a negro finds one, he 
immediately stands upright and claps his hands, then extends 
them, holding the gem between his fore finger and thumb ; 
an overseer receives it from him, and deposits it in a gamella 
or bowl, suspended from the centre of the structure, half ful 
ol water. In this vessel all the diamonds found in the course 
of the day, are placed, and at the close of work are taken out,, 
and delivered to the principal officer, who, after they have 
been weighed, registers the particulars in a book kept for that 
purpose. When a negro is so fortunate as to find a diamond 


DIAMOND MINE. 


*63 


of the weight of 17* carats, much ceremony immediately takes 
place; he is crowned with a wreath of flowers, and carried in 
procession to the administrator, who gives him his freedom, 
by paying his owner for it. He also receives a present of 
new clothes, and is permitted to work on his own account. 
When a stone of eight or ten carats is found, the negro receives 
two new shirts, a complete new suit, with a hat, and a hand¬ 
some knife. For smaller stones of trivial amount, proportionate 
premiums are given. During my stay at Tejuco, a stone of 
16^ carats was found : it was pleasing to see the anxious desire 
manifested by the officers that it might prove heavy enough 
to entitle the poor negro to his freedom; and when, on being 
delivered and weighed, it proved only a carat short of the 
requisite weight, all seemed to sympathize in his disappoint¬ 
ment. 

“ Many precautions are taken to prevent the negroes from 
embezzling diamonds. Although they work in a bent position, 
and consequently never know whether the overseers are watch¬ 
ing them or not, yet it is easy for them to omit gathering 
any which they see, and to place them in a corner of the 
trough for the purpose of secreting them at leisure hours; to 
prevent which they are frequently changed while the opera¬ 
tion is going on. A word of command being given by the 
overseers, they instantly move into each others’ troughs, so 
that no opportunity of collusion can take place. If a negro 
be suspected of having swallowed a diamond, he is confined 
in a strong room until the fact can be ascertained. Formerly, 
the punishment inflicted upon a negro for smuggling dia¬ 
monds, was confiscation of his person to the state : but it 
being thought too hard for the owner to suffer for the offence 
of his servant, the penalty has been commuted for personal 
imprisonment and chastisement. This is a much lighter pun¬ 
ishment than that which their owners, or any white man, would 
suffer for a similar offence. 

“ There is no particular regulation respecting the dress of the 
negroes : they work in the clothes most suitable to the nature 
of their employment, generally in a waistcoat and a pair of 
drawers, and not naked, as some travellers have stated. 
Their hours of labour are from a little before sunrise until 
sunset, half an hour being allowed for breakfast, and two hours 
at noon. While washing, they change their posture as often 
as they please, which is very necessary, as the work requires 
them to place their feet on the edges of the trough, and to 
stoop considerably. This posture is particularly prejudicial 
to young growing negroes, as it renders them in-kneed. Four 
or five times during the day, they all rest, when snuff, of which 
they are very fond, is given to them. 

** The negroes are formed into working parties, called troops, 


46*4 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MINES. 

containing 200 each, under the direction ol an administrator 
and inferior officers. Each troop has a clergyman and a sur¬ 
geon to attend it. With respect to the subsistence of the 
negroes, although the present governor has in some degree 
improved it, by allowing a daily portion of fresh beef, which 
was not allowed by his predecessors, yet I am sorry to observe 
that it is still poor and scanty; and that in other respects they 
are more hardly dealt with than those of any other establishment 
which I visited: notwithstanding this, the owners are all 
anxious to get their negroes into the service, doubtless from 
sinister motives. 

“ The officers are liberally paid, and live in a style of con¬ 
siderable elegance, which a stranger would not be led to 
expect in so remote a place. Our tables were daily covered 
with a profusion of excellent viands, served up on fine Wedge- 
wood ware, and the state of their household generally corre¬ 
sponded with this essential part of it. They were ever ready 
to assist me in my examination of the works, and freely gave 
me all the necessary information respecting them 

“ Having detailed the process of washing for diamonds, I 
proceed to a general description of the situation in which they 
are found. The flat pieces of ground on each side the river are 
equally rich throughout their extent, and hence the officers 
are enabled to calculate the value of an unworked place, by 
comparison with the amount found on working with the part 
adjoining. These known places are left in reserve, and trial 
is made of more uncertain grounds. The following observa¬ 
tion I often heard from the intendant: ‘ That piece of ground 
(speaking of an unworked flat by the side of the river) will 
yield me ten thousand carats of .diamonds, whenever we shall 
be required to get them in the regular course of working, or 
when, on any particular occasion, an order from government 
arrives, demanding an extraordinary and immediate supply/ 
The substances accompanying diamonds, and considered 
good indications of them, are bright bean-like iron ore, a 
slaty flint-like substance, approaching Lydian stone, of fine 
texture, black oxide of iron in great quantities, rounded bits 
of blue quartz, yellow crystals, and other materials entirely 
different Irom anything known to be produced in the adjacent 
mountains. Diamonds are by no means peculiar to the beds 
of liveis or deep ravines; they have been found in cavities 
and watercourses on the summits of the most lofty mountains. 
I had some conversation with the officers, respectin°' the 
matrix of the diamond, not a vestige of which could I trace. 
1 hey infoimed me, that they often found diamonds cemented 
n pudding-stone, accompanied with grains of gold, but that 
they always bioke them out, as they could not enter them in 
the treasury, or weigh them with matter adhering to them 


Nf l JN Ii S O F F E Ft U . 


465 

I obtained a mass of pudding-stone, apparently of very lecent 
formation, cemented by ferruginous matter enveloping many 
grains of gold ; and likewise a few pounds weight of the 
cascalhao in its unwashed state. This river, and other streams 
in its vicinity, have been in washing many years, and have 
produced great quantities of diamonds, which have ever been 
reputed ot the finest quality. They vary in size: some are so 
small that four or five are required to weigh one grain, con¬ 
sequently sixteen or twenty to the carat: there are seldom 
found more than two or three stones of from seventeen to 
twenty carats in the course of a year, and not once in two 
years is there found throughout the whole washings a stone 
of thirty carats. During the five days I was here, they were 
not very successful; the whole quantity found amounted 
only to forty, the largest of which was only four carats, and 
of a 1 ig'ht green colour. 

“ From the great quantity of debris, or worked cascalhao, 
in every part near the river, it is reasonable to calculate that 
the works have been in operation above forty years; of course 
there must arrive a period at which they will be ex¬ 
hausted, but there are grounds in the neighbourhood, particu¬ 
larly in the Cerro de St. Antonio, and in the country now 
inhabited by the Indians, which will probably afford these 
gems in equal abundance.” 

The M ines of Peru. —There are great numbers of verv 
rich mines which the waters of the ocean have invaded. 
The disposition of the ground, which from the summit of the 
Cordilleras goes continually shelving to the South Sea, ren¬ 
ders such events more common at Peru than in other places. 
This has been in some instances remedied. Joseph Salcedo, 
about 1660, discovered, near Puna, the mine of Laycacoto. It 
was so rich that they often cut the silver with a chisel. It 
was at last overflowed with water; but in 1740, Diego de 
Bacua associated with others to divert the springs. The 
labours which this difficult undertaking required, were not 
finished till 1754. The mine yields as much as it did at first. 
But mines still richer have been discovered ; such as that of 
Potosi, which was found in the same country where the Incas 
worked that of Parco. An Indian,^.named Hualpa, in 1545, 
pursuing some deer, in order to climb certain steep rocks, laid 
hold of a bush, the roots of which loosened from the earth, 
and brought to view an ingot of silver. The indian had 
recourse to it for his own use. The change in his fortune 
was remarked by one of his countrymen, and he discovered to 
him the secret. The two friends could not keep their counsel, 
and enjoy their good fortune. They quarrelled ; on which 
the indiscreet confidant discovered the whole to his master, 
20. 3 N 


466 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MINES. 

Villaroel, a Spaniard. Upon this the mine was worked, and 
a great number of others were found in its vicinity, the prin¬ 
cipal of which are in the northern part of the mountain, and 
their direction is from north to south. The fame of Potosi 
soon spread abroad; and there was quickly built at the foot 
of the mountain a town, consisting of 60,000 Indians, and 
10,000 Spaniards. The sterility of the soil did not prevent 
its being immediately peopled. Corn, fruit, flocks, American 
stuffs, and European luxuries, arrived from every quarter. In 
1738 these mines produced annually near £978,000, without 
reckoning the silver which was not registered, and what had 
been carried off by fraud. From that time the produce has been 
so much diminished, that not above one-eighth part of the coin 
which was formerly struck, is now made. At all the mines of 
Peru, the Spaniards, in purifying their gold and silver, use 
mercury, with which they are supplied from Guanca Velica. 
The common opinion is, that this mine was discovered in 
1564. The trade of mercury was then free; it became 
an exclusive trade in 1571. At this period all the mines of 
mercury were shut; and that of Guanca Velica alone was 
worked ; the property of which the king reserved to him¬ 
self. It is not found to diminish. The mine is dug in the 
very large mountain of Potosi, sixty leagues from Lima. In 
its profound abyss are seen streets, squares, and a chapel, 
where the mysteries of religion on all festivals are celebrated. 
Millions of flambeaus are continually kept to enlighten it 
The mine of Guanca Velica generally affects those who work 
in it with convulsions ; and the other mines, which are not 
less unhealthy, are all worked by the Peruvians. These 
unfortunate victims of an insatiable avarice are crowded all 
together, and plunged naked into these abysses, the greatest 
part of which are deep, and all excessively cold. Tyranny 
has invented this refinement in cruelty, to render it impossible 
for any thing to escape its restless vigilance. If there are 
any wretches who long survive such barbarity, it is the use of 
cocoa that preserves them. 

We shall incorporate in this chapter,the following interesting 
account of Volcanic Eruptions of Mud and Salt, ir 
the Island of Java; by T. S. Goad, Esq. of the Honourable 
Company’s Bengal Civil Service. 

“ Having received (says the writer) an extraordinary account 
of a natural phenomenon in the plains of Grobogan, fifty pals 
(or miles) north-east of Solo, a party, of which I was one, 
set off from Solo on the eighth of September, 1815, to ex¬ 
amine it. 

** On approaching the village of Kuhoo, we saw, between 
two trees in a plain, an appearance like the surf breaking over 


VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS OF MUD AND SALT. 467 

rocks, with a strong spray falling to leeward. The spot was 
completely surrounded by huts, for the manufacture of salt, 
and at a distance looked like a large village. Alighting, we 
went to the Bludugs, as the Javanese call them. They are 
situated in the village of Kuhoo, and by Europeans are called 
. ^ found them t^^ be on an elevated plain of 

mud, about two miles in circumference, in the centre of which 
immense bodies of salt mud were thrown up, to the height of 
from ten to fifteen feet, in the form of large globes, which, 
bursting, emitted volumes of dense white smoke. These 
large globes or bubbles, of which there were two, continued 
throwing up, and bursting seven or eight times in a minute 
At times they throw up two or three tons of mud. We got to 
leeward of the smoke, and found it to smell like the wash 
ing of a gun-barrel. 

“As the globes burst, they threw the mud out from the 
centre with a pretty loud noise, occasioned by the falling of 
the mud upon that which surrounded it, and of which the 
plain is composed. It was difficult and dangerous to approach 
the large globes or bubbles, as the ground was all a quagmire, 
except where the surface of the mud had become hardened 
by the sun ; upon this we approached cautiously to within 
fifty yards of the largest bubble, or mud pudding, as it might 
very properly be called, for it was of the consistency ofacustard- 
pudding, and of very considerable diameter: here and there, 
where the foot accidentally rested on a spot not sufficiently 
hardened, it sunk, to the no small distress of the walker. 

“ We also got close to a small globe or bubble, (the plain 
being full of them of different sizes,) and observed it closely for 
some time. It appeared to heave and swell, and when the 
internal air had raised it to some height, it burst, and fell 
down in concentric circles, in which shape it remained quiet 
until a sufficient quantity of air was again formed internally, 
to raise and burst another bubble. This continued at intervals 
from about one-half to two minutes. From varioirs other 
parts of the quagmire round the large globes or bubbles, there 
were occasionally small quantities of mud shot up like rockets 
to the height of twenty or thirty feet, and accompanied by 
smoke. This was in parts where the mud was of too stiff a 
consistency to rise in globes or bubbles. The mud at all the 
places we came near was cold on the surface, but we were 
told it was warm beneath. The water which drains from the 
mud is collected by the Javanese, and by being exposed in 
the hollows of split bamboos to the rays of the sun, deposits 
crystals of salt. The salt thus made is reserved exclusively 
for the Emperor of Solo. In dry weather it yields thirty 
dudjins , of one hundred caities each, every month; but in wet 
or cloudy weather, less. 


468 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MINES. 

•« Jn the afternoon we rode to a place in a forest, called Ram 
sam, to view a salt lake, a mud hillock, and vaiious boiling, 
or rather bubbling, pools. The lake was about half a mile in 
circumference, of a dirty looking water, boiling up all over 
in gurgling bodies, but more particularly in the centre, which 
appeared like a strong spring; the water was quite cold, and 
tasted bitter, salt, and sour, and had an offensive smell. 
About thirty yards from the lake stood the mud hillock, which 
was about fifteen feet high from the level of the earth. The 
diameter of its base was about twenty-five yards, its top 
about eight feet, and in form an exact cone. The top is open, 
and the interior keeps constantly working, and heaving up 
mud in globular forms, like the Bludugs. lhe hillock is en¬ 
tirely formed of mud which has flowed out of the top ; every 
rise of the mud was accompanied by a rumbling noise from 
the bottom of the hillock, which was distinctly heard for some 
seconds before the bubbles burst. The outside of the hillock 
was quite firm. We stood on the edge of the opening and 
sounded it, and found it to be eleven fathoms deep. The mud 
was more liquid than at the Bludugs, and no smoke was 
emitted from the lake, hillock, or pools. 

“ Close to the foot of the hillock was a small pool of the same 
water as the lake, which appeared exactly like a pot of water 
boiling violently; it was shallow, except in the centre, into 
which we thrust a stick twelve feet long, but found no bottom. 
The hole not being perpendicular, we could not sound it with 
a line. 

“ About 200 yards from the lake, were several large pools or 
springs, two of which were eight or ten feet in diameter. They 
were like the small pool, but boiled more violently, and smelt 
excessively. The ground around them was hot to the feet, and 
the air which issued from them quite hot, so that it was most 
probably inflammable ; but we did not ascertain this. We 
heard the boiling at the distance of thirty yards from the pools, 
resembling in noise a waterfall. The pools did not overflow ; 
of course the bubbling was occasioned by the rising of air 
alone. The water of one of the pools appeared to contain a 
mixture of earth and lime, and, from the taste, to be combined 
with alkali. The water of the Bludugs and the lake is used 
medicinally by the Javanese, and cattle drinking of the water 
are poisoned. 

Now follows an account of Pitch-Wells; from Dr. Hol¬ 
land’s Travels in the Ionian Isles, &.c.—“ The pitch-wells of 
/ante are a natural phenomenon, which may be regarded as 
among the antiquities of the isle ; since they were known and 
described as early as the time of Herodotus, and are men 
tioned since by Pausanias, Pliny, and other authors They 


VISIT TO A COAL-PIT. 


469 


are situated about ten miles from the city, and near the shore 
of the bay, on the southern side of the island. We visited 
this spot, which is called Chieri, a day or two after our arri¬ 
val in Zante. A small tract of marshy ground, stretching down 
to the sea, and surrounded on other sides by low eminences 
of limestone, or a bituminous shale, is the immediate situation 
of the springs ; they are found in three or four different places 
of the morass, appearing as small pools, the sides and bottom 
of which are thickly lined with petroleum, in a viscid state, 
and, by agitation, easily raised in large flakes to the surface. 
The most remarkable of these pools is one of a circular form, 
about fifty feet in circumference, and a few feet in depth, in 
which the petroleum has accumulated to a considerable quan¬ 
tity. The water of the spring, which is doubtless the means 
of conveying the mineral upwards to the surface, forms a small 
stream from the pool, sensibly impregnated with bituminous 
matter, which it deposits in parts as it flows through the 
morass : the other pools are of similar character. The petro¬ 
leum is collected generally once in the year; and the average 
quantity obtained from the springs is said to be about 100 
barrels ; it is chiefly used for the caulking of vessels, not 
being found to answer equally well for cordage.” 

We close this chapter with Mrs. Wakefield’s account of her 
Visit to a Coal-Pit. —“Near the town of Newcastle, in the 
county of Northumberland, are vast beds of coal, which lie 
~ far beneath the surface of the earth : they are often found at 
the depth of 100 feet. Our visit to one of them was rather a 
droll adventure. The first ceremony was, to put on a kind of 
frock that covered us all over, to prevent spoiling our clothes. 
We were then shewn a prodigious steam-engine at work, at 
the mouth of the pit, in order to drain off the water; and 

close to it, a ventilator for purifying the air in the pit. Our 

guides now seated us on a piece of board, slung in a rope like 
the seat of a swing, and hooked to an iron chain, which was 
let gently down the suffocating hole by the assistance of six 
horses. I must confess, I did not like this mode of travelling: 
my spirits were, however, rather cheered when I reached the 
solid bottom, and saw my friend at my side. He congratu¬ 
lated me on my safe arrival; and pointed to a huge fire, 

burning for the purpose of keeping the air in proper tempera¬ 
ture. Gaining courage by a nearer examination, I walked 
about the chambers with as much ease as if they had been the 
apartments of a dwelling-house. The coal is hollowed out in 
spaces of four yards wide, between which are left pillars of 
coal to support the roof, ten yards broad, and twenty deep. 
After exploring a dozen or two of these little apartments, our 
curiosity was satisfied, as there was nothing more to be seen 


470 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING MINES. 

but a repetition of the same objects to a vast extent. A num* 
oer of horses live here for years together, and seem to enjoy 
themselves very comfortably: they are employed to draw the 
coal from the subterraneous passages to the bottom of the 
opening of the pit. The machine which raises the coal’to the 
surface of the earth, is worked by stout horses. The coal 
is brought in strong baskets, made of osier; they contain 
each 12 cwt. and while one ascends, the other descends. A 
man receives these baskets as they arrive at the top, and 
places them on a dray, having hooked an empty basket on, 
instead of the full one. Before he drives the dray to a shed at 
a little distance, where he empties his load, the dust passes 
through holes prepared to receive it; while the large coals 
roll down the declivity in heaps, where they are loaded in 
waggons, and carried to wharfs on the river side, to be put 
on board the vessels that wait to convey them to distant parts. 
The waggons, very heavily laden, run without horses to the 
water side, along a road ingeniously formed in a sloping direc¬ 
tion, with grooves to fit the waggon wheels, and make them 
go more readily. The dust, which is too small for common 
fires, is put into a kiln well heated, and when it is burnt, the 
particles unite, and run into large cakes or masses : in that 
state it is called coke, and this substance is used in many 
manufactories, where a strong heat is required. 

“ There are also coal-mines in several other parts of England 
Near Whitehaven, in the county of Cumberland, are some 
that extend half a mile under the sea. The collieries employ a 
great number of hardy sailors, who, in their frequent coasting- 
voyages, are accustomed to face all the dangers of a sea-life. 
In time of war they contribute to man our navy; and, from 
their courage and skill, form a very valuable part of th« 
crews.” 


OBSERVATIONS ON THE SEA. 


471 


CHAP XLIV. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE SEA . 

General Observations respecting the Sea, or Ocean —P articular 
Curiosities oj the Sea—On the Salt?iess of the Sea — On the 
Tides — Waves stilled by Oil. 

u -And thou, majestic main, 

A seoret world of wonders in thyself! 

Sound His stupendous praise, whose greater voice 
Or bids you roar, or bids your roaring fall!” 

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS RESPECTING THE SEA, OR OCEAN. 

Th e sea, or ocean, is that vast tract of water which encom¬ 
passes the whole earth. What proportion the superficies of 
the sea bears to that of the land, is not precisely known, 
though it is said to be somewhat more than two-thirds. As 
the waters of the earth must necessarily rise to the surface 
thereof, it being specifically lighter than the earth, it was 
necessary there should be large cavities therein, as receptacles 
to contain them, otherwise they would have overspread all the 
surface of the earth, and so have rendered it utterly uninhabit¬ 
able for terrestrial animals : it is well known, that the centre 
of the earth is the common centre of gravity, and that the 
nature of fluids is such, that they equally yield to equal powers; 
hence it follows, that where the power of attraction is every 
where the same at equal distances from the centre, the super¬ 
ficial parts of the water will every where conform themselves 
to this attractive power, at an equidistant situation from the 
centre, and, it is evident, will form the surface of a sphere, so 
far as they extend. The reason then that the sea seems higher 
than the land, results from the fallacy of vision, whereby 
all objects, whether on the land or sea, appear higher as they 
become more distant: and the reason will be plain to those 
who are acquainted with optics ; for it is well known, that 
the denser any medium is, through which we behold objects, 
the greater is the refraction, or the more their images appear 
above the horizontal level; while the greater the quantity of 
medium through which the rays pass, the more they will be bent 
from their first direction : on both these accounts, the appear¬ 
ances of things at a great distance, both on the land and the 
sea, will be somewhat above the horizon, and the more so as 
they are the more remote. 

With regard to the depth or profundity of the sea, Vare- 
nius affirms, that it is in some places unfathomable, in other 



CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE SEA. 


472 

places very various, being from fifty yards to four and a half 
English miles, in some places deeper, and that the depth 
is much less in bays than in oceans. In general, the depths 
of the sea bear a great analogy to the height of mountains on 
the land, so far as discoveries have hitherto extended. It is 
a general rule among sailors, and is found to hold true in 
many instances, that the more the shores of any place are 
steep and high, forming perpendicular cliffs, the deeper the 
sea is below; and that, on the contrary, level shores denote 
shallow waters. Thus, the deepest pari of the Mediterranean 
is generally allowed to be under the heights of Malta. And 
the observation of the strata of earth and other fossils, on 
and near the shores, may serve to form a good judgment as 
to the materials to be found in th^ bottom of the sea; for the 
veins of salt and bitumen doubtless run on in the same 
order as we see them on the shore. If we may reason from 
analogy, the strata of rocks, that serve as a foundation for hills 
and elevated places on shore, serve also, in the same continued 
chain, to support the immense quantity of water in the basin 
of the sea. 

The coral fisheries have given occasion to observe, that there 
are many, and those very large caverns or hollows in the 
bottom of the sea, especially where it is rocky, and that the 
like caverns are sometimes found in the perpendicular rocks 
which form the steep sides of those fisheries. These caverns 
are often of great depth as well as extent, and have some¬ 
times wide mouths, and sometimes only narrow entrances, into 
large and spacious hollows. 

The bottom of the sea is covered with a variety of materials, 
such as could not be imagined by any but those who have 
examined into them, especially in deep water, where the sur¬ 
face only is disturbed by tides and storms; the lower part, 
and consequently its bed at the bottom, remaining, for ages 
perhaps, undisturbed. The soundings, when the plummet first 
touches the ground, on approaching the shores, give some 
idea of this. The bottom of the plummet is hollowed, and in 
that hollow there is placed a lump of tallow, which is the 
first part that touches the ground ; and the soft nature of the fat 
receives into it some part of those substances which it meets 
with at the bottom: the substances thus brought up, are 
sometimes pure sand, sometimes a kind of sand made of the 
fragments of shells beaten to a sort of powder, sometimes 
they are composed of a like powder to the several sorts of 
corals, and sometimes they are composed of fragments of 
rocks; but besides these appearances, which are natural enough, 
and are what might well be expected, it brings up substances 
which are of the most beautiful colours. 

Dr. Donati, in an Italian work, containing an essay on a 


GENERAL OBSERVATION*. 


473 


natural history of the Adriatic Sea, has related many curious 
observations on this subject: having carefully examined the 
soil and productions of the various countries that surround 
the Adriatic Sea, and compared them with those which he 
took up from the bottom of the sea, he found that there was 
verv little difference between the former and the latter. At 
the bottom of the water there are mountains, plains, valleys, 
and caverns, similar to those upon land. The soil consists of 
different strata, placed one upon another, and mostly parallel 
and correspondent to those of the rocks, islands, and neigh¬ 
bouring continents. They contain stones of different sorts, 
minerals, metals, various petrified bodies, pumice stones, and 
lavas formed by volcanoes. One of the objects which most 
excited his attention, was a crust, which he discovered under 
the water, composed of crustaceous and testaceous bodies, 
with beds of polypes of different kinds, confusedly blended 
with earth, sand, and gravel: the different marine bodies, 
which form this crust, are found at the depth of a foot or 
more, entirely petrified, and reduced into marble; these, he 
supposes, are the natural beds of the sea, and not made so 
by means of volcanoes and earthquakes, as some have con¬ 
jectured. On this account, he imagines that the bottom of 
the sea is constantly rising higher and higher, with which 
other obvious causes of increase concur; and from this rising 
of the bottom of the sea, that of its level or surface naturally 
results ; in proof of which, this writer recites a great number 
of facts. 

M. Dassie has been at great pains to prove, that the sea 
has a general motion, independently of winds and tides, and 
that it is of more consequence in navigation than is generally 
supposed. He affirms, that this motion is from east to west; 
inclining towards the north, when the sun has passed the 
equinoctial northward, during the time he is passing through 
the northern signs; but the contrary way, after the sun has 
passed the said equinoctial southward : adding, that when 
this general motion is changed, the diurnal flux is changed 
also; whence it happens, that in several places the tides come 
in during one part of the year, and go out during the other, 
as on the coasts of Norway, in the Indies at Goa, Cochin- 
china, Sec. where, while the sun is in the summer signs, the 
sea runs to the shore ; and when in the winter signs, runs 
from it. On the most southern coasts of Tonquin and China, 
for the six summer months, the diurnal course runs from the 
north with the ocean ; but the sun having repassed the line 
toward the south, the course declines also southward. 

There are two principal reasons why the sea does not in¬ 
crease by means of rivers, &c. falling every where into it. 
The first is, because waters return from the sea by subterranean 

3 O 


474 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE SEA. 


cavities and aqueducts, through various parts of the eartn. 
Secondly, because the quantity of vapours raised from the 
sea, and falling on the land, only cause a circulation, but no 
increase of water. It has been found, by calculation, that in 
a summer’s day there may be raised in vapours, from the 
Mediterranean Sea, 5,280,000,000 tons of water, and yet this sea 
receiveth not, from all its nine great rivers, above 1,827,000,000 
tons per day, which is but a third part of what is exhausted 
in vapours. 

The ascent of the sea for the formation of springs, by a sub¬ 
terranean circulation of its water to their sources, has been a 
great objection, with many, against the system which ascribes 
their origin to the ocean; but Dr. Plot has observed, that 
there are many ways by which the water may ascend above 
its own level: 1. By the means of subterranean heat. 
2. By filtration. 3. By the unequal height of several seas. 
4. By the distance of the centre of magnitude from the centre 
of gravity in the terraqueous globe; the superficies of the 
Pacific Sea being said to be further from the centre of gravity 
than the top of the highest hill on the adverse part of the 
globe. And, 5. By the help of storms. The sea water ac¬ 
tually ascends above its own level, and finds its way into wells, 
whose bottoms lie higher than the surface of the sea at high- 
water mark. 

We shall now enter more particularly on The Curiosities 
of the Sea. —For the following observations we are prin¬ 
cipally indebted to Sturm. 

“ Instead of regarding the sea as an object of terror, let us 
consider the wonders and the benefits which it presents to us. 
It must be granted that when the waves swell into mountains, 
and the tempest roars, its aspect is terrific; and we must be 
hardy indeed, not to consider it as a most formidable element 
in such times of awful visitation, when ships, breaking from 
their anchor, or driven from their course, rush before the winds 
that beat upon them with ungovernable fury, till, dismasted, 
and their rigging shivered in fragments, they sink, over¬ 
whelmed with a weight of waters, or strike some sand-bank, 
oi shelving rock, and are at once dashed to pieces. Some¬ 
times whirlpools, or vast masses of water with a violently 
circu.ar motion, whirl the unfortunate vessel that fate urge's 
into their vortex, with irresistible force, till the helpless victim 
sinks an easy prey to the tremendous gulf, and the cries of 
the unfortunate wretches are lost in the roar of the waves: 
these whirlpools are occasioned by rocks in the ocean, and 
the meeting of numerous currents and eddies. Not less 
dangerous are the waterspouts, that the wind raises from the 
#ea to the clouds; they hover in the air high above the ocear., 


GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 


475 


and the wind whirls them round with violence. They often 
burst with a great crash, and occasion much mischief; for if 
they fall upon a vessel, they destroy its rigging, and some¬ 
times sink it to the bottom. 

'' But it would be highly unjust and ungrateful, only tocon- 
sider the losses occasioned by the sea, without reflecting upon 
the magnificent and stupendous works of God, and that 
goodness which even visits the unfathomable depths of the 
ocean. The first thing that strikes us, upon the investigation 
of sea water, is its saltness ; a pound of the water containing 
about two ounces of salt. Sea salt appears lighter than that 
we commonly use, and yet it is not attracted by the air, noi 
lessened by the continual influx of fresh water; the cause of 
this is unknown. If this peculiar quality arose from moun¬ 
tains of salt contained in the sea, it would be salter in some 
places than in others, of which we have no proof. But what¬ 
ever is the occasion of this saline property of the sea, it is 
absolutely necessary to accomplish certain ends. It is that 
which preserves such a vast body of water from corruption, 
and renders it capable of supporting a greater weight. The 
colour of sea water is also deserving of attention : it is not 
every where alike, which perhaps arises in part from its re¬ 
flecting the colour of the bottom and that of the sky. It 
often appears dark and black in deep abysses, white and 
foaming during a storm, silvery, and gilded with reflections of 
the most beautiful hue, when the last rays of the setting sun 
play upon the unruffled surface : the colour of the sea, in 
addition to these, varies, from numberless insects, marine 
plants, and the combination of the different substances which 
the rivers and torrents carry with them into the ocean. When 
it is calm, and not a breeze skims over its bosom, it some¬ 
times glitters with the most brilliant stars; and the track of a 
ship cleaving the waves has often a luminous appearance, like 
a river of fire. 

“ The creatures which inhabit the sea excite our surprise and 
admiration ; we there discover a new world, and the number 
of beings which compose it is prodigious. Aquatic animals 
are not so numerous in their species as the land animals; but 
they surpass them in size and duration. The elephant and 
ostrich yield in bulk to the whale, the largest fish of the ocean, 
its length being often from sixty to seventy feet; and no land 
animal can vie with it in longevity, for it lives as long as the 
oak. If we may rely upon certain accounts, there are crea¬ 
tures in the ocean, far exceeding the size of the whale; as the 
animal called kraken, said to exist in the northern seas, and 
whose circumference is half a German league. Who is able 
to number the different species of animals which people the 
seas? or who can determine their form, structure, size, and 


476 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE SEA. 

propert^s? How infinitely great is that God who has created 
the sea! will be the conclusion of all who investigate the 
subject, and it is not without the wisest reasons that the 
Creator has made the ocean and the seas to occupy two-thirds 
of the whole globe. The seas were designed not only to form 
great reservoirs of water, but by means of their evaporation to be 
the sources of rain, snow, and various meteors. What wis¬ 
dom is displayed in the connection which the seas have with 
each other, and in their continual motion ! And it is not less 
wonderful that the bottom of the ocean is of the same nature 
as the surface of the earth. There are found in the sea, rocks, 
caverns,, plains, springs, plants, and animals; and the islands 
are only the summits of a long chain of mountains. When 
we consider that the seas form a part of the globe the least 
investigated, we are disposed to believe that they contain 
many more wonders, which neither the senses nor the under¬ 
standing of man can penetrate, while all acknowledge the 
adorable wisdom and power of the Most High. To Him then, 
who has established the monuments of his grandeur and the 
sceptre of his glory in the ocean, as upon the earth, be ascribed 
all admiration and praise!” 

The following opinions of a late celebrated philosopher and 
divine, on the Saltness of the Sea, may not be unac¬ 
ceptable to our readers :—“ There are few questions, (observes 
Bishop Watson,) respecting the natural history of our globe, 
which have been discussed with more attention, or decided 
with less satisfaction, than that concerning the primary cause 
of the saltness of the sea. The solution of it had perplexed 
the philosophers before the time of Aristotle ; it surpassed 
his own great genius ; and those of his followers, who have 
attempted to support his arguments, have been betrayed into 
very ill-grounded conclusions concerning it. Father Kircher, 
after having consulted three and thirty authors upon the sub¬ 
ject, could not help remarking, that the fluctuations of the 
ocean itself were scarcely more various than the opinions of 
men concerning the origin of its saline impregnation. The 
question does not seem capable of admitting an illustration 
from experiment; at least no experiments have hitherto been 
made for that purpose, and therefore we may be the less sur¬ 
prised at its remaining nearly as problematical in the present 
age, as it has been in the preceding. Had there, indeed, 
been any observation made three or four centuries ago, ascer¬ 
taining the saltness of the sea at any particular time and place ; 
we might, by similar observations at the same place and 
the same season, have been able to know whether the salt¬ 
ness at that particular place was an increasing, decreasing, or 
an invariable quantity; and this kind and degree of know* 


SALTNESS OF THE SEA. 


477 


ledge would have served as a clue to direct us to a full inves¬ 
tigation of this matter in general; but it is to be regretted, 
that no such observations have, till very lately, been made 
with any tolerable precision.—There are three principal opi¬ 
nions on this subject, which have been maintained by philo¬ 
sophers ot modern date; some, observing that river water, 
almost in every part of the globe, is in a greater or less 
degree impregnated with sea salt, have thought that the sea 
has gradually acquired its present quality of salt from the 
long-continued influx of rivers. 

Other philosophers, observing that large beds of fossil 
salt are not unfrequent in any quarter of the globe ; and con¬ 
ceiving, with great probability, the bottom of the sea to be 
analogous in its formation to the surface of the earth, have 
undertaken to derive its saltness from the beds of rock salt, 
which they have supposed to be situated at its bottom ; and 
they are further of opinion, that without such a permanent 
saline principle, the sea would long since have become insipid 
from the fresh water poured into it by an infinity of rivers. 
Strange ! that what, according to the fore-mentioned hypo¬ 
thesis, was thought sufficient to account for the saltness of 
the sea, should in this be esteemed instrumental in annihilat¬ 
ing the saltness already supposed to exist. 

Boyle unites, as it were, and takes the two preceding 
hypotheses, and imagines the saltness of the sea to be sup¬ 
plied, not only from rocks and other masses of salt, which at the 
beginning were, and in some countries may yet be found, either 
at the bottom of the sea, or at the sides, where the water can 
reach them, but also from the salt which the rivers, rains, and 
other waters, dissolve in their passage through divers parts of 
the earth, and at length carry with them into the sea. Buffon, 
and the generality of philosophers, acquiesce in the opinion of 
Boyle.—“ After all,(says he,) it maybe observed, that we are in¬ 
quiring into the cause of a phenomenon, which it may be said 
had no secondary cause at all. It is taken for granted, in this 
disquisition, that the water which covered the globe in its 
chaotic state, was not impregnated with salt as at present, but 
quite fresh : now this is an opinion concerning a matter of fact, 
which can never be proved either way ; and surely we extend 
our speculations very far, when we attempt to explain a phe¬ 
nomenon, primeval to, or coeval with, the formation of the 
earth.” 

This sensible writer then states the different experiments 
which have been made to discover the saltness of the sea, 
round the shores of Britain; and proposes the following 
simple method of ascertaining it with tolerable certainty :— 

“ As it is not every person who can make himself expert in 
he use of common means of estimating the quantity of salt 


478 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE SEA. 

contained in sea water, I will mention a method of doing it, 
which is so easy and simple, that every common sailor may 
understand and practise it; and which, at the same time, 
from the trials I have made of it, seems to be as exact a 
method as any that has yet been thought of.—Take a 
clean towel, or any other piece of cloth ; dry it well before the 
sun or before the fire, then weigh it accurately, and note 
down its weight; dip it in the sea water, and, when taken out, 
wring it a little till it will not drip when hungup to dry; 
weigh it in this wet state, then dry it in the sun or at the fire, 
and when it is perfectly dry, weigh it again : the excess of 
the weight of the wetted cloth above its original weight, is 
the weight of the sea water imbibed by the cloth; and the 
excess of the weight of the cloth after being dried, above its 
original weight, is the specific gravity of the salt retained by 
the cloth; and by comparing this weight with the weight of 
the sea water imbibed by the cloth, we obtain the proportion 
of salt contained in that species of sea water.” 

Whoever undertakes to ascertain the quantity of salt con¬ 
tained in sea water, either by this or any other method, would 
do well to observe the state of the weather preceding the time 
when the sea water is taken out of the sea; for the quantity 
of salt contained in the water near the surface, may be in¬ 
fluenced, both by the antecedent moisture, and the antecedent 
heat of the atmosphere. And this leads to the consideration 
of a question proposed by Aristotle,—Why are the upper parts 
of the sea salter and warmer than the lower? Some philoso¬ 
phers, admitting the fact, have followed him in attempting to 
explain it; whilst others have thought themselves authorized 
by experiment to deny the truth of the position ; and those, 
perhaps, will argue with the greatest justness, who shall 
affirm that it is neither generally to be admitted, nor generally 
to be rejected, but that the sea in some places, and under 
certain circumstances, is salter and warmer at the surface, than 
at any considerable depth beneath it, while in many others 
the reverse is true. The question consists of two parts, be¬ 
twixt which, though there probably is a connection, yet it is 
not so necessary a one as to hinder us from considering each 
part by itself. 

With regard to the use of this salt property of sea water, 
it is observed, that the saltness of the sea preserves its waters 
pure and sweet, which otherwise would corrupt, and emit a 
stench like a filthy lake, and consequently that none of the 
myriads of creatures which now live therein could exist. From 
thence also the sea water becomes much heavier, and therefore 
ships of greater size and burden are safely borne thereon* 
Salt water also does not freeze so soon as fresh water, hence 
the seas are more free for navigation 


THE TIDES. 


479 


We shall now make a few observations on The Tides:— 

Say, why should the collected main 
Itself within itself contain? 

Why to its caverns should it sometimes cree 
And with delighted silence sleep 
On the lov’d bosom of its parent deep ? 

Why should its num’rous waters stay 
In comely discipline and fair array. 

Till winds and tides exert their high commands? 

Then prompt and ready to obey, 

Why do the rising surges spread 
Their op’ning ranks o’er earth’s submissive head, 

Marching through different paths to different lands ? Prior. 

The tides consist of two periodical motions of the waters of 
the sea, called the flux and reflux, or the flow and ebb. The 
cause of the tides is the attraction of the sun and moon, but 
chiefly of the latter; the waters of the immense ocean, forget¬ 
ful, as it were, of their natural rest, move and roll in tides, 
obsequious to the strong attractive power of the moon, and 
weaker influence of the sun. 

That the tides may have their full motion, the ocean in 
which they are produced ought to be extended from east to 
west 90°, or a quarter of a great circle of the earth, at least; 
because the places where the moon raises most, and most 
depresses the water, are at that distance from one another. 
Hence it appears, that it is only in the great oceans that such 
tides can be produced, and why, in the large Pacific ocean, 
they exceed those in the Atlantic. From this it is also 
obvious why the tides are not so great in the torrid zone, 
between Africa and America, where the ocean is narrower, as 
in the temperate zones on either side; and from this also, 
we may understand why the tides are so small in islands that 
are very far distant from the shore. It is manifest, that, in 
the Atlantic ocean, the water cannot rise on one shore, but by 
descending on the other; so that, on these shores, at an inter¬ 
mediate distance, it must continue at about a mean height 
between its elevation on the one, and descent on the other 
shore. As the tides pass over shoals, and run through 
streights into bays of the sea, their motion becomes more 
various, and their height depends on a great many circum¬ 
stances. The tide that is produced in the western coast of 
Europe corresponds to the theory above described : thus, it 
is high water on the coast of Spain, Portugal, and the west of 
Ireland, about the third hour after the moon has passed the 
meridian; from thence it flows into the adjacent channels, as 
it finds the easiest passage. One current from it, for example, 
runs up by the south of England, and another comes in by 
the north of Scotland : they take a considerable time to move 
all this way and it is high water sooner in the places to 


480 


CURIOSITIES RESTECliNG THE SEA. 


which they first come; and the tides even begin to fall at 
those places, while the two currents are yet going on to 
others that are further in their course. As they return, they 
are not able to raise a tide; because the water runs faster off 
than it returns, till by a new tide propagated from the ocean, 
the return of the current is stopped, and the water begins to 
rise again. The tide takes twelve hours to come from the 
ocean to London bridge, so that, when it is high water there 
a new tide is already come to its height in the ocean, and, in 
some intermediate place, it must be low water at the same 
time. 

In channels, therefore, and narrow seas, the progress of the 
tides may be, in some respects, compared to the motion of 
the waves of the sea. It may be observed, that when the 
tide runs over shoals, and flows upon flat shores, the water 
is raised to a greater height than in the open and deep 
oceans that'have steep banks ; because the force of its motion 
cannot be broken upon these level shores, till the water rises 
to a greater height. If a place communicates with two 
oceans, (or two different ways with the same ocean, one of 
which is a readier and easier passage than the other,) two 
tides may arrive at that place in different times, which, inter¬ 
fering with each other, may produce a greater variety of 
phenomena. 

An extraordinary instance of this kind is mentioned at 
Bathsha, a port in the kingdom of Tonquin in the East Indies, 
of northern latitude 20° 50'. The day in which the moon 
passes the equator, the water stagnates there without any 
motion: as the moon removes from the equator, the water 
begins to rise and fall once a day ; and it is high water at the 
setting of the moon, and low water at her rising. This daily 
tide increases for about seven or eight days, and then de¬ 
creases for as many days by the same degrees, till this motion 
ceases when the moon has returned to the equator. When 
she has passed the equator, and declines towards the south 
pole, the water rises and falls again, as before; but it is high 
water now at the rising, and low water at the setting, of the 
moon. 

We shall close this chapter with an account of the remark¬ 
able fact of Waves stilled by Oil.— This wonderful pro¬ 
perty, though well known to the ancients, as appears from the 
writings of Pliny, was for many ages either quite unnoticed, 
or treated as fabulous by succeeding philosophers, till Dr. 
Franklin again attracted the attention of the learned to 
this subject; though it appears, from some anecdotes, that 
seafaring people have always been acquainted with it. Mr. 
Pennant, in his British Zoology, vol. iv. under the article 


HAVES STILLED BY OIL. 


481 


deai. takes notice, that when these animals are devouring a 
very oily tisli, which they always do under water, the waves 
above are remarkably smooth; and by this the fishermen 
know where to find them. Sir Gilbert Lawson, who served 
long in the army at Gibraltar, assured Dr. Franklin, that the 
fishermen in that place are accustomed to pour a little oil on 
the sea, in order to still its motion, that they may be enabled 
to see the oysters lying at its bottom, which are there very 
large, and which they take up with a proper instrument. 
A similar practice is followed among fishermen in various 
other parts; and Dr. Franklin was informed by an old sea 
captain, that the fishermen of Lisbon, when about to return 
into the river, if they saw too great a surf upon the bar, would 
empty a bottle or two of oil into the sea, which would suppress 
the breakers, and allow them to pass freely. The Doctor 
having revolved in his mind all these pieces of information, 
became impatient to try the experiment himself. At last, 
having an opportunity of observing a large pond very rough 
with the wind, he dropped a small quantity of oil upon it. 
But having at first applied it on the lee side, the oil was 
driven back again upon the shore. He then went to the wind¬ 
ward side, and poured on about a tea-spoonful of oil; this 
produced an instant calm over a space several yards square, 
which spread amazingly, and extended itself gradually till it 
came to the lee-side ; making all that quarter of the pond, 
perhaps half an acre, as smooth as glass. This experiment 
was often repeated in different places, and was always at¬ 
tended with success. 


CHAP. XLV. 

curiosities respecting the sea.— (Concluded.) 

“-Adoring, own 

The hand Almighty, who its channel’d bed 
Immeasurable sunk, and pour’d abroad, 

Fenc’d with eternal mounds, the fluid sphere ; 

With every wind to waft large commerce on, 

Join pole to pole, consociate sever’d worlds, 

And link in bonds of intercourse and love 
Earth’s universal family.” 

ON THE PERFECTION OF NAVIGATION. 

The following account of the present wonderful perfection 
of navigation, is taken from a History of Voyages and Disco¬ 
veries made in the North ; translated from the German of John 
Reinhold Foster, LL.D.— 


3 P 



482 - CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE SEA. 

s ‘ Of all the arts and professions which have at any time 
attracted notice, none has ever appeared to be more astonish¬ 
ing and marvellous than that of navigation, in the state in 
which it is at present; an art which doubtless affords one of 
the most certain irrefragable proofs of the amazing powers of 
the human understanding. This cannot be made more evident, 
than when, taking a retrospective view of the tottering inar¬ 
tificial craft to which navigation owes its origin, we compare 
it to a noble and majestic edifice, containing 1000 men, toge- 
gether with their provisions, drink, furniture, wearing-apparel, 
and other necessaries, for many months, besides 100 pieces of 
heavy ordnance ; and bearing all this vast apparatus safely, 
and as it were on the wing's of the wind, across immense seas 
to the most distant shores. The following example may serve 
for the present to delineate at full length, as it were, the idea 
above alluded to. But first I must premise, that a huge un¬ 
wieldy log of w T ood, with the greatest difficulty, and in the 
most uncouth manner, hollow T ed out in the inside, and some¬ 
what pointed at both ends, and in this way set on a river for 
the purpose of transporting two or three persons belonging to 
one and the same family, across a piece of water a few feet 
deep, by the assistance of a pole pushed against the ground, 
cannot with any propriety be considered as the image of navi¬ 
gation in its first and earliest stage. For it seems evident to 
me, that people in the beginning only took three or four trunks 
of trees, and fastened them together, and then, by means of 
this kind of raft, got across such waters as were too deep for 
them to ford, and across which they could not well swim, 
with their children, and various kinds of goods which they 
might wish to preserve from being wet. The canoe, however, 
is a specimen of the art in a more advanced state, as this kind 
of craft is capable of having direction given to it, and even 
of so capital an improvement as that of having a sail added to 
it. For this reason I choose this vehicle for a standard, in 
preference to a mere raft, to which, imperfect as it is, it is 
so much superior. 

“ Let us, then, compare this with a large majestic floating 
edifice, the result of the ingenuity and labour of many hun¬ 
dreds of hands, and composed of a number of well-proportioned 
pieces, nicely fastened together by iron nails and bolts ; and 
rendered so tight with tow and pitch, that no water can pene¬ 
trate it. Now, in order to give motion and direction to this 
enormous machine, some astonishingly lofty pieces of timber 
have been fixed upright in it, and so many moveable cross 
pieces have been added to it, together^vith such a variety of 
pieces of strong linen cloth, for the purpose of catching the 
wind, and of receiving its impulse and propelling power that 
the number of them amounts to upwards of thirty. For chang- 


PERFECTION OF NAVIGATION 


483 

mg the direction of the yards and sails, according to particular 
circumstances, it has also been requisite to add a vast quan¬ 
tity of cordage and tackling; and nevertheless, even all this 
would not be sufficient for the perfect direction and govern¬ 
ment of the vessel, if there were not fastened to the hinder 
part of it, by means of hinges and hooks, a moveable piece 
of wood, very small indeed, in proportion to the whole machine, 
but the least inclination of which to either side is sufficient to 
give immediately a different direction to this enormously large 
mass, and that even in a storm, so that two men may direct 
and govern this swimming island with the same, or with greater 
ease, than a single man can do a boat. But if, besides, we 
consider, that, in a vessel like this, not a single piece is put 
in at random, but that every part of it has its determinate 
measure and proportion, and is fixed precisely in that place 
which is the most advantageous for it; that, throughout every 
part of it, there is distributed an astonishing quantity of blocks, 
stays, and pulleys, for the purpose of diminishing the friction, 
and of accelerating the motion of these parts ; that even the 
bellying and vaulted part of the fabric, together with its sharp 
termination underneath, are proportioned according to the 
nicest calculations, and the most accurately determined rules; 
that the length and the thickness of the masts, the size of the 
booms and yards, the length, width, and strength of the sails 
and tackling, are all in due proportion to each other, accord¬ 
ing to certain rules founded upon the principles of motion : 
when we consider all this, I say, our admiration increases 
more and more at this great masterpiece of human power and 

understanding. 

© 

“ Still, however, there are wanting a few traits to complete 
this description. A man in health consumes, in the space of 
twenty-four hours, about eight pounds of victuals and drink : 
consequently, 80001b. of provisions are required daily in such a 
ship. Now, let us suppose a ship to be fitted out for three months 
only, and we shall find that she must be laden with 720,0001b. 
of provisions. A large forty-two pounder weighs about 61001b. 
if made of brass, and about 65001b. if iron ; and generally 
there are twenty-eight or thirty of these on board a ship of 
100 guns, the weight of which, exclusive of that of their car¬ 
riages, amounts to 183,0001b.—on the second deck, thirty 
twenty-four pounders, each of which weighs about 51001b. 
and therefore altogether 153,0001b.—the weight of the 
twenty-six or twenty-eight tw'elve-pounders on the lower deck, 
amounts to about 75,4001b.—that of the fourteen six-pounders 
on the upper deck, to about 26,6001b.—besides which, on the 
round tops, there are even three-pounders and swivels. Now, 
if to this e add, that the complete charge of a forty-two 
pounder weighs about 641b. and that at least upwards of 100 


484 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE SEA. 

charges are required for each gun, we shall find this to amount 
nearly to the same weight as the guns themselves. In addi¬ 
tion to this, we must reflect, that every ship must have, by 
way of providing against exigencies, at least a second set of 
sails, cables, cordage, and tacklings, which altogether amount 
to a considerable weight. The stores, likewise, consisting of 
planks, pitch, and tow; the chests belonging to the officers 
and sailors; the surgeon’s stores, and various other articles 
requisite on a long voyage; as also the small arms, bayonets, 
swords, and pistols, are no inconsiderable load ; to which we 
must finally add the weight of the crew, which is not very 
trifling: so that one of these large ships carries at least 2162 
«ons burden, or 4,324,0001b. and at the same time is steered 
and governed with as much ease as the smallest boat. Now, 
the consideration of these circumstances alone, is sufficient to 
excite the most serious reflections in a contemplative mind; 
and yet, if such a ship sailed along the coast only, and never 
lost sight of the shore, as the navigators of old used to do, 
we might still be tempted to look upon navigation as an easy 
and trifling business. But the finding the straightest and 
shortest way over an ocean of more than sixty or eighty degrees 
in longitude, and thirty or forty in latitude; or across a track 
from 4000 to 6000 miles in extent, by day and by night, in fair 
weather or in foul; as well when the sky is overcast as when 
it is clear, and often with no other guide than the compass, 
and the being able to determine the true position of the ship 
at sea, by the height of the sun, though this latter be enve¬ 
loped in clouds, or to direct its course by the moon and stars 
with such exactness and precision, as not to make a mistake 
of the value of half a degree, or thirty miles; this at least 
shews the progress and great perfection of an art practised 
by a class of people, of whose understanding many conceited 
and supercilious landsmen have but a mean opinon, and whos® 
plain and simple manners they frequently take the liberty ct 
turning into ridicule, forgetting how much they are indebted 
to their skill and prowess. 

“ A violent storm of wind will make us tremble with fear, 
even in a strong well-built house, and in the midst of a popu¬ 
lous city; yet we have seldom or never either seen or expe¬ 
rienced the vast power of the enraged waves, when beat about 
by the winds, and dashed against each other till they seem 
transformed into froth and vapour, and the whole surface of 
the ocean presents to the eye a confused scene of immense 
watery mountains and bottomless precipices ; and yet on such 
a sea as this the true seaman, provided he has but a good 
ship, rides with calm and unshaken courage, and thinks 
himself as safe in the midst of the ocean as in the best fortified 
castle.” 


FALLS OF NIAGARA. 


4&6 


With gallant pomp and beauteous pride. 
The floating pile in harbour rode; 

Proud of her freight, the swelling tide 
Reluctant left the vessel’s side, 

And rais’d it as it flow’d. 

The waves, with eastern breezes curl’d, 
Had silver’d half the liquid plain; 

The anchors weigh’d, the sails unfurl’d, 
Serenely mov’d the wooden world, 

And stretch’d along the main. 


CHAP. XLVI. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING WATERFALLS , LAKES , 
GULFS , WHIRLPOOLS , $•<?, 

The Falls of Niagara—Lake of Killarney—Lake Solfatara — 
Whirlpool near Suderoc — Maelstrom—Gulf Stream—New 
Island starting from the Sea. 

fountains and ponds he adds, and lakes immense, 

Descending streams the winding borders fence ; 

This, deep-absorb’d, the darksome cavern laves. 

These to the ocean roll their azure waves; 

There, uncontroll’d, they meet the roaring tide. 

And dash, for verdant banks, the hoar cliff’s side. Ovid . 

Niagara is a river of the United States, which flows from 
Lake Erie, and runs by a north-west course into the south-west 
end of Lake Ontario, constituting part of the boundary be¬ 
tween the United States and Canada. It is thirty-four miles 
long, including its meanders. About twenty miles below Lake 
Erie is the great cataract, called The Falls of Niagara, 
which is justly reckoned one of the greatest natural curiosities 
in the world. These falls run from south-south-east to north- 
north-west ; and the rock of the falls crosses them, not in a 
right line, but forms a kind of figure like a hollow semicircle, 
or horse-shoe. Above the falls, in the middle of the river, is 
an island called Grand Isle, about nine hundred or one thou¬ 
sand feet long, the lower end of which is just at the perpen¬ 
dicular edge of the fall. On both sides of this island runs all 
the water that comes from the lakes of Canada; viz. Lakes 
Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie. Before the water comes 
to this island, it runs but slowly, compared with its motion 
afterwards, when it grows the most rapid in the world, run¬ 
ning with a surprising swiftness before it comes to the fall. 
It is perfectly white, and in many places is thrown high up 
into the air. At this island, the river divides into two chan 





486 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING WATERFALLS, &C. 

nels : the perpendicular descent of the north-east channel, as 
measured by Dr. M’Causlin, is one hundred and sixty-three 
feet; that of the north-west, one hundred and forty-three; and 
the breadth of the cataract and island, above a mile. 

The water that runs down on the west side is more rapid, 
flows in greater abundance, and is whiter, than that on the 
east side, and seems to outfly an arrow in swiftness. At 
the principal fall, on looking up the river, one may see that 
the water is every where exceedingly steep, almost like the 
side of a hill; but upon looking at the fall itself, it is im¬ 
possible to express the amazement it occasions. The height 
of it, as measured by mathematical instruments, is exactly 
one hundred and thirty-seven feet; and when the water is 
come to the bottom, it rebounds back to a very great height 
in the air. The noise is heard at the distance of forty-five 
miles. At fort Niagara, when they hear the noise of the fall 
more loud than ordinary, they are sure that a north-east wind 
will follow; which is the most surprising, as the fort lies 
south-west from the fall. Sometimes the fall makes a much 
greater noise than at others, and this is held for an infallible 
sign of approaching rain or bad weather. From the place 
where the water falls, there arises a great quantity of vapour, 
like very thick smoke, insomuch, that when viewed at a dis¬ 
tance, one would think that the Indians had set the forests on 
fire. These vapours rise high in the air when it is calm, but 
are dispersed by the wind when it blows hard. In September 
and October, such quantities of dead water-fowl are found 
every morning below the fall, on the shore, that the garrison 
of the fort live chiefly upon them. Besides the fowls, they 
find several sorts of dead fish, also deer, bears, and other 
animals, which have tried to cross the water above the fall: 
the larger animals are generally found broken to pieces. 
Just below, a little way from the great fall, the water is not 
rapid, but goes in circles, and whirls like a boiling pot; which 
however does not hinder the Indians going upon it in small 
canoes a fishing; but a little further, and lower, the other 
smaller falls begin. 

There is an island in the middle of the river above the fall, 
where the Indians go often to kill deer, which have tried to 
cross the river, and are driven upon it by the stream. On the 
west side of this island are some small islands or rocks of no 
consequence. The east side of the river is almost perpen¬ 
dicular, the west side more sloping. In former times, a part 
of the rock, at the fall which is on the west side of the island, 
hung over in such a manner, that the water which fell perpen¬ 
dicularly from it, left a vacancy below, so that people could 
go under between the rock and the water; but the prominent 
part some years ago broke off, and fell down. The breadth of 


LAKE OF KILLARNEY. 


487 


the great fall, as it runs in a semicircle, is reckoned to be 
about 300 feet. Below the fall, in the holes of the rocks, are 
great plenty of eels, which the Indians and French catch with 
their hands. Every day, when the sun shines, may be seen 
from ten a. m. till two p. m. below the fall, a glorious rainbow, 
and sometimes two, one within the other. The more vapours 
that float, the brighter and clearer is the rainbow. When the 
wind carries the vapours from that place, the rainbow is gone, 
but appears again as soon as new vapours arise. From the 
fall to the landing above it, where the canoes from the Lake 
Erie put ashore, (or from the fall to the upper end of the car- 
rying place,) is half a mile. Lower than this, the canoes dare 
not venture. They have often found below the fall, fragments 
of human bodies, that have unhappily been precipitated over 
the fall. The French say, that they have often thrown great 
trees into the water above, to see them carried over this pre¬ 
cipice with the vast body of water, which nothing can resist: 
these go down with surprising swiftness, but can never be 
seen afterwards ; from whence has arisen the conjecture that 
there was a bottomless abyss just under the fall. But the 
most reasonable supposition is, that, by the powerful agency 
of the water, they were broken into such diminutive frag¬ 
ments, as to render it impossible that they should ever be 
recognized for the same. The rock of the fall is composed 
of a gray limestone. 

We shall next take a view of some of the most remarkable 
lakes ; and the first we would notice, is the Lake of Kil- 
larney. —This is a beautiful lake of Ireland, in the county 
of Kerry, otherwise called Lough Lean, from its being sur¬ 
rounded by high mountains. It is divided into three parts, 
called the Lower, Middle, and Upper Lake. The northern, or 
lower lake, is six miles in length, and from three to four in 
breadth. On the side of one of the mountains is O’Sullivan’s 
Cascade, which falls into the lake with a roar that strikes the 
timid with awe. The view of this sheet of water is uncom¬ 
monly fine ; it appears as if it were descending from an arch 
of wood, which overhangs it above seventy feet in height. 
The promontory of Mucruss, which divides the upper from 
the lower lake, is quite enchanting; and a road is carried 
through the centre of its promontory, which unfolds all the 
interior beauties of the place. Among the distant mountains, 
Turk appears an object of magnificence ; while Mangerton’s 
more loftv, though less interesting summit, soa^s above the 
whole. Tim passage to the upper lake is round the extremity 
of Mucruss, which confines it on one side, and the approach¬ 
ing mountains on the other. Here is a celebrated rock, called 
the Eagle’s Nest, which produces wonderful echoes; the 


488 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING WATERFALLS, &C. 

report of a single cannon is answered by a succession of peals 
resembling the loudest thunder, and at length dies away 
among the distant mountains. The upper is four miles long, 
and from two to three broad. It is almost surrounded by 
mountains, from which descend a number of beautiful cas¬ 
cades. The islands in this lake are numerous, and afford an 
amazing variety of picturesque views. The centre lake, 
which communicates with the upper, is small in comparison 
with the other two, and cannot boast of equal variety ; but 
the shores are, in many places, indented with beautiful bays, 
surrounded by dark groves of trees. The east boundary is 
formed by the base of Mangerton, down the steep side of 
which descends a cascade, visible for 150 yards. This fall of 
water is supplied by a circular lake, near the summit of the 
mountain, called the Devil’s Punch Bowl; which, on account 
of its immense depth, and the continual overflow of water, is 
considered as one of the greatest curiosities in Killarney. One 
of the most delightful prospects which this universally admired 
lake affords, is from a rising ground near the ruined cathedral 
of Aghadoe. 

Lake Solfatara. —This lake is in the Compagna of Rome, 
near Tivoli, anciently called Albulus. It has what are called 
three floating islands, but they are only apparently so, being 
composed of bunches of sedges and bulrushes, glued together 
by the bitumen which swims on the lake, and the sulphur 
with which it is impregnated, and covered with sand and dust 
blown from the adjacent banks of the lake. These islands are 
from twelve to fifteen yards long, and the soil is strong enough 
to bear six persons, who, by a pole, may move to different 
parts of the lake. This lake has an outlet, whence its waters 
run, forming a whitish muddy stream, into the Teverone, the 
ancient Anio, emitting a vapour of a sulphureous smell as 
they flow. The ground near this rivulet, as well as on the 
banks of the lake, resounds with a hollow sound when a horse 
gallops over it. The water has also a petrifying quality, co¬ 
vering every substance that it passes over with a hard white 
stony substance. On throwing a bundle of sticks or shrubs 
into the lake, they will in a few days be covered with this 
stony crust; and this petrifying quality is even stronger in 
the rivulet that runs from it, than in the lake itself, and still 
increases till it falls into the Teverone. These small white 
incrustations that cover the pebbles in the bottom of the lake 
and rivulet, being somewhat like sugar-plums, are called 
Confections of Tivoli. Fisk abound in the Teverone above 
and below Tivoli, till it receives the petrifying water; after 
which, during the remainder of its course to the Tiber, there 
are none. 


SU DEROE.--M AELSTRO M. 


489 


Our next object of curiosity isaWmRLPOOL near Su deroe. 
—Suderoe is one of the Fero isles, situated to the north 
of Scotland. Near this place there is a remarkable whirlpool, 
occasioned by a crater sixty-one fathoms deep in the centre, 
and from fifty to fifty-five on the sides. The water forms four 
fierce circumgyrations. The point they begin at is on the 
side of a large bason, where commences a range of rocks, 
running spirally, and terminating at the verge of the crater. 
This range is extremely rugged, and covered with water, from 
the depth of twelve to eight fathoms only. It forms four 
equidistant wreaths, with a channel from thirty-five to twenty 
fathoms deep between each. On the outside, beyond that 
depth, the sea suddenly sinks to eighty and ninety. On the 
south border of the bason is a lofty rock, called Sumboe Munk, 
noted for the multitude of birds which frequent it. On one 
side the w r ater is only three or four fathoms deep, on the other 
fifteen. The danger at most times, especially in storms, is 
very great. Ships are irresistibly drawn in ; the rudder loses 
its power; and the waves beat as high as the masts; so that 
an escape is almost miraculous : yet at the reflux, in fine wea¬ 
ther, the inhabitants venture for the sake of fishing. 

Our next subject is the celebrated Maelstrom. —This is a 
very dangerous whirlpool on the coast of Norway, in the pro¬ 
vince of Nordland, and district of Lofoden, near the island of 
Moskoe, whence it also has its name of Moskoe-strom. Of 
this amazing whirlpool, Jonas Ramus gives the following 
account:—“The mountain ofHelseggen, in Lofoden, lies a 
league from the island ofVer, and betwixt these two runs that 
large and dreadful stream called Moskoe-strom, from the 
island of Moskoe, which is in the middle of it; together with 
several circumjacent isles, as Ambaaran, half a quarter of a 
league north, Iflesen, Hoeholm, Kiedholm, Suarven, and 
Buckholm. Moskoe lies about half a quarter of a mile south 
of the island of Ver, and betwixt them these small islands, 
Otterholm, Flimen, Sandfiesen, and Stockholm. Betwixt 
Lofoden and Moskoe, the depth of the water is between thirty- 
six and forty fathoms ; but on the side towards Ver, the depth 
* decreases so as not to afford a convenient passage for a vessel, 
without the risk of splitting on the rocks, which sometimes 
happens even in the calmest weather : when it is flood, the 
stream runs up the country between Lofoden and Moskoe 
with a boisterous rapidity ; but the roar of its impetuous ebb 
to the sea is scarce equalled by the loudest and most dreadfu.- 
cataracts, the noise being heard several leagues off; and the 
vortices, or pits, are of such an extent and depth, that if a 
ship comes within its attraction, it is inevitably absorbed and 
carried down to the bottom, and there beaten to pieces against 
01 . 3 0 


490 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING WATERFALLS, &C. 

the rocks; and when the water relaxes, the fragments thereof 
aje thrown up again: but these intervals of tranquillity are 
only at the turn of the ebb and flood, in calm weather, and 
last but a quarter of an hour, its violence gradually returning. 
When the stream is most boisterous, and its fury heightened 
by a storm, it is dangerous to come within a Norway mile of 
it; boats, ships, and "yachts, having been carried away, by not 
guarding against it before they were within its reach. It 
likewise happens frequently, that whales come too near the 
stream, and are overpowered by its violence; and then it is 
impossible to describe their howlings and bellowings, in their 
fruitless struggles to disengage themselves. A bear, once 
attempting to swim from Lofoden to Moskoe, with a design 
of preying upon the sheep at pasture in the island, afforded 
the like spectacle to the people ; the stream caught him, and 
bore him down, whilst he roared terribly, so as to be heard 
on shore. Large stocks of fir and pine trees, after being 
absorbed by the current, rise again, broken and torn to such 
a degree as if bristles grew on them. This plainly shews the 
bottom to consist of craggy rocks, among which they are 
whirled to and fro. This stream is regulated by the flux and 
reflux of the sea, it being constantly high and low water 
every six hours. In 1645, early in the morning of Sexagesima 
Sunday, it raged with such noise and impetuosity, that on 
the island of Moskoe, the very stones of the houses fell to 
the ground. When this whirlpool is agitated by a storm, its 
vortex will reach vessels five or six miles distant.” 

Gulf-Stream. —This is a remarkable current in the ocean, 
which runs along the coast, at unequal distances, from Cape 
Florida to the Isle of Sables and the banks of Newfoundland, 
where it turns off and runs through the Western Islands, thence 
to the coast of Africa, and along that coast in a southern 
direction till it arrives at and supplies the place of those 
waters carried by the constant trade-winds from the coast of 
Africa towards the west; thus producing a constant circulat¬ 
ing current. This stream is about seventy-five miles from the 
shores of the southern states, and the distance increases as 
you proceed northward. The breadth of it is about forty or 
fifty miles, widening towards the north. Its common rapidity 
is three miles an hour. A north-east wind narrows the stream, 
renders it more rapid, and drives it nearer the coast. North¬ 
west and west winds produce a contrary effect. The Gulf- 
stream is supposed to be occasioned by the trade-winds, that 
are constantly driving the water to the westward, which beino- 
compressed in the gulf of Mexico, finds a passage between 
Florida and the Bahama islands, and runs to the north-east 
along the American coast. 


ACCOUNT of a new island. 


491 


A chart of this Gulf-stream was published by Dr. Fianklin, 
in 1768, principally from the information of Captain Folger. 
This was confirmed by the ingenious experiments of Dr. Blag- 
den, published in 1781, who found that the water of the gulf- 
stream was from six to eleven degrees warmer than the water 
of the sea, through which it runs ; which must have been 
occasioned by its being brought from a hotter climate. 

We close the present chapter with an Account of a New 
Island emerging from the Sea. —The description is taken 
from the Edinburgh Review, No. 46, September, 1814. 

In the neighbourhood of Oonalashca, which is situated about 
the centre of the Aleutian chain, a new island, nearly twenty 
miles in circumference, has been formed within these twenty 
years. The following is the account of it, which M. Lisian- 
sky collected from eye-witnesses at Cadinck :— 

“ In the evening, while I was alone, employed in writing the 
memorandums of my journal, a Russian introduce-d himself, 
who had resided on the island of Oonalashca, when a new 
island started up in its vicinity. I had heard of this pheno¬ 
menon, and was therefore desirous to learn what he knew 
respecting it. He said, that about the middle of April, 1797, 
a small island was seen w’here none had been seen before : 
that the first intimation of its appearance had been brought 
by some Alentians to Captain’s Harbour, who, returning from 
fishing, observed a great smoke issuing out of the sea : that 
this was the smoke of the volcano, which was then gradually 
rising above the surface of the sea, and which, in May, 1798, 
burst forth with a blaze, that was distinctly seen from a set¬ 
tlement called Macooshina, on the island of Oonalashca, at 
the distance of no less than forty miles to the north-west. 
This new island is tolerably high, and about twenty miles in 
circumference. It has been remarked, that it has not increased 
in size since the year 1799; and that no alteration has taken 
place in its appearance, except that some of the highest points 
have been thrown down by violent eruptions.” 


492 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BURNING SPRINGS. 


CHAP. XLVII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BURNING SPRINGS. 

Naphtha Springs—Burning Springs in Kentucky—Hot Springt 
of Iceland—Hot Springs of Ouachitta—Other Burning 
Springs 

“ Adored Artificer! wliat skill divine, 

What wonders, in the wide creation shine \" 

Naphtha Springs. —Dr. James Mounsey, and Jonas Han- 
way. Esq., have given a particular account of these springs. 
Both gentlemen, by their travels, their residence in Muscovy, 
and their acquaintance with several people who have been 
upon the spot, have had great opportunities of becoming per¬ 
fectly informed of every thing relating to the subject; and 
whose judgment and veracity may be depended on. Both 
their accounts agree, that on the western coast of the Caspian 
Sea, not far from the city of Baku, there is a large spot of 
ground, where, on taking off two or three inches of the surface 
of the earth, and then applying a live coal, and blowing, 
a flame immediately issues forth, without either burning the 
reed or paper, provided the edges be covered with clay. This 
method supplies the want of candle in their houses. Three or 
four of these will also boil water in a pot, and they dress their 
victuals in this way. The flame may be blown out like that of a 
lamp, but otherwise it continues burning; it smells somew’hat 
sulphureous, or rather like naphtha, but very little offensive. 
The ground is dry and stony, and the more stony the ground, 
the stronger and clearer the flame. Near this place they dig 
out brimstone, and here are also the naphtha springs. But the 
chief place for naphtha is Swieten Island, a small tract of 
land on the western coast of the Caspian Sea, and unin¬ 
habited, except at such seasons as they fetch naphtha from 
thence, which the Persians load in their wretched embark¬ 
ations, without barrels or any other vessels, so that sometimes 
you see the sea covered with it for leagues together. The 
springs boil up highest in thick and heavy weather, and the 
naphtha sometimes takes fire on the surface, and runs lighted 
or burning into the sea in great quantities, and to great dis¬ 
tances. In clear weather, it does not bubble above two or 
three feet. People make cisterns near the springs, into 
which they convey what overflows by troughs, taking off the 
naphtha from the surface, under which there is a mixture of 
water, or some other heavier fiuid. The greater part is of a 


BURNING SPRING IN KENTUCKY. 


. 493 


dark gray colour, very unpleasant to the smell, but used in 
lamps by the poorer sort. There are also springs of black 
naphtha, which is thick, and in distillation grows not clear, but 
yellow; but the most valuable is the white naphtha, which is 
naturally clear and yellowish, and bears a great price. The 
Russians drink it as a cordial, but it does not intoxicate : it is 
used externally in paralytic disorders, and is carried into 
India as a great rarity, where they make with it the most 
beautiful and lasting Japan that has ever yet been known. 

What the Indians call the Everlasting Fire, lies about ten 
English miles north-east-by-east from the city of Baku, on 
dry rocky ground. There are several ancient temples, built 
with stone, supposed to have been all dedicated to Fire : most 
of them are low arched vaults, from ten to fifteen feet high. 
Amongst the rest, there is a temple in which the Indians now 
worship; near the altar, about three feet high, there is a large 
hollow cave, from the end of which issues a flame, in colour 
and gentleness, not unlike a lamp that burns with spirits. 
The Indians affirm that this flame has continued burning some 
thousands ' of years, and believe it will last to the end of the 
world ; and that if it was resisted or suppressed in this place, 
it would rise in some other. By the number of temples, it is 
probable there w T ere formerly a great numbei of worshippers of 
fire, as well Indians as Persians : they are called Gouers. At 
present there are about twenty persons, who reside there con¬ 
stantly, and go almost naked. In summer it is very hot; 
and in winter they dwell within doors, and keep what fire 
they please, in the manner above described : they live upon 
roots and herbs for the most part, and are supposed to attend 
as mediators for the sins of many who are absent; and by 
their applications to this fire, in which the Deity is supposed 
to be present and visible, they atone for the sins of others. 
A little way from the temple just now mentioned, near Baku, 
is a low cliff of a rock, in which there is a horizontal gap, 
two feet from the ground, between five and six long, and about 
<hree feet broad, out of which issues a constant flame, much 
of the colour mentioned already, being a light blue. It rises 
sometimes eight feet high, but is lower in still weather. They 
do not perceive the rock waste in the least. This also the 
Indians worship, and say it cannot be put out. About 
twenty yards on the back of this cliff is a well, and a rock 
twelve or fourteen fathoms deep, with exceedingly good 
water. 

We shall next introduce an account of a Burning Spring 
in Kentucky. —This is a phenomenon which has for several 
years excited the attention of travellers, under the name of a 
burn.ng spring : it exists in one of the principal forks of Lick- 


494 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BURNING SPRINGS. 

ing river in Kentucky. It is situated about three-fourths of 
a mile from the banks of the river, and about eighty miles 
above its junction with Ohio, opposite Cincinnati. A spring 
here breaks out at the foot of a hill, forming a basin of water 
about six feet in diameter and two feet deep, at the bottom of 
which issues a stream of gas, which in volume and force is 
about equal to the blast forced from a common smith’s 
bellows; but there is no cessation of its force, which is such 
as to create a violent ebullition in the water. Being heavier 
than common atmospheric air, the gas, on passing up through 
the water, constantly occupies the surface, which is still the 
lower part of an indenture in the earth at that place. On 
presenting a taper, this gas instantly takes fire, and burns 
with great brilliancy. There is no absorption of it by the 
water, which possesses the purity of common spring water, 
neither is any offensive odour thrown off. This spring has 
been known to dry up entirely in the summer, when the air 
rushes out with increased force, accompanied by a hissing 
noise. There is nothing like smoke emitted.— Schoolcroft, 
on the Lead Mines of Missouri, p. 216. 

Hot Springs of Iceland. —From Sir G. Mackenzie’s 
Travels in Iceland. 

“ The hot springs in the valley of Reikholt, or Reikiadal, 
though not the most magnificent, are not the least curious 
among the numerous phenomena of this sort that are found 
in Iceland. On entering the valley, we saw numerous columns 
of vapour ascending from different parts of it. The first 
springs we visited, issued from - a number of apertures in a 
sort of platform of rock, covered by a thin coating of calca¬ 
reous incrustations. From several of the apertures the water 
rose with great force, and w f as thrown two or three feet into 
the air. On plunging the thermometer into such of them 
as we could approach with safety, we found that it stood at 
212°. 

A little further up the valley, there is a rock in the middle 
of the river, about ten feet high, twelve yards long, and six 
or eight feet in breadth : from the highest part of this rock 
a jet of boiling water proceeded with violence; dashing 
the water up to the height of several feet. Near the middle, 
and not more than two feet from the edge of the rock, there 
is a hole, about two feet in diameter, full of water boiling 
strongly. There is a third hole near the other end of the 
rock, in which water also boils briskly. At the time we saw 
these springs, there happened to be less water in the river 
than usual, and a bank of gravel was left dry a little higher 
up than the rock. From this bank a considerable quantity of 
boili ng water issued. 


HOT SPRINGS OF ICELAND. 


495 

“ About a mile further down, at the foot of the valley, is the 
Tungahver, an assemblage of springs the most extraordinary, 
perhaps, in the whole world. A rock (waoke?) rises from the 
bog, about twenty feet, and is about fifty yards in length, the 
breadth not being considerable. This seems formerly to have 
been a hillock, one side of which remains covered with grass, 
while the other has been worn away, or perhaps destroyed at 
the time when the hot water burst forth. Along the face of 
the rock are arranged no fewer than sixteen springs, all of 
them boiling furiously, and some of them throwing the water 
to a considerable height. One of them, however, deserves 
particular notice. On approaching this place, we observed a 
high jet of water near one extremity of the rock. Suddenly 
this jet disappeared, and another, thicker but not so high, 
rose within a very short distance of it. At first we supposed 
that a piece of the rock had given way, and that the water 
had at that moment found a more convenient passage. Having 
left our horses, we went directly to the place where this had 
apparently happened ; but we had scarcely reached the spot, 
when this new jet disappeared, and the one we had seen before 
was renewed. We observed that there were two irregular 
holes in the rock, within a yard of each other; and while from 
one a jet proceeded to the height of twelve or fourteen feet, 
the other was full of boiling water. We had scarcely made 
this observation, when the first jet began to subside, and the 
water in the other hole to rise ; and as soon as the first had 
entirely sunk down, the other attained its greatest height, 
which was about five feet. In this extraordinary manner, 
these two jets played alternately. The smallest and highest 
jet continued about four minutes and a half, and the other 
about three minutes. We remained admiring this very remark¬ 
able phenomenon for a considerable time, during which we 
saw many alternations of the jets, which happened regularly 
at the intervals already mentioned. 

“ I have taken the liberty to give a name to this spring, and 
to call it ‘ The Alternating Geyser.’ 

“ These springs have been formerly observed, though the 
singularity of the alternations does not seem to have been 
attended to as any thing remarkable. Olafson and Paulson 
mention, that the jets appear and disappear successively, in 
the second, third, and fourth openings. We observed no ces¬ 
sations in any of the springs, except in the two under con¬ 
sideration. 

“ To form a theory of this regular alternation is no easy 
matter; and it seems to require a kind of mechanism very 
different from the simple apparatus usually employed by nature 
in ordinary intermittent or spouting springs. The prime 
mover in this case is evidently steam, an agent sufficiently 


496 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING BURNING SPRINGS. 

powerful for the phenomena. The two orifices are manifestly 
connected; for, as the one jet sinks towards the surface, the 
other rises, and this in a regular and uniform manner. 1 
observed once, that when one of the jets was sinking, and the 
other beginning to rise, the first rose again a little before it 
was quite sunk down, and then when this happened, the othel 
ceased to make any efforts to rise, and returned to its former 
state, till the first again sunk, when the second rose and played 
as usual. This communication must be formed in such a 
manner, that it is never complete, but alternately interrupted, 
first on one side, and then on the other. To effect this with¬ 
out the intervention of valves, seems to be impossible ; and 
yet it is difficult to conceive the natural formation of a set of 
permanent valves : so that this fountain becomes one of the 
greatest curiosities ever presented by nature, even though, in 
attempting to explain the appearances it exhibits, we take 
every advantage that machinery can give us. If it is occa¬ 
sioned by natural valves, these must be of very durable mate¬ 
rials, in order to withstand the continual agitation and conse¬ 
quent attrition.” 

We next proceed to a description of the Hot Springs of 
Ouachitta, (Washitaw.) —These springs, which have been 
known for many years, are situated on a stream called Hot 
Spring Creek, which falls into the Washitaw River, eight 
miles below. They lie fifty miles south of the Arkansa Ri¬ 
ver, in Clark county, territory of Arkansa, (lately Missouri,) 
and six miles west of the road from Cadron to Mount Prairie, 
on Red River. 

The approach to the springs lies up the valley of the creek. 
On the right of the valley rises the hot mountain, with the 
springs issuing at its foot; on the left, the cold mountain, 
which is little more than a confused and mighty pile of 
stones. The hot mountain is about 300 feet high, rising quite 
steep, and presenting occasionally ledges of rocks ; it termi¬ 
nates above in a confused mass of broken rocks. The steep 
and otherwise sterile sides are covered with a luxuriant growth 
of vines. The valley between this and the cold mountain is 
about fifty yards wide. 

The springs issue at the foot of the hot mountain, at an 
elevation of about ten feet above the level of the creek ; they 
are very numerous all along the hill-side, and the water, which 
runs in copious streams, is quite hot; it will scald the hand, 
and boil an egg hard in ten minutes. Its temperature is con¬ 
sidered that of boiling water, but Dr. Andrews, of Red River, 
thinks it is not above 200° Fahr. There is a solitary spring, 
situated seventy feet higher than the others on the side of the 
mountain, but it is of an equal temperature, and differs in no 


VARIOUS BURNING SPRINGS. 


497 


respect from those below. A dense fog continually hangs 
over the springs and upon the side of the hill, which at a dis¬ 
tance looks like a number of furnaces in blast. To this fog, 
condensed into water, is attributed the rank growth of the 
vines on the side of the mountain. 

Very little is known of the chemical nature of the water ; an 
analysis is said to have been made, which indicated a little 
carbonate of lime. An abundance of beautiful green moss 
grows at the edges of the springs, and the paths of their 
waters are marked by a brighter vegetation than occurs else¬ 
where. The substance of the rocks here, are, limestone, slate, 
and quartz.— Schoolcroft, Lead Mines of Missouri, p. 258. 


We shall conclude this chapter with an account of various 
other Burning Springs. —There are many burning springs 
in different parts of the world, particularly one in France, in 
the department of Isere, near Grenoble ; another near Her- 
manstadt, in Transylvania; a third at Chermay, a village near 
Switzerland; a fourth in the canton of Friburg; and a fifth 
not far from the city of Cracow, in Poland. There also is, or 
was, a famous spring of this kind at Wigan, in Lancashire, 
which, upon the approach of a lighted candle, would take fire 
and burn like spirit of wine for a whole day. But the most 
remarkable one in England, or at least that of which we have 
the minutest description, was discovered in 1711, at Brosely, 
in Shropshire. The following account of this remarkable 
spring was given by the Rev. Mr. Mason Woodwardin, Pro¬ 
fessor at Cambridge, dated Feb. 18th. 1746:—“ The well, for 
four or five feet deep, is six or seven feet wide ; within that, is 
another less hole of like depth, dug in the clay, in the bottom 
whereof is placed a cylindric earthen vessel, of about four or 
five inches diameter at the mouth, having the bottom taken 
off, and the sides well fixed in the clay, which is rammed close 
about it. Within the pot is a brown water, thick and puddly, 
continually forced up with a violent motion beyond that of 
boiling water, and a rumbling hollow noise, rising or falling 
by fits, five or six inches ; but there was no appeaiance of any 
'vapour rising, which perhaps might have been visible, had 
not the sun shone so bright. Upon putting a candle down at 
the end of a stick, at about a quarter of a yard distance, it 
took fire, darting and flashing after a very violent manner for 
about half a yard high, much in the manner of spirits in a 
lamp, but with great agitation. It was said, that a teakettle 
had been made to boil in nine minutes, and that it had been 
left burning for forty-eight hours without any sensible dimi¬ 
nution. It was extinguished by putting a wet mop upon it; 
which must be kept there for a little time, otherwise it would 
not go out. Upon the removal of the mop, there arises a sul- 

3 R 




498 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING EARTHQUAKES. 

phureous smoke, lasting about a minute, and yet the water is 
very cold to the touch.” In 1755, this well totally disappeared, 
by the sinking of a coal-pit in its neighbourhood. The cause 
Af the inflammable property of such waters is with great pro¬ 
bability supposed to be their mixture with petroleum, which 
is one of the most inflammable substances in nature, and has 
the property of burning on the surface of water. 


CHAP. XLVIII. 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING EARTHQUAKES. 


Earthquakes, Nature’s agonizing- pangs, 

Oft shake the astonish’d isles ; the Solfaterre 
Or sends forth thick, blue, suffocating steams. 

Or shoots to temporary flames. A din, 

Wild, thro’ the mountain's quivering rocky caves, 

Like the dread crash of tumbling planets, roars. 

When tremble thus the pillars of the globe. 

Like the tall cocoa by the fierce north blown, 

Can the poor brittle tenements of man 

Withstand the dread convulsion? Their dear homes. 

Which shaking, tottering, crashing, bursting, fall, 

The boldest fly ; and, on the open plain 
Appall’d in agony, the moment wait. 

When, with disrupture vast, the waving earth 
Shall whelm them in her sea-disgorging womb. 

Nor less affrighted are the bestial kind: 

The bold steed quivers in each panting vein. 

And staggers, bath’d in deluges of sweat: 

The lowing herds forsake their grassy food, 

And send forth frighted, woful, hollow sounds : 

The dog, thy trusty centinel of night, 

Deserts the post assign’d, and piteous howls. 

Wide ocean feels-- 

The mountain waves, passing their custom’d bounds, 
Make direful loud incursions on the land, 

All overwhelming^ sudden they retreat, 

With their whole troubled waters ; but anon 
Sudden return, with louder, mightier force ; 

The black rocks whiten, the vext shores resound ; 

And yet, more rapid, distant they retire. 

Vast corruscations lighten all the sky 

With volum’d flames, while thunder’s aw ful voice, 

From forth his shrine by night and horror girt, 

Astounds the guilty, and appals the good Grainger. 


Earthquakes and their Causes.— From A. de Hum¬ 
boldt’s Personal Narrative of Travels, translated by Helen 
Maria Williams. 

“ It is a very old and commonly received opinion at Cum- 
ana, Acapulca, and Lima, that a perceptible connection exists 
















































I. 














. 
























EFFECTS OF AN EARTHQUAKE. 

The engraving represents the great earthquake of 1755, in which the city of Lisbon, in 
Portugal, was entirely destroyed, and 20,000 persons were killed. 




SAND STORM OR SAND FLOOD IN THE DESERTS OF ARABIA. 

In these terrible whirlwinds of sand, whole caravans are sometimes overwhelmed and destroyed. 




































































































GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 


499 

between earthquakes, and the state of the atmosphere that 
precedes these phenomena. On the coast of New Andalusia, 
the inhabitants are alarmed, when, in excessively hot weather, 
and after long- droughts, the breeze suddenly ceases to blow, 
and the sky, clear and without clouds at the zenith, exhibits 
near the horizon, at six or eight degrees elevation, the appear¬ 
ance of a reddish vapour. These prognostics are however 
very uncertain ; and when the whole of the meteorological 
variations, at the times when the globe has been the most 
agitated, are called to mind, it is found, that violent shocks 
take place equally in dry and in wet weather, when the coolest 
winds blow, or during a dead and suffocating calm. From 
the great number of earthquakes, which I have witnessed to 
the north and south of the equator; on the continent, and in 
the bason of the seas; on the coasts, and at 2500 toises height; 
it appears to me, that the oscillations are generally very inde¬ 
pendent of the previous state of the atmosphere. This 
opinion is embraced by a number of enlightened persons, who 
inhabit the Spanish colonies; and whose experience extends, 
if not over a greater space of the globe, at least to a greater 
number of years than mine. On the contrary, in parts of 
Europe where earthquakes are rare compared to America, 
natural philosophers are inclined to admit an intimate connec¬ 
tion between the undulations of the ground, and certain me¬ 
teors, which usually take place at the same epocha. In Italy, 
for instance, the sirocco and earthquakes are suspected to 
have some connection ; and at London, the frequency of fall- 
ins; stars, and those southern lights which have since been 
often observed by Mr. Dalton, were considered as the fore- 
runners of those shocks which were felt from 1748 to 1756. 

“ On the days when the earth is agitated by violent shocks, 
the regularity of the horary variations of the barometer is not 
disturbed under the tropics. I have verified this observation 
at Cumana, at Lima, and at Eiobamba; and it is so much the 
more worthy of fixing the attention of natural philosophers, 
as in St. Domingo, at the town of Cape Francois, it is asserted 
that a water barometer was observed to sink two inches and a 
half immediately before the earthquake of 1770. It is also 
related, that at the time of the destruction of Oran, a drug¬ 
gist fled with his family, because, observing accidentally, a 
few r minutes before the earthquake, the height of the mercury 
in his barometer, he perceived that the column sunk in an 
extraordinary manner. I know not whether we can give cre¬ 
dit to this assertion : but as it is nearly impossible to examine 
the variations of the weight of the atmosphere during the 
shocks, we must be satisfied in observing the barometer before 
or after these phenomena have taken place. In the temperate 
lone, the aurora borealis does not always modify the variation 


500 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING EARTHQUAKES. 

of the needle, and the intensity of the magnetic forces : per¬ 
haps also earthquakes do not act constantly in the same man¬ 
ner on the air that surrounds us. 

“ We can scarcely doubt, that the earth, when opened and 
agitated by shocks, occasionally sends forth gaseous exhala¬ 
tions through the atmosphere, in places remote from the' 
mouths of volcanoes not extinct. At Cumana, as we have 
already observed, flames and vapours, mixed with sulphureous 
acid, spring up from the most arid soil. In other parts of the 
same province, the earth ejects water and petroleum. At Rio- 
bamba, a muddy and inflammable mass, which is called moya, 
issues from crevices that close again, and accumulates into 
elevated hills. At seven leagues from Lisbon, near Colares, 
during the terrible earthquake of the 1st of November, 1755, 
flames, and a column of thick smoke, were seen to issue from 
the flanks of the rocks of Alvidras, and, according to some 
witnesses, from the bosom of the sea. This smoke lasted 
several days, and it was the more abundant in proportion as 
the subterraneous noise, which accompanied the shocks, was 
louder. 

“ Elastic fluids thrown into the atmosphere may act locally 
on the barometer, not by their mass, which is very small 
compared to the mass of the atmosphere ; but because, at the 
moment of the great explosions, an ascending current is pro¬ 
bably formed, which diminishes the pressure of the air. I am 
inclined to think, that in the greater number of earthquakes, 
nothing escapes from the agitated earth, and that, when 
gaseous exhalations and vapours take place, they oftener 
accompany or follow, than precede, the shocks. This last 
circumstance explains a fact, which seems indubitable; I 
mean that mysterious influence, in equinoctial America, of 
earthquakes accompanying a change of climate, and the order 
of the dry and rainy seasons. If the earth generally acts on 
the air only at the moment of the shocks, we can conceive 
why it is so rare that a sensible meteorological change be¬ 
comes the presage of these great revolutions of nature. 

“ The hypothesis, according to which, in the earthquakes 
of Cumana, elastic fluids escape from the surface of the soil, 
seems confirmed by the observation of the dreadful noise which 
is heard during the shocks at the borders of the wells in the 
plain of Charas. Water and sand are sometimes thrown out 
twenty feet high. Similar phenomena have not escaped the 
observation of the ancient inhabitants of Greece and Asia 
Minor, abounding with caverns, crevices, and subterraneous 
rivers. Nature, in its uniform progress, every where sug¬ 
gests the same ideas of the causes of earthquakes, and the 
means by which man, forgetting the measure of his strength, 
pretends to diminish the eflect of the subterraneous explosions. 


GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 


501 

What a great Roman naturalist has said of the utility c f wells 
and caverns, is repeated in the New World by the most igno¬ 
rant Indians of Quito, when they shew travellers the guaicos, 
or crevices of Pichincha. 

“The subterraneous noise, so frequent during earthquakes, 
is generally not in the ratio of the strength of the shocks. 
At Cumana it constantly precedes them ; while at Quito, and 
lately at Caraccas, and in the Westlndia Islands,a noise like the 
discharge of a battery was heard a long time after the shocks 
had ceased. A third kind of phenomenon, the most remark¬ 
able of the whole, is the rolling of those subterraneous thun¬ 
ders, which last several months, without being accompanied 
by the least oscillating motion of the ground. 

“ In every country subject to earthquakes, the point where 
(probably by a disposition of the stony strata) the effects are 
the most sensible, is considered as the cause and the focus of the 
shocks. Thus, at Cumana, the hill of the castle of St. Antonio, 
and particularly the eminence on which the convent of St. 
Francis is placed, are believed to contain an enormous quan¬ 
tity of sulphur, and other inflammable matter. We forget, 
that the rapidity with which the undulations are propagated 
to great distances, even across the basin of the ocean, proves 
that the centre of action is very remote from the surface of 
the globe. From this same cause, no doubt, earthquakes are 
not restrained to certain species of rocks, as some naturalists 
pretend, but all are fitted to propagate the movement. In 
order to keep within the limits of my own experience, I shall 
here cite the granites of Lima and Acapulco; the gneiss of 
Caraccas; the mica-slate of the peninsula of Araya ; the primi¬ 
tive thonsehiefer of Tepecuacuilco, in Mexico; the secondary 
limestones of the Apennines; Spain, and new Andalusia; and 
finally, the trappean porphyries of Quito and Popayan. In 
these different places the ground is frequently agitated by the 
most violent shocks ; but sometimes, in the same rock, the 
superior strata form invincible obstacles to the propagation 
of the motion. Thus, in the mines of Saxony, we have seen 
workmen hasten up, affrighted by oscillations which were not 
felt at the surface of the ground. 

“ If, in regions the most remote from each other, primitive, 
secondary, and volcanic rock, share equally in the convulsive 
movements of the globe ; we cannot but admire also, that in 
ground of little extent, certain classes of rocks oppose them¬ 
selves to the propagation of the shocks. At Cumana, for 
instance, before the catastrophe of 1797, the earthquakes were 
felt only along the southern and calcareous coast of the gulf 
of Cariaco, as far as the town of this name ; while in the pen¬ 
insula of Araya, and at the village of Marinaquez, the ground 
<lid not partake of the same agitation. The inhabitants of 


502 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING EARTHQAKES. 

this northern coast, which is composed of mica-slate, built 
their huts on a motionless earth ; a gulf three or four thou¬ 
sand fathoms in breadth separated them from a plain covered 
with ruins, and overturned by earthquakes. This security, 
founded on the experience of several ages, has vanished; and 
since the fourteenth of December, 1797, new communications 
appear to have been opened in the interior of the globe. At 
present the peninsula of Araya is not merely subject t*o the 
agitation of the soil of Cumana; the promontory of mica-slate 
is become in its turn a particular centre of the movements. 
The earth is sometimes strongly shaken at the village of 
Marinaquez, when on the coast of Cumana the inhabitants 
enjoy the most perfect tranquillity. The gulf of Cariaco 
nevertheless is only sixty or eighty fathoms deep. 

“ It is thought, from observations made both on the con¬ 
tinent and in the islands, that the western and southern coasts 
are most exposed to shocks. This observation is connected 
with the ideas which geologists have long formed of the posi¬ 
tion of the high chains of mountains, and the direction of their 
steepest declivities: the volcanic phenomena of the Cordilleras 
and Caraccas, and the frequency of the oscillations on the eastern 
and northern coast of Terra Firma, in the gulf of Paria, at 
Carupano, at Cariaco, and at Cumana, are proofs of the cer¬ 
tainty of this opinion. In New Andalusia, as well as in Chili 
and Peru, the shocks follow the course of the shore, and 
extend but little inland. This circumstance, as we shall soon 
find, indicates an intimate .connection between the causes 
that produce earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. If the 
earth was most agitated on the coasts, because they are the 
lowest part of the land, why should not the oscillations be 
equally strong and frequent on those vast savannas or mea¬ 
dows, which are scarcely eight or ten toises above the level 
of the ocean ? 

“ The earthquakes of Cumana are connected with those of 
the West India Islands; and it has even been suspected, that 
they have some connection with the volcanic phenomena of 
the Cordilleras of the Andes. On the fourth of November, 
1797, the soil of the province of Quito underwent such a 
destructive commotion, that, notwithstanding the extreme 
thinness of the population of that country, near forty thou¬ 
sand natives perished, buried under the ruins of their houses, 
swallowed up in the crevices, or drowned in lakes that were 
suddenly formed. At the same period, the inhabitants of the 
eastern Antilles were alarmed by shocks, which continued 
during eight months, when the volcano of Guadaloupe threw 
out pumice stones, ashes, and gusts of sulphureous vapours. 
This eruption of the twenty-seventh of September, during which 
very long-continued subterraneous noises were heard, was 


GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 


503 


followed on the fourteenth of December by the great earth¬ 
quake of Cumana. Another volcano of the West India 
Islands, that of St. Vincent’s, has lately given a fresh instance 
of these extraordinary connections. This volcano had not 
emitted flames since 1718, when thev burst forth anew, in 
1812. The total ruin of the city of Caraccas preceded this 
explosion thirty-five days, and violent oscillations of the 
ground were felt, both in the islands, and on the coasts of 
Terra Firm a. 

“ It h as long been remarked, that the effects of great earth¬ 
quakes extend much farther than the phenomena arising 
from burning volcanoes. In studying the physical re¬ 
volutions of Italy, and carefully examining the series of the 
eruptions of Vesuvius and Etna, we can scarcely recognize, 
notwithstanding the proximity of these mountains, any traces 
of simultaneous action. It is, on the contrary, undeniable, 
that at the period of the last and preceding destruction of 
Lisbon, the sea was violently agitated even as far as the New 
World, for instance, at the island of Barbadoes, more than 
twelve hundred leagues distant from the coasts of Portugal. 

“ Several facts tend to prove, that the causes which produce 
earthquakes have a near connection with those that act in 
volcanic eruptions. We learnt at Pasto, that the column of 
black and thick smoke, which in 1797 issued for several 
months from the volcano near this shore, disappeared at the 
very hour when, sixty leagues to the south, the towns of 
Riobamba, Hambato, and Tacunga, were overturned by an 
enormous shock. When, in the interior of a burning crater, 
we are seated near those hillocks formed by ejections ol 
scoria and ashes, we feel the motion of the ground several 
seconds before each partial eruption takes place. We ob¬ 
served this phenomenon at Vesuvius in 1805, while the moun¬ 
tain threw out scoria; we were witnesses of it in 1812, on the 
brink of the immense crater of Pichincha, from which never¬ 
theless at that time clouds of sulphureous acid vapours only 
issued. 

“ Every thing in earthquakes seems to indicate the action of 
elastic fluids seeking an outlet to spread themselves in the 
atmosphere. Often, on the coasts of the South Sea, the action 
is almost instantaneously communicated from Chili to the 
gulf of Guayaquil, a distance of six hundred leagues ; and, 
what is very remarkable, the shocks appear to be so much the 
stronger, as the country is more distant from burning vol¬ 
canoes. The granitic mountains of Calabria, covered with 
very recent breccia, the calcareous chain of the Apennines, 
the country of Pignerol, the coasts of Portugal and Greece, 
and those of Peru and Terra Firma, afford striking proofs of this 
assertion. The globe, it may be said, is agitated with greater 


604 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING EATHQUAKES. 

force, in proportion as the surface has a smaller number of 
funnels communicating with the caverns of the interior. At 
Naples and Messina, at the foot of Cotopaxi and ofTungu- 
ragua, earthquakes are dreaded only when vapours and flames 
do not issue from the crater. In the kingdom "f Quito, the 
great catastrophe of Riobamba, which we have before men¬ 
tioned, has led several well-informed persons to think, that 
this unfortunate country would be less often desolate, if the 
subterraneous fire would break the porphyritic dome of Chim¬ 
borazo; and this colossal mountain should become a burn¬ 
ing volcano. At all times analogous facts have led to the 
same hypothesis. The Greeks, who, like ourselves, attributed 
the oscillations of the ground to the action of elastic fluids, 
cited, in favour of their opinion, the total cessation of the 
shocks at the island of Eubcea, by the opening of a crevice in 
the Lelantine plain.” 

The following is an account of an Earthquake of Caraccas*, 
by M. Palacio Faxar:— 

“ The ridge of mountains, which branches out from the 
Andes near the isthmus of Panama, and which, taking the 
direction of the eastern coast, crosses part of New Granada 
and Venezuela, seems to have been the seat of that earth 
quake, which, on the 26th March, 1812, destroyed many po¬ 
pulous towns of the province of Caraccas. It is this branch 
of the Cordilleras, that forms the Sierra-nevada of Chita, that 
of Merida de Maracavbo, and the height called La Silla de 
Caracca ; and it is between these three remarkable points that 
the gold mines of Pamplona, the mineral water of Merida 
de Maracaybo, and the copper mines of Aroa, are found. 
Between the picturesque Sierra-nevada of Merida de Mara¬ 
caybo, and La Silla de Caracca, where spring is perpetual, 
the earthquake was most strongly felt. 

“ At the south-east of this ridge of mountains, there are 
plains of an immense extent, covered with different species 
of grasses, and watered by innumerable torrents, which falling 
from the mountains, and uniting in different bodies, majesti¬ 
cally enter the Orinoco. These plains were likewise con¬ 
vulsed for above 120 leagues in Venezuela: the towns situate 
immediately at the foot of the Cordilliera, or in the valleys 
between them, suffered most severely: those seated in the 
plains did not suffer considerable injury, though violently 
shaken. For five months a continued drought had parched 
the earth, no rain having fallen, and in the preceding month 
of December, a slight shock of an earthquake had been felt 
at Caraccas. It was on the eve of the Crucifixion, when Ca¬ 
tholics assembled together in their churches, to commemorate, 
with public prayers and processions, the sufferings and merits 


EARTHQUAKE OF CARACCAS. 


50b 

of their Redeemer, that this sad catastrophe had happened. 
The weather was fine, and the air serene, when between four 
and five p. m. a hollow sound like the roar of a cannon was 
heard, which was followed by a violent oscillatory motion from 
west to east, which lasted about seventeen seconds, and which 
stopped all the public clocks ; the convulsion diminished for 
some moments, but was succeeded by a more violent shock 
than the first, for nearly twenty seconds, keeping the same 
direction ; a calm followed, which lasted about fourteen se¬ 
conds, after which, a most alarming trepidation of the earth 
took place for fifteen seconds : the total duration about one 
minute and fifteen seconds. The inhabitants of Caraccas, 
struck with terror, unitedly and loudly implored the protection 
of Heaven : some ran wildly through the streets ; some re¬ 
mained immoveable with astonishment: while others, crowding 
into the churches, sought refuge at the foot of the altar. The 
•crash of falling buildings, the clouds of dust which filled the 
air, and the anxious cries of mothers, who inquired in vain 
for their children lost in the tumult, increased the horrors of 
this sad day. To this scene of disorder succeeded the most 
•horrible despair. Dead bodies, wounded persons crying for 
protection, presented themselves every where to those who had 
escaped from the catastrophe, and who could not turn theii 
eyes from these objects of pity and horror, without meeting 
with heaps of ruin, which had buried hundreds of unfortunate 
persons, whose lamentations uselessly pierced their hearts, 
for it was impossible to give relief or assistance to all. 

“ It has been computed, that in this calamitous day, near 
20,000 persons perished at Venezuela. A great part of the 
veteran troops were of this number ; and all the arms destined 
for the defence of their country, were buried under the ruins 
of the barracks. The towns of Caraccas, Merida de Mara- 
caybo, and Laguaira, were totally destroyed ; those of Barqui- 
rineto, Sanfelipe, and others, suffered considerably. It is 
to be remarked, that Truxillo, which is situate between 
M erida de Maracaybo and Sanfelipe, experienced very little 
•damage. At the last place, near the mines of Aroa, the first 
signal they had of the earthquake was an electric shock, which 
deprived many persons of their power of motion ; and in Va¬ 
lencia, Caraccas, and the neighbouring country, the inhabi¬ 
tants were, for about twenty days after the earthquake, in 
an extraordinary state of irritability. Many persons, who 
suffered from intermittent fevers, recovered immediately, in 
consequence of the effect of the earthquake. 

“ At Vallecillo, near Valencia, a rivulet spouted out from a 
hill, which continued to flow for some hours after the earth¬ 
quake, and which I visited a few days after. The river Guaire, 
which runs through the valley of Caraccas, was greatly swelled 

2 S 


506 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING EARTHQUAKES* 

soon after the earthquake, and remained in that state tor se¬ 
veral days. The water of the bay of Maracaybo withdrew 
considerably, and it is said that the mountain Avila, which 
separates Caraccas from Laguaira, sunk several feet into the 
earth. 

“ The earthquakes continued for many days, we may say, 
without interruption : they diminished as it were by degrees, 
though the last were remarkably strong. So late as the month 
of October in the same year, there was a violent shock. The 
earthquake of the 26th March was felt at Santafe de Bogota, 
and even at Carthagena, though it was very litt-le felt at Cu- 
mana. 

“ In the following April, a volcano burst out in the island of 
St. Vincent. About the time of the eruption, a noise like 
that occasioned by the discharge of a cannon was heard 
at Caraccas and Laguaira, which caused a general alarm, the 
inhabitants of each place supposing that the neighbouring 
town was attacked by the enemy. This roaring noise w T as 
distinctly heard where the river Nula falls into the Apure, 
which is more than 100 leagues from Caraccas. In the same 
year, 1812, many strong shocks of an earthquake were felt at 
Samaica and Curacjoa. 

“ The earthquake of the 26th March alarmed so deeply the 
inhabitants of Venezuela, that they expected to see the earth 
open and swallow them at every convulsion ; and as it hap¬ 
pened on the anniversary of their political revolution, they 
supposed that event had incurred the displeasure of the Al¬ 
mighty. The clergy, who were enemies to the revolution, as 
their privileges had been diminished by the new constitution 
of Venezuela, availed themselves of the disposition of the 
people, and preached every where against the new republic. 
Such was the beginning of the civil war at Venezuela; a war, 
which has desolated those beautiful countries, and which has 
destroyed the tenth part of their population/’ 

The celebrated poet Cowper, in the second book of his 
admirable poem, The Task, has given us a very accurate and 
sublime description of the effects of Earthquakes, from which 
the foil owing is an extract:— 

The rocks fall headlong, and the valleys rise, 

The rivers die into offensive pools, 

And, charg’d with putrid verdure, breathe a gross 
And mortal nuisance into all the air. 

What solid was, by transformation strange, 
rows fluid ; and the fixt and rooted earth, 

Tormented into billows, heaves and swells, 

Or with vortiginous and hideous whirl 
Sucks down its prey insatiable. Immense 
The tumult and the overthrow, the pangs 
And agonies of human and of brute 


SIMOOM, OR HOT WIND OF EGYPT 


507 


Multitudes, fugitive on ev’ry side, 

And fugitive in vain. The sylvan scene 
Migrates uplifted; and., with all its soil, 

Alighting on far distant fields, finds out 
A new possessor, and survives the change. 

Ocean has caught the frenzy, and, upwrought 
To an enormous and o’erbearing height, 

Not by a mighty wind, but by that voice 
Which winds and waves obey, invades the shore 
Resistless. Never such a sudden flood, 

Upridg’d so high, and sent on such a charge, 

Possess’d an inland scene. Where now the throng 
That press’d the beach, and, hasty to depart, 

Look’d to the sea for safety ? They are gone, 

Gone with the refluent wave into the deep— 

A prince with half his people.” 

It is a consolation to every good man, to consider that the 
world is governed by a wise and good, as well as powerful 
Being, who gives liberty to the powers of nature to range, 
or restrains them, as may best suit his divine purposes; 
which have always the ultimate good of the whole creation in 
view. 


CHAP. XLIX. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING WINDS , HURRICANES, 4*c. 

Remarkable Winds in Egypt—Whirlwinds of Egypt — Tornado — 
Harmattan — Hurricane — Monsoons—Velocity of the Wind. 

Bound as they are, and circumscrib’d in place, 

They rend the world, resistless where they pass, 

And mighty marks of mischief leave behind ; 

Such is the rage of their tempestuous kind. 

First, Eurus, to the rising morn is sent, 

The regions of the balmy continent. 

And eastern realms, where early Persians run 
To greet the blest appearance of the sun. 

Westward the wanton Zephyr wings his flight. 

Pleas’d with the remnant of departing light: 

Fierce Boreas, with his offspring, issues forth 
T’ invade the frozen waggon of the north ; 

While frowning Auster seeks the southern sphere. Ovid. 

REMARKABLE WINDS IN EGYPT. 

Egypt is infested with the destructive blasts common to 
all warm countries which have deserts in their neighbourhood. 
These have been distinguished by various names, such as Poi¬ 
sonous winds, Hot winds of the desert, Samiel, the wind of 
Damascus, Camseen, and Simoom. In Egypt they are deno¬ 
minated “ Winds of fifty days,” because they most commonly 




508 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING WINDS. 


prevail during the fifty days preceding and following the 1 
equinox, though, should they blow constantly during one 
half of that time, an universal destruction would be the con¬ 
sequence. Of these, travellers have given various descriptions. 
M. Volney says, that the violence of their heat may be com¬ 
pared to that of a large oven at the moment of drawing out 
the bread. They always blow from the south, and are undoubt¬ 
edly owing to the motion of the atmosphere over such vast 
tracts of hot sand, which cannot be supplied with a sufficient 
quantity of moisture. When they begin to blow, the sky 
loses its usual serenity, and assumes a dark, heavy, and alarm¬ 
ing aspect, the sun laying aside his usual splendour, and 
becoming of a violet colour. This terrific appearance seems 
not to be occasioned by any real haze or cloud in the atmo¬ 
sphere at that time, but solely by the vast quantity of fine 
sand carried along by those winds, and which is so excessively 
subtile that it penetrates every where. The motion of this 
wind is always rapid, but its heat is not intolerable till it has 
continued for some time. Its pernicious qualities are evi¬ 
dently occasioned by its excessive aridity; for it dries and 
shrivels up the skin, and, by affecting the lungs in a similar 
manner, soon produces suffocation and death. The danger is 
greatest to those of a plethoric habit, or who have been ex¬ 
hausted by fatigue ; and putrefaction very soon takes place 
in the bodies of such as are destroyed by it. Its extreme 
dryness is such, that water sprinkled on the floor evaporates 
in a few minutes; all the plants are withered and stripped of 
their leaves, and a fever is instantly produced in the human 
species by the suppression of perspiration. It usually lasts 
three days, but is altogether insupportable if it continue be¬ 
yond that time. 

The danger is greatest when the wind blows in squalls, and 
to travellers who happen to be exposed to its fury without 
any shelter. The best method, in this case, is to stop the 
nose and mouth with a handkerchief: camels, by a natural in¬ 
stinct, bury their noses in the sand, and keep them there till 
the squall is over. The inhabitants, who have an opportunity 
of retiring to their houses, instantly shut themselves up in 
them, or go into pits made in the earth, till the destructive 
blast is over. 

The description of a blast of this kind, which overtook Mr. 
Bruce, in the desert of Nubia, is still more terrible.—The sun 
was now obscured by them,* and the transmission of his rays 
gave them a dreadful appearance, resembling pillars of fire. 
This was pronounced by the guide to be a sign of the ap¬ 
proaching simoom, or hot wind; and he directed, that when 
it came, the people should fall upon their faces, and keep theii 

The moving columns of sand. 


WHIRLWINDS OF EGYPT. 


509 


mouths on the sand, to avoid drawing in this pernicious blast 
with their breath. On his calling out that the simoon was 
coming, Mr. Bruce turned for a moment to the quarter from 
whence it came, which was the south-east. It appeared like 
a haze or fog of a purple colour, but less bright than the pur¬ 
ple part of the rainbow; seemingly about twenty yards in 
breadth, and about twelve feet high from the ground. It 
moved with such rapidity, that before he could turn about 
and fall down, he felt the vehement heat of its current upon 
his face; and even after it passed over, which was very quickly, 
the air which followed was of such a heat as to threaten suffo¬ 
cation. Mr. Bruce had unfortunately inspired some part of 
the pernicious blast; by which means he almost entirely lost 
his voice, and became subject to an asthmatic complaint, 
from which he did not get free for two years. 

The same phenomenon occurred twice over on their journey 
through this desert. The second time it came from the south 
a little to the east, but it seemed to have a shade of blue 
along with the purple, and its edges were less perfectly de¬ 
fined, resembling rather a thin smoke, and having about a 
yard in the middle tinged with blue and purple. 

The third time, it was preceded by an appearance of sandy 
pillars, more magnificent than any they had yet observed ; the 
sun shining through them in such a manner as to give those 
which were nearest a resemblance of being spangled with 
stars of gold. The simoom which followed had the same 
blue and purple appearance as before, and was followed by a 
most suffocating wind for two hours, which reduced our tra¬ 
vellers to the lowest degree of weakness and despondency. 

It was remarkable, that this wind always came from the 
south-east, while the sandy pillars, which prognosticated its 
approach, seemed to keep to the westward, and to occupy the 
vast circular space inclosed by the Nile to the west of their 
route, going round by Chaigie towards Dongola. The heaps 
of sand left by them when they fell, or raised by the whirl¬ 
winds which carried them up, were twelve or thirteen feet high, 
exactly conical, tapering to a fine point, and their bases well 
proportioned. 

The following account of the Whirlwinds of Egypt, is 
from Belzoni’s Narrative :—“ A strong wind which arose this 
day leads me to mention some particulars of the phenomena 
that often happen in Egypt. The first I shall notice is the 
whirlwinds, which occur all the year round, but especially at 
the time of the camseen wind, which begins in April, and lasts 
fifty days. Hence the name of camseen, which in Arabic sig¬ 
nifies fifty. It generally blows from the south-west, and lasts 
four, five, or six days without varying, so very strong that it 


610 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING WINDS. 

raises the sands to a great height, forming a general cloud, 
so thick that it is impossible to keep the eyes open, if not 
under cover. It is troublesome, even to the Arabs ; it forces 
the sand into the houses through every cranny, and fills every 
thing with it. The caravans cannot proceed in the deserts ; 
the boats cannot continue their voyages ; and travellers are 
obliged to eat sand, in spite of their teeth. The whole i*s like 
a chaos. Often a quantity of sand and small stones gradually 
ascends to a great height, and forms a column of sixty or 
seventy feet in diameter, and so thick, that were it steady on 
one spot, it would appear a solid mass. This not only revolves 
within its own circumference, but runs in a circular direction 
over a great space of ground, sometimes maintaining itself in 
motion for half an hour, and wherever it falls it accumulates 
a small hill of sand. God help the poor traveller who is 
caught under it!” 

We shall now describe a Tornado. —This is a sudden and 
vehement gust of wind from all points of the compass, and 
frequent on the coast of Guinea. A tornado seems to partake 
much of the nature of a whirlwind, or perhaps of a water¬ 
spout, but is more violent in its effects. It commences very 
suddenly: several clouds being previously drawn together, 
a spout of wind, proceeding from them, strikes the ground, 
in a round spot of a few rods or perches in diameter, and 
proceeds thus half a mile or a mile. The proneness of its 
descent makes it rebound from the earth, throwing such things 
as are moveable before it, sideways, or in a lateral direction 
from it. A vapour, mist, or rain, descends with it, by which 
the path of it is marked with wet. 

The following is a description of one which happened a few 
ears since at Leicester, about fifty miles from Boston, in 
New England : it happened in July, on a hot day, about four 
o’clock in the afternoon. A few cloudshaving gathered west¬ 
ward, and coming over-head, a sudden motion of their running- 
together in a point, being observed, immediately a spout of 
wind struck the west end of a house, and instantly carried it 
away, with a negro man in it, who was afterwards found dead 
in its path. Two men and a woman, by the breach of the 
floor, fell into the cellar; and one man was driven forcibly 
up into the chimney corner. These were preserved, though 
much bruised ; they were wet with a vapour or mist, as were 
the remains of the floor, and the whole path of the spout. 
This wind raised boards, timbers, &c. A joist was found on 
one end, driven nearly three feet into the ground. The spout 
probably took it in its elevated state, and drove it forcibly 
down. The tornado moved with the celerity of a moderate 
wind, and declined in strength till it entirely ceased. 


H A II MATT A N .-H URRICANE. 


5.1 


U armattan. —This is a name given to a singular wind, 
which blows periodically from the interior parts of Africa, 
towards the Atlantic ocean. It prevails in December, Janu¬ 
ary, and February, and is generally accompanied by a fog or 
haze, that conceals the sun for whole days together. Extreme 
dryness is the characteristic of this wind : no dew falls during 
its continuance, which is sometimes for a fortnight or more. 
The whole vegetable creation is withered, and the grass 
becomes at once like hay. The natives take the opportunity 
which this wind gives them, of clearing the land, by setting 
fire to trees and plants in this their exhausted state. The 
dryness is so extreme, that household furniture is damaged, 
and the wainscot of the rooms flies to pieces. The human 
body is also affected by it, so as to cause the skin to peel off; 
but in other respects it is deemed salutary to the constitution, 
by stopping the progress of infection, and curing almost all 
cutaneous diseases. 

We now proceed to some curious particulars, under the 
term Hurricane. —This is indeed a general name for any 
violent storm of wind, but is peculiarly applied to those 
storms which happen in the warmer climates, and which 
greatly exceed the most violent ones known in this country. 
Dr. Mosely, in his Treatise on Tropical Diseases, observes, 
that the ruin and desolation accompanying a hurricane can 
scarcely be described. Like fire, its resistless force consumes 
every thing in its track, in the most terrible and rapid manner 
It is generally preceded by an awful stillness of the elements, 
and a closeness and mistiness in the atmosphere, which makes 
the sun appear red, and the stars larger. But a dreadful 
reverse succeeds : the sky is suddenly overcast and wild ; the 
sea rises at once from a profound calm into mountains; the 
wind rages and roars like the noise of cannon ; the rain de¬ 
scends in a deluge; a dismal obscurity envelops the earth 
with darkness; and the superior regions appear rent with 
lightning and thunder. The earth on these occasions often 
does, and always seems to tremble ; whilst terror and conster¬ 
nation distract all nature : birds are carried from the woods 
into the ocean; and those whose element is the sea, seek for 
refuge on land ; the frightened animals in the field assemble 
together, and are almost suffocated by the impetuosity ot the 
wind in searching for shelter, which, when found, is but the 
prelude to destruction. The roofs of houses are carried to 
vast distances from their walls, which are beat to the ground, 
burying their inhabitants under them. Large trees are torn 
up by the roots, and huge branches shivered off, and driven 
through the air in every direction with immense velocity. 
Every 5 tree and shrub that withstands the shock is stripped 


512 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING W NDS. 

of its Loughs and foliage; plants and grass are laid flat on 
the earth; and luxuriant spring is changed in a moment to 
dreary winter. This direful tragedy ended, (when it happens 
in a town,) the devastation is surveyed with accumulated horror: 
the harbour is covered with wrecks of boats and vessels; and 
the shore has not a vestige of its former state remaining. 
Mounds of rubbish and rafters in one place; heaps of earth 
and trunks of trees in another; deep gullies from torrents of 
water; and the dead and dying bodies of men, women, and 
children, half buried, and scattered about, where streets stood 
but an hour before,—present the miserable survivors with the 
shocking conclusion of a spectacle, to be followed by fa¬ 
mine, and, when accompanied by an earthquake, by mortal 
diseases. 

Philosophers are now inclined to attribute these terrible 
phenomena to electricity, though the manner in which it acts 
in this case is by no means known. It seems probable, in¬ 
deed, that not only hurricanes, but even the most gentle 
gales of wind, are produced by the action of the electric 
fluid. 

In the next place we shall treat of Monsoons, or Trade- 
Win ds. 

“ Trade-winds, observing well their stated course, 

To human good employ their pow’rful force ; 

The loaded ships across the ocean fann’d 
By steady gales, spread commerce through the land: 

These you observe—but have you no desire 
The hidden spring of such effects t’inquire? 

Or, when contending winds around you blow, 

Do you ne’er wish the cause of them to know V* 

Monsoons are those winds which blow six months con 
stantly the same way, and the contrary way the other six 
months. 

Mr. Olinthus Gregory observes, that “ though the winds in a 
temperate zone of the earth are very inconstant and change¬ 
able, yet this is not the case in every part of the terrestrial 
globe ; for in the torrid zone, and some other parts, the winds 
are generally very uniform and constant in their direction, as 
will appear from the following facts relative thereto:— 

“ 1* Over the Atlantic, and Pacific oceans, particularly be¬ 
tween thirty degrees of north and thirty degrees of south 
latitude, the trade-winds, as they are called, blow uniformly 
bom east to west, all the year round, with a small variation in 
the different seasons. 

2. When the sun is on the equator, the trade-winds, in sail¬ 
ing northward, veer more and more from the east towards the 
□crth ; so that about their limit they become nearly north* 


i 


TRADE-WINDS. 


513 

cast; and vice versa in sailing southward, they become at last 
nearly south-east. 3. When the sun is near the tropic of 
Cancer, the trade-winds north of the equator become more 
nearly east than at other times, and those south of the equator 
more nearly south ; and vice versa, when the sun is near the 
tropic of Capricorn. 4. The trade-winds are not due east 
upon the equator, but about four degrees to the north of it. 

“ To account for these facts relative to the winds, is a most 
curious and important, though mysterious, inquiry ; having 
employed the pens of several very eminent philosophers: but 
amongst all the explanations I have seen, there is none in my 
opinion more agreeable to nature than one given by Mr. John 
Dalton, of Manchester, in his “ Meteorological Observations 
and Essays.” The method of reasoning applied to the subject 
in that work, I shall here make use of. 

“ The inequality of heat in the different climates and places, 
and the earth’s rotation on its axis, appears to be the prin¬ 
cipal causes of all winds, regular and irregular. It may be 
observed, that whenever the heat is greatest, there the air will 
ascend, and a supply of colder air will be received from the 
neighbouring parts: it will be willingly allowed, that the heat 
is at all times greatest in the torrid zone, and decreases 
gradually in proceeding northward or southward ; also that 
the poles may at all times be considered as the centres of 
cold. Hence it reasonably follows, that abstracting from 
accidental circumstances, there will be a constant ascent of 
air over the torrid zone, which air will afterwards fall north¬ 
ward and southward, whilst the colder air below is determined 
bv a continual impulse towards the equator. 

“ When the effects of the earth’s rotation are taken into 
consideration, our reasoning must be as follows: the air over 
any part of the earth’s surface, when apparently at rest/or 
cairn, will have the same rotatory velocity as that part; but 
if a quantity of air in the northern hemisphere receive an im¬ 
pulse in the direction of the meridian, either northward or 
southward, its rotatory velocity will be greater in the former 
case, and less in the latter, than that of the air into which it 
moves; consequently, if it move northward, it will have a 
greater velocity eastward than the air, or surface of the earth 
over which it moves, and will therefore become a south-west 
wind, or a wind between the south and west; and, vice versa , 
if it move southward, it becomes a north-east wind. From 
similar considerations it will appear, that in the southern 
hemisphere the winds will be north-west and south-east re¬ 
spectively. 

“ The trade-winds may therefore be explained thus : The 
two general masses of air proceeding from both hemispheres 
towards the equator, as thev advance are constantly deflected 

3 T 



5)4 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING WINDS. 

more and more towards the east, by reason of the earth s ro¬ 
tation ; that from the southern hemisphere, originally a south 
wind, is made to veer more and more towards the east; in like 
manner, that from the northern hemisphere is made to change 
its directions from the north towards the east: these two 
masses meeting near the equator, their velocities south and 
north destroy each other, and they proceed afterwards with 
their common velocity from east to west round the torrid zone, 
excepting the irregularities produced by the continents. The 
equator is not in reality the place of concourse, but the north¬ 
ern parallel of four degrees ; because the centre of heat is 
thereabouts, the sun being longer on the north side of the 
equator, than on the south side. Moreover, when the sun is 
near one of the tropics, the centre of heat upon the earth’s 
surface is then nearer that tropic than usual, and therefore 
the winds about the tropic are more nearly east at that time, 
and those about the other tropic more nearly north and 
south. 

“ If all the terrestrial globe were covered with water, or if 
the variations of the earth’s surface in heat were regular and 
constant, so that the heat was the same in every part of the 
same parallel of latitude, the winds would then be very nearly 
regular also : but this is not the case ; for we find the irregu¬ 
larities of heat, arising from the interspersion of land and sea, 
are such, that though all the parts of the atmosphere in some 
measure conspire to produce regular winds about the torrid 
zone, yet very striking irregularities are often found to take 
place. A remarkable instance we have in monsoons, which 
are winds that in the Indian ocean, &c. blow for six months 
together one way, and the next six months the contrary way: 
these, with sea and land breezes, do not seem easily to be ac¬ 
counted for on any other principle than that of rarefaction. 

“ Perhaps some persons may be led to suppose, that the 
winds in the northern temperate zone should be between the 
north and east towards the poles, and between the south and 
west nearer the equator, almost as regular as the trade-winds: 
but when the change of seasons, the different capacities of 
land and water for heat, the interference and opposition of the 
two general currents, be considered, it might be concluded 
almost next to impossible that the winds in the temperate 
zone should exhibit any thing like regularity : however, not¬ 
withstanding this, observations sufficiently evince, tlfat the 
winds therein are, for the most part, in the direction of one 
of the general currents ; namely, somewhere between the south 
and west, or more commonly between the north and east; and 
that winds in other directions happen only as accidental varie¬ 
ties, chiefly in unsettled weather. 

“ We may have frequently taken notice, that several winds. 


MONSOON IN INDIA. 


515 

particularly stormy ones, are attended with a cloudy sky; to 
this it may be added, that we have more winds than usually 
occur in rather less latitudes, where the atmosphere is gene¬ 
rally more serene : these considered, make it exceedingly pro¬ 
bable, that the aqueous vapours which are sustained by the 
air, from whence come clouds and rains, may be one great 
cause of irregular winds. It has been determined, from very 
accurate experiments, that one inch of water when evaporated 
will fill more than 2000 inches of space : hence it appears 
that the water which falls in drops of rain, &c. occupied more 
than 2000 times the space when it floated in the atmosphere 
in vapours ; the condensation thereof must therefore occasion 
vacua of such a nature, as will cause winds of different kinds 
and degrees, according to the deficiency which is to be sup¬ 
plied. 

“ The economy of winds, an illustration of which has been 
here attempted, is admirably adapted to the various purposes 
of nature, and to the general intercourse of mankind :—if the 
earth had been fixed, and the sun had revolved about it, the 
air over the torrid zone, and particularly about the equator, 
would have been almost always stagnant; and in the other 
zones the winds would have had little variation either in direc¬ 
tion or strength ; in this case navigation would have been 
greatly impeded, and a communication between the two hemi¬ 
spheres by sea, rendered impracticable. On the present 
system of things, however, the irregularity of winds is of the 
happiest consequence, by being subservient to navigation: 
and a general circulation of air constantly takes place between 
the eastern and western hemispheres, as well as between the 
polar and equatorial regions; by reason of which, that diffu¬ 
sion and intermixture of the different aerial fluids, so neces¬ 
sary for the life, health, and prosperity of the animal and 
vegetable kingdoms, is accomplished :—such is the transcend¬ 
ent wisdom and providential care of the beneficent Father of 
all!” 

The following interesting description of the South-west 
Monsoon in India, is taken from Elphinstone’s Account of 
Cabul.—The most remarkable rainy season, is that called in 
India the South-west Monsoon. It extends from Africa to the 
Malay Peninsula, and deluges all the intermediate countries 
within certain lines of latitude, for four months in the year. 
In the south of India, this monsoon commences about the be¬ 
ginning of June, but it gets later as we advance towards the 
the north. Its approach is announced by vast masses of 
clouds that rise from the Indian ocean, and advance towards 
the north-east, gathering and thickening as they approach the 
land. After some threatening days, the sky assumes a troubled 


516 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING WINDS. 


appearance in the evenings, and the monsoon in general sets 
in during the night. It is attended with such a thunder-storm 
as can scarcely be imagined by those who have only seen that 
phenomenon in a temperate climate. It generally begins with 
violent blasts of wind, which are succeeded by floods of rain. 
For some hours, lightning is seen almost without intermission; 
sometimes it only illuminates the sky, and shews the clouds 
near the horizon ; at others, it discovers the distant hills, and 
again leaves all in darkness ; when in an instant it re-appears 
in vivid and successive flashes, and exhibits the nearest ob¬ 
jects in all the brightness of day. During all this time the 
distant thunder never ceases to roll, and is only silenced by 
some nearer peal, which bursts on the ear with such a sudden 
and tremendous crash, as can scarcely fail to strike the most 
insensible heart with awe. At length the thunder ceases, and 
nothing is heard but the continued pouring of the rain, and 
the rushing of the rising streams. The next day presents a 
gloomy spectacle : the rain still descends in torrents, and 
scarcely allows a view of the blackened fields; the rivers are 
swollen and discoloured, and sweep down along with them the 
hedges, the huts, and the remains of the cultivation, which was 
carried on during the dry season, into their beds. 

This lasts for some days, after which the sky clears, and 
discovers the face of nature, changed as if by enchantment. 
Before the storm, the fields were parched up, and, except in 
the beds of the rivers, scarce a blade of vegetation was to be 
seen; the clearness of the skj was not interrupted by a single 
cloud, but the atmosphere was loaded with dust, which was 
sufficient to render distant objects dim, as in a mist, and to 
make the sun appear dull and discoloured, till he attained a 
considerable elevation : a parching wind blew like a blast 
from a furnace, and heated w r ood, iron, and every other solid 
material, even in the shade; and immediately before the mon¬ 
soon, this wind had been succeeded by still more sultry 
calms. But when the first violence of the storm is over, the 
whole earth is covered with a sudden but luxuriant verdure ; 
the rivers are full and tranquil, the air is pure and delicious; 
and the sky is varied, and embellished with clouds. The effect 
of the change is visible on all the animal creation, and can 
only be imagined in Europe, by supposing the depth of a 
dreary winter to start at once into all the freshness and bril¬ 
liancy of spring. From this time the rain falls at intervals 
for about a month, when it comes on again with great violence, 
and in July the rains are at their height; during the third 
month, they rather diminish, but are still heavy; and in Sep¬ 
tember they gradually abate, and are often entirely suspended 
till near the end of the month, when they depart amidst 
thunders and tempests, as they came. 


VELOCITY OF THE WIND. 


517 




The following Table, which gives some particulars respect¬ 
ing the Velocity of the Wind, was calculated by Mr. John 
Smeaton, the celebrated engineer, and is founded on a correct 
series of practical observations :— 


es per hour. 

Feet per second. 

1 . 

. 1.47 

0 

. 2.93 | 

3 . 

. 4.40 S 

4. 

. 5.87 1 

5. 

. 7.33 i 

10. 

. 14.67 ) 

15. 

. 22. ] 

20. 

. 29.34 I 

25. 

. 36.67 5 

30. 

. 40.01 1 

35. 

. 51.34 ] 

40. 

. 58.68 ) 

45. 

. 66.01 S 

50.. 

. 73.35 X 

60. 

. 88.02 1 

80. 

.117.36 \ 

100. 

. 146.70 S 


Light airs. 

Breeze. 

Brisk gale. 

Fresh gale. 

Strong gale. 

Hard gale. 

Storm. 

Hurricane, tearing 
up trees, &c. 


We conclude this chapter with a poetical enumeration of 
the benefits arising from the wind :— 

“ Of what important use to human kind, 

To w hat great ends subservient, is the wind! 

Where’er the aerial active vapour flies, 

It drives the clouds, and ventilates the skies ; 

Sweeps from the earth infection’s noxious train, 

And swells to wholesome rage the sluggish main. 

For should the sea unagitated stand, 

Death, with huge strides, would desolate the land ; 

The scorching sun, with unpropitious beam. 

Would give to grief an everlasting theme; 

And baneful vapours, lurking in the veins. 

Would fiercely burn with unabating pains. 

Nor thus alone air purifies the seas. 

O’er torrid climes it pours the healthful breeze: 

Climes where the sun direct flings scorching day 
Feel cooling air his sultry rage allay ; 

Unceasing goodness, with unceasing skill, 

Educing certain good from seeming ill. 

His guardian care extends o’er ev’ry shore, 

And blends his favours with what men deplore 
The sable nations hence, and burning skies, 

See luscious fruits in varying beauty rise ; 

Spontaneous Nature laugh at culture’s toil, 

And rich luxuriance bless the grateful soil.* 





















518 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING SHOWERS, ETC. 


CHAP. L. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING SHOWERS, STORMS, Sfe. 

Surprising Showers of Hail—Singular Effects of a Storm—The 

Mirage—Sand Floods—Showers of Gossamers—Winter in 

Russia. 

Ye vapours, hail, and snow, 

Praise ye th’ Almighty Lord, 

And stormy winds that blow 

To execute his word. Watts. 

Then from aerial treasures downwards pours 
Sheets of unsully’d snow in lucid show’rs ; 

Flake after flake, thro’ air thick wav’ring flies 
'Till one vast shining waste all nature lies. 

Then the proud hills a virgin whiteness shed, 

A dazzling brightness glitters from the mead ; 

The hoary trees reflect a silver show, 

And groves beneath the lovely burden low. Broome. 

SURPRISING SHOWERS OF HAIL. 

Natural historians record various instances of surprising 
showers of hail, in which the hailstones were of extraordinary 
magnitude. Mezeray, speaking of the war of Lewis'XII. in 
Italy, in 1510, relates, that there was for some time a horri¬ 
ble darkness, thicker than that of night; after which the 
clouds broke into thunder and lightning, and there fell a 
shower of hailstones, or rather (as he calls them) pebble¬ 
stones, which destroyed all the fish, birds, and beasts, of the 
country. It was attended with a strong smell of sulphur ; and 
the stones were of a bluish colour, some of them weighing 
1001b.— Hist, dp France, tom. ii. p. 339. 

At Lisle, in Flanders, in 1686, hailstones fell of a very 
large size ; some of which contained in the middle, a dark 
brown matter, which, thrown on the fire, gave a very great 
report.— Phil. Trans. No. 203. 

Hr. Halley and others relate, that in Cheshire, Lancashire, 
&c. April 29, 1697, a thick black cloud, coming from Carnar¬ 
vonshire, disposed the vapours to congeal in such a manner, 
that for about the breadth of two miles, which was the limit 
of the cloud, in its progress for sixty miles it did incon¬ 
ceivable damage ; not only killing all sorts of fowls and other 
small animals, but splitting trees, knocking down horses and 
men, and even ploughing up the earth, so that the hailstones 
buried themselves under ground an inch or an inch and a half 
deep. The hailstones, many of which weighed five ounces, 
and some half a pound, being five or six inches in circumfe- 


SINGULAR EFFECTS OF A STORM. 519 

fence, were of various figures ; some round, others half round ; 
some smooth, others embossed and crenated ; the icy sub 
stance ot them was very transparent and hard, but there was 
a snowy kernel in the centre. 

In Hertfordshire, May 4, 1697, after a severe storm ot 
thunder and lightning, a shower of hail succeeded, which far 
exceeded the former: some persons were killed by it, their 
bodies beat all black and blue ; vast oaks were split, and fields 
of rye cut down as with a scythe. The stones measured from 
ten to fourteen inches round. Their figures were various, some 
oval, some flat. See.— Phil. Trans. No. 229. 

The following account of the Singular Effects of a 
Storm, was communicated to the Dublin Philosophical So¬ 
ciety, by the secretary:— 

“ Mrs. Close gave Mr. Molyneux the following account of 
the effects of thunder and lightning on her house at New 
Forge, in the county of Down, in Ireland, on August 9, 1707: 
She observed, that the whole day was close, hot, and sultry, 
with little or no wind stirring till towards the evening, when 
there was a small breeze, with some mizzling rain, which 
lasted about an hour; that as the air darkened after sunset, 
she saw several faint flashes of lightning, and heard some 
thunder-claps at a distance ; that between ten and eleven 
o’clock, both were very violent and terrible, and so increased, 
and came on more frequently until a little before twelve o’clock; 
that one flash of lightning and clap of thunder came both at 
the same time, louder and more dreadful than the rest, which, 
as she thought, shook and inflamed the whole house ; and 
being sensible at that instant of a violent strong sulphureous 
smell in her chamber, and feeling a thick gross dust falling 
on her hands and face as she lay in bed, she concluded that 
part of her house was thrown down by the thunder, or set on 
fire by the lightning ; that, arising in this fright, she called 
up her family, and candles being lighted, she found her bed¬ 
chamber, and the kitchen beneath it, full of smoke and dust, 
and the looking-glass in her chamber was broken. 

“ The next day she found, that part of the cornice of the 
chimney, which stood without the gabel-end of the house 
where her chamber was, had been struck off’; that part of the 
coping of the splay of the gable-end itself was broken down, 
and twelve or sixteen of the shingles on the adjoining roof 
were raised or ruffled, but none shattered or carried away; 
that a part of the ceiling in her chamber beneath those shingles 
was forced down, and part of the plaster and pinning stones of 
the adjoining wall was also broken off’ and loosened, the whole 
breach being sixteen or twenty inches broad; that at this 
place there was left on the wall a smutted scar or trace, as ii 


520 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING SHOWERS, ETC. 

blacked by the smoke of a candle, which pointed downwards 
towards another place on the same wall, where a like breach 
was made, partly behind the place of the looking-glass ; that 
the boards on the back of a large hair-trunk, full of linen, 
standing beneath the looking-glass, were forced in, and splin¬ 
tered as if by the blow of a smith’s sledge; that two-thirds of 
the linen within this trunk were pierced or cut through, the 
cut appearing of a quadrangular figure, and between two or 
three inches over; that one end of the trunk was forced out, 
as the back was driven in ; that at about two feet distance from 
the end of the trunk, where the floor and the side-wall of the 
house joined, there was a breach made in the plaster, where 
a small chink or crevice was to be seen between the sideboard 
of the floor and the wall, so wide that a man could thrust his 
lingers down; and that just beneath this, in the kitchen, the 
ceiling was forced down, and some of the plaster of the wall 
broken off; that exactly under this there stood a large tub or 
vessel of wood, inclosed with a crib of brick and lime, which 
was broken and splintered all to pieces, and most of the brick 
and lime work of it scattered about the kitchen. 

“ The looking-glass was broken with such violence, that 
there was not a piece of it to be found of the size of half-a- 
crown, and several pieces of it were sticking like hail-shot in 
the chamber door, which was of oak, and on the other side of 
the room ; several of the edges and corners of some of the 
pieces of the broken glass were tinged of a light flame colour, 
as if heated in the fire; the curtains of the bed were cut in 
several places, supposed to be done by the pieces of the glass. 
Several pieces of muslin and wearing linen, left on the large 
hair-trunk, were thrown about the room, no way singed or 
scorched, and yet the hair on the back of the trunk, where 
the breach was made, was singed; the uppermost part of the 
linen within the trunk was not touched, and the lowermost 
parcel, consisting of more than 350 ply of linen, was pierced 
through, of which none was anywise smutted, except the 
uppermost ply of a tablecloth, that layover all the rest; there 
was a yellow tinge or stain perceivable on some part of the 
damaged linen, and the whole smelt strongly of sulphur ; the 
glass of two windows in the bed-chamber above, and two 
windows in the kitchen below, were so shattered, that there 
was scarcely one whole frame left, in many of them. The 
pewter, brass, and iron furniture in the kitchen, were thrown 
down, and scattered about; particularly, a large girdle, about 
twenty pounds weight, that hung upon an iron hook near 
the ceiling, was found lying on the floor. A cat was found 
dead next morning in the kitchen, with her legs extended in 
a moving posture, with no other sign of being hurt, than that 
the fir was singed a little about the rump. 


THE MI RAGP,-SAND FLOODS. 


621 


/ 


“ It was further remarkable, that the wall, both above and 
below a little window in the same gable-end, was so shattered, 
that the light could be seen through the crevices in the wall, 
and upon a large stone on the outside of the wall; beneath 
this window was a mark, as if made by the stroke of a smiths 
sledge, and a splinter of the stone was broken off, of some 
pounds weight. I was further informed, that from the time 
of the great thunder-clap, both the thunder and lightning 
diminished gradually, so that in an hour’s time all was still 
and quiet again.” 

We proceed to give an account of The Mirage. —From 
Belzoni’s Narrative. 

“ This phenomenon is often described by travellers, who 
assert having been deceived by it, as at a distance it appears 
to them like water. This is certainly the fact, and I must 
confess that I have been deceived myself, even after I was 
aware of it. The perfect resemblance to water, and the strong 
desire for this element, made me conclude, in spite of all my 
caution not to be deceived, that it was really water I saw. It 
generally appears like a still lake, so unmoved by the wind, 
that every thing above it is to be seen most distinctly reflected, 
which is the principal cause of the deception. If the wind 
agitate any of the plants that rise above the horizon of the 
mirage, the motion is seen perfectly at a great distance. If 
the traveller stands elevated much above the mirage, the water 
seems less united and less deep, for, as the eyes look down 
upon it, there is not thickness enough in the vapour of the 
surface of the ground to conceal the earth from the sight; 
but if the traveller be on a level with the horizon of the 
mirage, he cannot see through it, so that it appears to him 
clear water. By putting my head first to the ground, and 
then mounting a camel, the height of which from the ground 
might have been ten feet at the most, I found a great differ¬ 
ence in the appearance of the mirage. On approaching it, it 
becomes thinner, and appears as if agitated by the wind, like 
a field of ripe corn. It gradually vanishes as the traveller 
approaches, and at last entirely disappears Ivhen he is on the 
spot.” 

We shall now introduce to the reader a curious account of 
Sand Floods; a name given to the flowing of sand so 
common in the deserts of Arabia. Mr. Bruce gives the fol¬ 
lowing description of some that he saw in travelling through 
that long and dreary desert.—“ At one o’clock (says he) we 
alighted among some acacia trees at Waadi el Halboub, hav¬ 
ing gone twenty-one miles. We were here at once surprised 
and ♦errified by a sight, surely one of the most magnificent in 


5^2 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING SHOWERS. 

the world. In that vast expanse of desert from west to north¬ 
west of us, we saw a number of prodigious pillars of sand at 
different distances, at times moving with great.celerity, at 
others stalking on with a majestic slowness: at intervals we 
thought they were coming in a few minutes to overwhelm us; 
and small quantities of sand did actually more than once 
reach us. Again they would retreat so as to be almost out of 
sight, their tops reaching to the very clouds. Here the tops 
often separated from the bodies; and these, once disjoined, 
dispersed in the air, and did not appear more. Sometimes 
they were broken near the middle, as if struck with a large 
cannon-shot. About noon they began to advance with con¬ 
siderable swiftness upon us, the wind being very strong at 
north. Eleven of them ranged alongside of us about the 
distance of three miles. The greatest diameter of the largest 
appeared to me, at that distance, as if it would measure ten 
feet. They retired from us with a wind at south-east, leaving 
an impression upon my mind to which I can give no name, 
though surely one ingredient in it was fear, with a considerable 
deal of wonder and astonishment. It was in vain to think of 
flying; the swiftest horse, or fastest sailing ship, could not 
carry us out of this danger; and the full persuasion of this 
riveted me as if to the spot where I stood, and let the camels 
gain on me so much in my state of lameness, that it was with 
some difficulty I could overtake them. The same appearance 
of moving pillars of sand presented themselves to us this day, 
in form and disposition like those we had seen at Waadi el 
Halboub, only they seemed to be more in number and less in 
size. They came several times in a direction close upon us, 
that is, I believe, within less than two miles. They became, 
immediately after sun-rise, like a thick wood, and almost 
darkened the sun : his rays shining through them for near an 
hour, gave them an appearance of pillars of fire. Our people 
now became desperate: the Greek shrieked out, and said it 
was the day of judgment; Ismael pronounced it to be hell; 
and the Tucorories, that the world was on fire. I asked 
Idris if ever he had before seen such a sight? He said he 
had often seen them as terrible, though never worse; but 
what he feared most was that extreme redness in the air, 
which was a sure presage of the coming of the simoom.'” 

The flowing of sand, though far from being so tremendous 
and hurtful as in Arabia, is of very bad consequences in Bri¬ 
tain, as many valuable pieces of land have thus been entirely 
lost; of which we give the following instances from Mr. Pen¬ 
nant, together with a probable means of preventing them in 
future .—“ I have more than once (says he) on the east coasts 
of Scotland, observed the calamitous state of several exten¬ 
sive tracts, formerly in a most flourishing condition, at present 


SAND FLOODS.—SHOWER OF GOSSAMERS. 623 

cohered with sands, unstable as those of the deserts of Arabia. 
The parish of Fyrie, in the county of Aberdeen, is now re 
duced to two farms, and above five hundred pounds a year 
lost to the Errol family, as appears by the oath of the factor in 
1600, made before the court of session, to ascertain the minister's 
salary : not a vestige is to be seen of any buildings, unless a 
fragment of the church. The estate of Coubin, near Forres, 
is another melancholy instance. This tract was once worth 
three hundred pounds a year, but at this time is overwhelmed 
with sand. This strange inundation was still in motion in 
1769, chiefly when a strong wind prevailed. Its motion is so 
rapid, that I have been assured, that an apple-tree has been 
so covered with it one season, that only the very summit 
appeared. This distress was brought on about ninety years 
ago and was occasioned by the cutting down some trees, and 
pulling up the bent or star which grew on the sand-hills; 
which at last gave rise to the act of 15 George II. c. 33. to 
prohibit the destruction of this useful plant. 

“ I beg leave to suggest to the public a possible means of 
of putting a stop to these destructive ravages. Providence 
has kindly formed this plant to grow only in pure sand. 
Mankind was left to make, in after times, an application of it 
suitable to their wants. The sand-hills on a portion of the 
Flintshire shores, in the parish of Llanasa, are covered with it 
naturally, and kept firm in their place. The Dutch perhaps 
owe the existence of part at least of their country, to the sow¬ 
ing of it on the mobile solum , their sand-banks. My humane 
and amiable friend, the late Benjamin Stillingfleet, Esq. 
recommended the sowing of this plant on the sandy wilds of 
Norfolk, that its matted roots might prevent the deluges of 
safid which that country experiences. It has been already 
remarked, that wheresoever this plant grows, the salutary 
effects are soon observed to follow. A single plant will fix 
the sand, and gather it into a hillock; these, by the increase of 
vegetation, are formed into larger, till by degrees a barrier is 
often made against the encroachments of the sea, and might 
often prove preventive of the calamity in question. I can¬ 
not, therefore, but recommend the trial to the inhabitants of 
many parts of North Britain : the plant grows in most places 
near the sea, and is known to the Highlanders by the name of 
viurah, and to the English by that of bent-star .” 

The following is a singular but authentic account of the 
curious phenomenon of a Shower of Gossamers. —From 
White’s Natural History of Selborne. 

“ On September 21, 1741, being intent on field diversions, 
I rose before daybreak: when I came into the inclosures, I 
found the stubbles and clover grounds matted all over with a 


0 


624 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING SHOWERS, ETC. 

thick coat of cobweb, in the meshes of which a copious and 
heavy dew hung so plentifully, that the whole face of the 
country seemed, as it were, covered with two or three setting 
nets, drawn one over another. When the dogs attempted to 
hunt, their eyes were so blinded and hoodwinked, that they 
could not proceed, but were obliged to lie down and scrape 
the incumbrances from their faces with their fore feet. As 
the morning advanced, the sun became bright and warm, and 
the day turned out one of those most lovely ones, which no 
season but the autumn produces ; cloudless, calm, serene, and 
worthy the south of France itself. About nine, an appearance, 
very unusual, began to demand our attention; a shower of 
cobwebs falling from very elevated regions, and continuing 
without any interruption till the close of day. There webs 
were not single filmy threads, floating in the air in all direc¬ 
tions, but perfect flakes or rags, some near an inch broad, 
and five or six long. On every side, as the observer turned 
his eyes, might he behold a continual succession of fresh 
flakes falling into his sight, and twinkling like stars as they 
turned their sides towards the sun. Neither before nor after, was 
any shower observed; but on this day the flakes hung on the 
trees and hedges so thick, that a diligent person might have 
gathered baskets full.” 

This chapter closes with a description of Winter in 
Russia. —The winter, in the climate of Russia, approaches 
very suddenly. There is something very wonderful in the in¬ 
stantaneous change of weather about the time of winter. On 
one day the warmth shall be that of spring, while on the fol¬ 
lowing day the winter shall break forth in all its horrors 
snow and ice are spread in the course of a few hours, and the 
abruptness of this instant change affects even a Russian con¬ 
stitution. Nothing can defend the shivering inhabitant, but 
the artificial heat of his own house; where he seals himself 
up during the hibernal rigours, yet even there they reach 
him. 

There is a pleasing description of these sudden winters in 
one of the letters of the poet Metastasio, while residing at 
Vi enna. The passage is very interesting, and finely describes 
the instantaneous change which occurred. 

“ Within these few days the Teutonic winter has unexpect¬ 
edly appeared, with all his magnificent train, and without the 
least precursor to announce his arrival. All is covered with 
snow. The rivers, as well as lakes, were instantly frozen in a 
most solid manner; and the cold blown from the seven neigh¬ 
bouring hills is so subtle and penetrating, that we cannot 
exclude it from our warmest apartment. But notwithstanding 
all this unforeseen and violent change of nature, I stir find 





















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I 

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ARCTIC REGION? 

































































































































































































THE GREENLAND, OR POLAR ICE. 


525 


much amusement here, having been more formed for Arcadiar. 
tranquillity than the bustle and magnificence of courts. I am 
pleased with the silent concord of all existence; the roving 
about in search of well-know T n paths, fields, bushes, pastoral 
borders, and every known object, of which, though the fall 
of snow has changed the colouring, yet the design is still 
faithfully preserved . I reflect with sentiments of gratitude, that 
the friendly forest, which by its shade but lately defended me 
from the burning rays of the sun, now affords me materials for 
combating the extreme fury of the season. I laugh at winter 
with all its horrors, which I see without feeling, having it in 
our power to compose an artificial spring in our apartments 
at pleasure; but by an impulse of self-love, what pleases me 
more is, the finding out, that, compared with other seasons, 
winter has still its conveniences, beauties, and advantages.” 


CHAP. LI. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ICE. 

On the Greenland , or Polar Ice—On the Tremendous Concussion 
of Fields of Ice — Icebergs—Magnitude of Icebergs—The 
Glaciers—Shower of Ice—Remarkable Frosts . 

There winter, arm’d with terrors here unknown, 

Sits absolute on his unshaken throne ; 

Piles up his stores amid the frozen waste, 

And bids the mountains he has built, stand fast; 

Beckons the legions of his storms away 
From happier scenes, to make this land a prey ; 

Proclaims the soil a conquest he has won, 

And scorns to share it with the distant sun. Cowper . 

Another poet thus describes the polar regions:— 

Vast regions, dreary, bleak, and bare ! 

There on an icy mountain’s height, 

Seen only by the moon’s pale light, 

Stern winter rears his giant form, 

His robe a mist, his voice a storm: 

His frown the shiv’ring nations fly. 

And, hid for half the year, in smoky caverns lie. Scott. 
THE GREENLAND, OR POLAR ICE. 

The following account of the Greenland, or Polar Ice, is 
abridged by the Editor of this work from a paper, by W. 
Scoresby, jun. M. W. S. published in The Memoirs of the 
Wernerian Natural-History Society:— 




626 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ICE. 


“ Greenland is a country where every object is strikingly 
singular, or highly magnificent. The atmosphere, the land, 
and the ocean, each exhibit remarkable or sublime appear 
ances. 

“ With regard to the atmosphere, several peculiarities may 
be noticed, viz. its darkness of colour, and density; its fre¬ 
quent production of crystallized snow in a wonderful perfec¬ 
tion and variety of form and texture; and its astonishingly 
sudden changes from calm to storm, from fair weather to 
foul, and vice versa. 

“The land is of itself a sublime object; its stupendous 
mountains rising by steep acclivities from the very margin of 
the ocean to an immense height, terminating in rigid, conical, 
or pyramidical summits; its surface, contrasting its native 
protruding dark-coloured rocks, with its burden of purest 
snow ;—the whole viewed, under the density of a gloomy sky, 
forms a picture impressive and grand. 

“ Of the inanimate productions of Greenland, none perhaps 
excites so much interest and astonishment in a stranger, as 
the ice, in its great abundance and variety. The stupendous 
masses known by the name of Ice Islands, Floating Moun¬ 
tains, or Icebergs, common to Davis’ Straits, and sometimes 
met with here, from their height, various forms, and the depth 
of water in which they ground, are calculated to strike the 
beholder with wonder: yet the fields of ice, more peculiar to 
Greenland, are not less astonishing. Their deficiency in ele- 
vation is sufficiently compensated by their amazing extent of 
surface. Some of them have been observed near 100 miles in 
length, and more than half that breadth; each consisting of 
a single sheet of ice, having its surface raised in general four 
or six feet above the level of the water, and its base depressed 
to the depth of nearly twenty feet beneath. 

The various kinds of Ice described.—“ The ice in general is 
designated by a variety of appellations, distinguishing it ac¬ 
cording to the size or number of pieces, their form of aggre¬ 
gation, thickness, transparency. See. I perhaps cannot better 
explain the terms in common acceptation amongst the whale- 
fishers, than by marking the disruption of a field. The thickest 
and strongest field cannot resist the power of a heavy swell; 
indeed, such are much less capable of bending without being 
dissevered, than the thinner ice, which is more pliable When 
a field, by the set of the current, drives to the southward, 
and, being deserted by the loose ice, becomes exposed to the 
effects of a ground swell, it presently breaks into a great 
many pieces, few of which will exceed forty or fifty yards in 
diameter. Now, such a number of these pieces collected to¬ 
gether in close contact, so that they cannot, from the top of 
the ship’s mast, be seen over, are termed a pack. 



ICEBERGS OF GREENLAND. 



ICEBERGS OF SPITZBERGEN 













































































































































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H m- 

.. 



' 
















THE GREENLAND, OR POLAR ICE. 527 

‘ When the collection of pieces can be seen across, if it 
assume a circular or polygonal form, the name of patch is 
applied, and it is called a stream when its shape is more of an 
oblong, how narrow soever it may be, provided the continuity 
of the pieces is preserved. 

“ Pieces of very large dimensions, but smaller than fields, 
are denominated Jioes: thus, a field maybe compared to a 
pack, and a floe to a patch, as far as regards their size and 
external form. 

“ Small pieces which break off, and are separated from thi 
larger masses by the effect of attrition, are called brash-ice, 
and may be collected into streams or patches. 

“ Ice is said to be loose or open, when the pieces are so far 
separated as to allow a ship to sail freely amongst them: this 
has likewise been called drift-ice . 

“ A hummock is a protuberance raised upon any plane of ice 
above the common level. It is frequently produced by pres¬ 
sure, where one piece is squeezed upon another, often set 
upon its edge, and in that position cemented by the frost. 
Hummocks are likewise formed by pieces of ice mutually 
crushing each other, the wreck being heaped upon one or 
both of them. To hummocks, the ice is indebted for its 
variety of fanciful shapes, and its picturesque appearance. 
They occur in great numbers in heavy packs, on the edges, 
and occasionally in the middle of, fields and floes. They often 
attain the height of thirty feet or upwards. 

“ A calf, is a portion of ice which has been depressed by 
the same means as a hummock is elevated. It is kept down 
by some larger mass, from beneath which it shews itself on 
one side. I have seen a calf so deep and broad, that the ship 
sailed over it without touching, when it might be observed on 
both sides of the vessel at the same time : this, however, is 
attended with considerable danger, and necessity alone war¬ 
rants the experiment, as calves have not unfrequently (by a 
ship’s touching them, or disturbing the sea near them) been 
called from their submarine situation to the surface, and with 
such an accelerated velocity, as to stave the planks and tim¬ 
bers of the ship, and in some instances to reduce the vessel 
to a wreck. 

“ Any part of the upper superficies of a piece of ice, which 
comes to be immersed beneath the surface of the water, ob¬ 
tains the name of a tongue. 

“ A bight signifies a bay or sinuosity, on the border of any 
large mass or body of ice. It is supposed to be called bight, 
from the low word bite, to take in, or entrap ; because, in this 
situation, ships are sometimes so caught by a change of wind, 
that the ice cannot be cleared on either tack; and in some 
cases, a total loss has been the consequence.” 


528 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ICB. 

On the Tremendous Concussions of Fields of Ich.— 
The occasional rapid motion of fields, with the strange effects 
produced on any opposing substance, exhibited by such im¬ 
mense bodies, is one of the most striking objects this country 
presents, and is certainly the most terrific. They not unfre- 
quently acquire a rotary movement, whereby the circumference 
attains a velocity of several miles per hour. A field, thus in 
motion, coming in contact with another at rest, or, more 
especially, with a contrary direction of movement, produces a 
dreadful shock. The consequences of a body of more than ten 
thousand millions of tons in weight, meeting with resistance 
when in motion, may be better conceived than expressed ! The 
weaker field is crushed with an awful noise; sometimes the 
destruction is mutual: pieces of huge dimensions and weight 
are not unfrequently piled upon the top, to the height of 
twenty or thirty feet, whilst doubtless a proportionate quantity 
is depressed beneath. The view of these stupendous effects, 
in safety, exhibits a picture sublimely grand ; but where there 
is danger of being overwhelmed, terror and dismay must be 
the predominant feelings. The whale-fishers at all times re¬ 
quire unremitting vigilance to secure their safety, but scarcely 
in any situation so much, as when navigating amidst those 
fields : in foggy weather, they are particularly dangerous, as 
their motions cannot then be distinctly observed. It may 
easily be imagined, that the strongest ship can no more with¬ 
stand the shock of two fields, than a sheet of paper can stop 
a musket-ball. Numbers of vessels, since the establishment 
of the fishery, have been thus destroyed ; some have been 
thrown upon the ice, some have had their hulls completely 
torn open, and others have been buried beneath the heaped 
fragments of the ice. 

Icebergs. —“ The term icebergs has commonly been applied 
to those immense bodies of ice situated on the land, ‘ filling 
the valleys between the high mountains/ and generally exhi¬ 
biting a square perpendicular towards the sea. They recede 
backward inland to an extent never explored. Martin, Crantz, 
Phipps, and others, have described those wonders of nature, 
and all agree as to their manner of formation, in the congela¬ 
tion of the sleet and rains of summer, and of the accumulated 
snow, partly dissolved by the summer sun, which, on its de¬ 
cline, freezes to a transparent ice. They are as permanent as 
the rocks on which they rest: for although large portions 
may be frequently separated, yet the annual growth replaces 
the loss, and probably on the whole, produces a perpetual 
increase. I have seen those styled the Seven Icebergs , situated 
in the valleys of the north-west coast of Spitzbergen; their 
perpendicular front maybe about 300 feet in height, the green 


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MAGNITUDE OF ICEBERGS.- THE GLACIERS. 529 

colour, and glistening surface of which, form a pleasing va¬ 
riety in prospect, with the magnificence of the encompassing 
snow-clad mountains, which, as they recede from the eye, 
seem to rise ‘ crag above crag/ in endless perspective. 

“ Large pieces may be separated from those icebergs in the 
summer season, when they are particularly fragile, by their 
ponderous overhanging masses overcoming the force of cohe¬ 
sion ; or otherwise, by the powerful expansion of the water, 
filling any excavation or deep-seated cavity, when its dimen¬ 
sions are enlarged by freezing, thereby exerting a tremendous 
force, and bursting the whole asunder. 

“ Pieces thus or otherwise detached, are hurled into the sea 
with a dreadful crash: if they are received into deep water, 
they are liable to be drifted off the land, and, under the form 
of ice-islands, or ice-mountains, they likewise still retain 
their parent name of icebergs. I much question, however, if 
all the floating bergs seen in the seas west of Old Greenland, 
thus derive their origin, their number being so great, and their 
dimensions so vast/’ 

Magnitude of Icebergs. —“ If all the floating islands of 
ice thus proceed from disruptions of the icebergs generated 
on the land, how is it that so few are met with in Greenland, 
and those comparatively so diminutive, whilst Baffin’s Bay 
affords them so plentifully, and of such amazing size? The 
largest I ever saw in Greenland, was about 1000 yards in cir¬ 
cumference, nearly square, of a regular flat surface, twenty 
feet above the level of the sea; and as it w r as composed of 
the most dense kind of ice, it must have been 150 or 160 feet 
in thickness, and in weight about 2,000,000 of tons. But 
masses have been repeatedly seen in Davis’ Straits, nearly two 
miles in length, and one-third as broad, whose rugged moun¬ 
tain summits were reared with various spires to the height of 
more than 100 feet, whilst their base must have reached to 
the depth of 150 yards beneath the surface of the sea. Others, 
again, have been observed, possessing an even surface of five 
or six square miles in area, elevated thirty yards above the 
sea, and fairly run aground in water of 90 or 100 fathoms in 
depth; the weight of which must have been upwards of two 
thousand millions of tons.” 

The Glaciers. —Those vast piles of eternal ice with which 
it has pleased the Author of nature to crown the immense 
chasms between the summits of the Alps, are objects more 
grand, sublime,and terrific, than any others of the phenomena of 
nature which remam stationary. These tremendous spires and 
towers, of uncertain and brittle fabric, seem to forbid the at¬ 
tempts of travellers to explore the depth between them, or 

3 X 


530 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ICE. 


even the rocks and rich valleys around them ; but courage and 
perseverance have been attended with commensurate success, 
and we are enabled by their labours to learn previously con¬ 
cealed wonders, and to reason upon the causes which produced 
them. 

Mr. Bourrit, precentor of the cathedral church at Geneva, 
mentions, in the relation of his journey to the glaciers of 
Savoy, the enterprise of Messrs. Windham and Pocock, in 1741, 
who, inspired by the artless relations of the peasants, descrip¬ 
tive of the sublimity of their country, when they descended with 
honey and crystals for sale, determined to visit those frightful 
regions of ice which had received the appellation of Les Mon» 
tagnes Maudites; or the Accursed Mountains. The gentlemen 
alluded to took every precaution for securing their safety; 
but entertaining many well-grounded fears, naturally arising 
from a first attempt, they did not reach any considerable dis¬ 
tance beyond the edge of the ice in the valley of Montanvert, 
yet their example operated so powerfully as to induce several 
others to imitate them, and proceed to the boundary whence 
they returned : at length M. de Saussure had the resolution 
and courage to penetrate across the ice to the very extremities 
of the valleys ; Mr. Coxe followed soon after : and from their 
publications every possible information may be obtained, of 
which the nature of the subject will admit. 

The most astonishing phenomenon attending the glaciers, 
is their near approach to the usual vegetation of summer; for 
what can be more wonderful than to view wheat ready for the 
sickle, parched brown by the rays of the sun, and separated only 
by the intervention of a few feet, from the chilling influence 
of an endless bed of ice, which seems impenetrable to its 
rays. 

Many systems and theories have been ingeniously suggested, 
to ascertain the first cause of the glaciers, their maintenance, 
and whether they increase or diminish in extent; of which, 
Gruner’s, improved and illustrated with actual observations 
by M. de Saussure, is the most rational and probable, and 
Mr. Coxe implicitly adopts it. Admitting that a person could 
be raised sufficiently above the summits of the Alps of Switzer¬ 
land, Savoy, and Dauphiny, to comprehend the whole at one 
view, he would observe a vast chaos of mountains and val¬ 
leys, with several parallel chains, the highest of which are 
situated in the centre, and the remainder gradually lessening 
as they retire from it. The central chain he would find to be 
surmounted by stupendous fragments of rock, towering in 
rude masses, which bear vast accumulations of snow and ice, 
where they are not decidedly perpendicular, or do not over¬ 
hang their bases: on each side he would see the intervening 
chasms and gulfs, filled with ice, descending thence even 


THE GLACIERS. 


531 


4nto the verdant valleys, rich with foliage and cultivation. 
The infeiior ranges of mountains, next the central, present 
the same appearance in a less degree; but in those more 
remote, the snow and ice are confined to the most elevated 
points; and others, still further removed, are covered with 
grass and plants, which, in their turn, give place to such hills 
and valleys as are common in any part of the world. 

Mr. Coxe divides the glaciers, in the above general survey, 
into two classes : the first occupy the deep valleys situated 
in the bosom of the Alps, and the second adhere to the sides 
and summits of the mountains. Those in the valleys are far 
more extensive than the upper glaciers; some are several 
leagues in length ; and that of Des Bois is three miles broad 
and fifteen long: but they do not communicate with each 
other, and there are few parallel to the central chain; their 
upper extremities are connected with inaccessible precipices, 
and the lower proceed, as already mentioned, quite into the 
valos. The depth of these astonishing accumulations of frozen 
fluid vary from eighty to six hundred feet, and they generally 
.rest on an inclined plane, where, urged forward by their own 
-enormous weight, and but weakly supported by the pointed 
rocks inserted in their bases, they are universally intersected by 
yawning chasms, of dreadful aspect to the curious investigator, 
who beholds fanciful representations of walls, towers, and 
pyramids, on every side of him; but upon reaching those 
parts where the glacier rests upon an horizontal plane, his 
progress is seldom impeded by considerable fissures, and he 
walks in safety over a surface nearly uniform, and not so per¬ 
fectly polished as that of ponds and rivers suddenly and 
violently frozen. 

The absence of transparency, the various marks of air- 
bubbles, and the general roughness, so perfectly resemble the 
congelation of snow when half restored to fluidity, that M. de 
Saussure was immediately led to form the following probable 
theory of the formation of the glaciers. Snow is constantly 
accumulating in the recesses or depths of the mountains, 
during nine months of the year, by the usual fall of moisture, 
and the descent of vast masses, borne down by their weight, 
from the precipices and crags above. Part of this is neces¬ 
sarily reduced to water by slight thaws and casual rains, and, 
being frozen in this state, the glacier is composed of a porous 
opaque ice. 

The upper glaciers Mr. Coxe subdivides into those which 
cover the summits, and those which extend along the sides of 
the Alps; the former originate from the snow frequently fall¬ 
ing and congealing into a firm body, though not becoming 
■ictual ice, which the brilliancy of the projections has induced 
^rae philosophers to suppose it to be. M. de Saussure, having 


532 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ICE. 

explored Mont Blanc, ascertained that the top was encrusted 
with ice, (which might be penetrated by a stick,) covering a 
mass of snow on the declivities, so chilled and dry as to be 
incapable of coherence. 

The sides of the Alps support a congelation of half-dis- 
solved snow, which is different from the pure snow of the 
summits, and the ice of the lower glaciers. Two causes 
operate to produce this effect; the first is the descent of 
water from the higher regions, where a dissolution of snow 
sometimes occurs; and the second arises from the more 
favourable situation of these parts for reflecting the rays of 
the sun, and the consequent melting of the snow. From 
hence downwards, the ice adhering to the cavities becomes 
gradually more solid by the freezing of the snow-water, then 
nearly divested of that air which in the less dissolved portions 
renders the ice, formed from it, porous, opaque, and full of 
bubbles. 

An idea of the sublimity of the glaciers may be formed by 
reading the account of M. Bourrit, who appears to have viewed 
and described them with all that enthusiasm which such 
splendid objects must have inspired.—“ To come at this col¬ 
lected mass of ice, (Des Bois,) we crossed the Arve, and tra¬ 
velling in a tolerable road, passed some villages or hamlets, 
whose inhabitants behaved with much politeness ; they invited 
us to go in and rest ourselves, apologized for our reception, 
and offered us a taste of their honey. After amusing our¬ 
selves some time amongst them, we resumed our road, and 
entered a beautiful wood of lofty firs, inhabited by squirrels. 
The bottom is a fine sand, left there by the inundations of the 
Arveron; it is a very agreeable walk, and exhibits some ex¬ 
traordinary appearances. In proportion as we advanced into 
this wood, we observed the objects gradually to vanish from 
our sight; surprised at this circumstance, we were earnest to 
discover the cause, and our eyes sought in vain for satis¬ 
faction, till, having passed through it, the charm ceased. 
Judge of our astonishment, when we saw before us an enor¬ 
mous mass of ice, twenty times as large as the front of our 
cathedral of St. Peter, and so constructed, that we have only to 
change our situation to make it resemble whatever we please. 
It is a magnificent palace, cased over with the purest crystal; 
a majestic temple, ornamented with a portico ; and columns 
of several shapes and colours ; it has the appearance of a 
fortress, flanked with towers and bastions to the right and 
left; and at the bottom is a grotto, terminating in a dome of 
bold construction. This fairy dwelling, this enchanted re¬ 
sidence, or cave of fancy, is the source of the Arveron, and of 
the gold which is found in the Arve. And if we add to all 
this rich variety, the ringing tinkling sound of vater dropping 


NAVIGATING AMONG THE ICEBERGS. 












































































































































































































































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SHOWER OF ICE.— REMARKABLE FROSTS. 533 

from its sides, with the glittering refraction of the solar rays, 
whilst tints of the most lively green, blue, yellow, or violet, 
have the effect of different compartments in the several 
divisions of the grotto, the whole is so theatrically splendid, 
so completely picturesque, so great and beautiful beyond 
imagination, that I can hardly believe the art of man has ever 
yet produced, or ever will produce, a building so grand in 
its construction, or so varied in its ornaments. Desirous of 
surveying every side of this mass, we crossed the river about 
four hundred yards from its source, and, mounting upon the 
rocks and ice, approached the vault; but while we were 
attentively employed in viewing all its parts, astonished at the 
sportiveness of nature, we cast our eyes at one considerable 
member of the pile above us, which was most unaccountably 
supported, for it seemed to be held by almost nothing: our 
imprudence was too evident, and we hastened to retreat; yet 
scarcely had we stepped back thirty paces, before it broke off 
all at once with a prodigious noise, and tumbled, rolling to 
the very spot where we were standing just before.” 

Shower of Ice. —A very uncommon kind of shower fell 
ill the west of England, in December 1672, whereof we have 
various accounts in the Philos. Trans.—“ This rain, as soon 
as it touched any thing above ground, as a bough or the like, 
immediately settled into ice ; and, by multiplying and enlarg¬ 
ing the icicles, broke every thing down by its weight. The ram 
that fell on the ground immediately became frozen, without 
sinking into the snow at all. It made an incredible destruc¬ 
tion of trees, beyond any thing mentioned in history. Had 
it concluded with a gust of wind, (says a gentleman who was 
on the spot,) it might have been of terrible consequence. I 
weighed the sprig of an ash tree, of just three-quarters of a 
pound, the ice on which weighed sixteen pounds. Some 
were frightened with the noise in the air, till they dis¬ 
cerned that it was the clatter of icy boughs, dashed against 
each other.” 

Dr. Beale remarks, that there was no considerable frost 
observed on the ground during the above: whence he con¬ 
cludes, that a frost may be very intense and dangerous on the 
tops of some hills and plains; while at other places it keeps 
at two, three, or four feet distance above the ground, rivers, 
lakes, &c. and may wander about very furiously in some 
places, and be mild in others not far off. The frost was fol¬ 
lowed by glowing heats, and a wonderful forwardness of 
flowers and fruits. 

We close this division with an account of Kemajrkajble 
Frosts. — In the year 220, a frost in Britain lasted five 


534 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING RUINS. 

month* —In 250, The Thames was frozen nine weeks.— 291 , 
Most rivers in Britain frozen six weeks.—359, Severe frost in 
Scotland for fourteen weeks.—508, The rivers in Britain fro¬ 
zen for two months.—558, Danube quite frozen over.—695, 
Thames frozen six weeks, and booths built on it.—759, Frost 
from Oct. 1 till Feb. 26 following.—827, Frost in England for 
nine weeks.—859, Carriages used on the Adriatic.—908, Most 
rivers in England frozen two months.—923, The Thames fro¬ 
zen thirteen weeks.—987, Frost lasted 130 days ; begun Dec. 
22.—998, Thames frozen five weeks.—1035, Severe frost on 
June 24: the corn and fruits destroyed.—1063, The Thames 
frozen fourteen weeks.—1076, Frost in England from Nov. 
till April.—1114, Several wooden bridges carried away by ice. 
—1205, Frost from Jan. 15 till March 22.—1407, Frost that 
lasted fifteen weeks.—1434, From Nov. 24 till Feb. 10, Thames 
frozen down to Gravesend.—1683, Frost for thirteen weeks.— 
1708-9, An extraordinary frost throughout the most parts of 
Europe, though scarcely felt in Scotland or Ireland.—1715, 
Severe frost for many weeks.—1739, One for nine weeks; 
begun Dec. 14.—1742, Severe frost for many weeks.—1747, 
Severe frost in Russia.—1754, Severe one in England.—1760, 
The same in Germany.—1776, The same in England.—1788, 
The Thames frozen below London bridge; and booths erected 
on it.—1795, The Zuyder Zee frozen over, and the rivers cf 
Holland passed by the French. 



CHAP. LII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING RUINS. 

Ruin at Siwa, in Egypt—Ruins of Palmyra—Ruins of Hercu 
laneum , and Pompeii—Ancient Ruins of Balbec — Ruins of 
Agrigentum, in Sicily—Ancient Grandeur of Carthage . 

The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, 

The solemn temples, the great globe itself, 

Yea, all whieh it inherit, shall dissolve. Shakspear*. 

Ruin at Siwa, in Egypt.— A great curiosity about Siwa, 
is a ruin, of undoubted antiquity, which, according to Mr. 
Browne, resembles exactly those of Upper Egypt, and was 
erected and adorned by the same intelligent race of men. 
The figures of Isis and Anubis are conspicuous among the 
sculptures; and the proportions are those of the Egyptian 
temples, though in miniature. What remains of it, is a single 
apartment, built of massy stones, of the same kind as those 





nmmuiniiii 





PAUKYRA 




































































RUINS OF PALMYRA. 


53b 


of which the pyramids consist. The length is thirty-two feet, 
the height eighteen, the width fifteen. A gate at one end 
forms the principal entrance ; and two doors open opposite to 
each other. The other end is quite ruinous. In the interior 
are three rows of emblematical figures, representing a proces¬ 
sion ; and the space between them is filled with hieroglyphic 
characters. It has been supposed, with some degree of pro¬ 
bability, that Siwa is the Siropum of Pliny, and that this 
building was coeval with the famous temple of Jupiter Ammon, 
and a dependency on it. 

Ruins of Palmyra. —These celebrated ruins consist of 
temples, palaces, and porticos, of Grecian architecture; and 
lie scattered over an extent of several miles. They were acci¬ 
dentally discovered by some English travellers from Aleppo, 
above a century ago. The most remarkable of them is the 
temple of the sun, of which the ruins are spread over a square 
of 220 yards. It was encompassed with a stately wall, built 
of large square stones, and adorned with pilasters within and 
without, to the number of sixty-two on a side. Within the 
court are the remains of two rows of noble marble pillars, 
thirty-seven feet high, with their capitals, of most exquisite 
workmanship. Of these, only fifty-eight remain entire, but 
they appear to have gone round the whole court, and to have 
supported a double piazza. The walks opposite the castle 
appear to have been spacious. At each end of this line are 
two niches for statues, with their pedestals, borders, sup¬ 
porters, and canopies, carved with the utmost propriety and 
elegance. The space within this inclosure seems to have been 
an open court, in the middle of which stood the temple, en¬ 
compassed with another row of pillars of a different order, 
and much taller, being fifty feet high ; but of these, sixteen 
only remain. The whole space contained within these pil¬ 
lars is fifty-nine yards in length, and near twenty-eight in 
breadth. 

The temple is thirty-three yards long, and thirteen or four¬ 
teen broad. It points north and south ; and exactly in the 
middle of the building on the west side, is a most magnificent 
entry, on the remains of which are some vines and clusters of 
grapes, carved in the most masterly imitation of nature that 
can be conceived. Just over the door are discerned a pair of 
wings, which extend its whole breadth ; but the body, whether 
of an eagle or an angel, is destroyed. The north end of this 
temple is adorned with the most curious fret-work in bas- 
relief ; and in the middle is a dome, or cupola, about ten feet 
diameter. 

North of this place is an obelisk, consisting of seven large 
stones, besides its capital. It is about fifty feet high, and 


636 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING RUINS. 

just above the pedestal is twelve feet in circumference. About 
a quarter of a mile from this pillar, to the east and west, are 
two others, besides the fragment of a third. About 100 
paces from the middle obelisk, is a magnificent entry to a 
piazza, which is forty feet broad, and more than half a mile 
long, inclosed with two rows of marble pillars twenty-six feet 
high, and eight or nine in compass. Of these there still 
remain 129, but there must originally have been no less than 
560. The upper end of the piazza was closed by a row of 
pillars. 

To the left are the ruins of a stately banqueting-house, built 
of better marble, and finished with yet greater elegance, than 
the piazza. The pillars which supported it were of one entire 
stone. It measures twenty-two feet in length, and in compass 
eight feet nine inches. 

In the west side of the piazza are several apertures for gates 
into the court of the palace. Each of these were adorned 
with four porphyry pillars, placed by couples in the front of 
the gate facing the palace, two on each side. Two of these 
only remain entire. They are thirty feet long, and nine in 
circumference. On the east side of the piazza stands a great 
number of marble pillars, some perfect, but the greater part 
mutilated. 

At a little distance are the remains of a small temple, with¬ 
out a roof. Before the entry, which looks to the south, is a 
piazza supported by six pillars, two on each sid« of the door, 
and one at each end. The pedestals of those in front have 
been filled with inscriptions, both in the Greek and Palmyrene 
languages, which are become totally illegible. 

Among these ruins are many sepulchres. They are all 
square towers, four or five stories high. There is a walk across 
the whole building; the space on each hand is subdivided 
into six partitions by thick walls. The space between the 
partitions is wide enough to receive the largest corpse ; and in 
these niches there are six or seven piled one upon another. 
Many inscriptions have been found at Palmyra, which have 
occupied much of the attention of the learned. 

Ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii, —two ancient 
cities of Campania in Italy, which were destroyed by an erup¬ 
tion of Vesuvius, in the first year of the emperor Titus, or the 
79th of the Christian sera, and lately rendered famous on ac¬ 
count of the curious monuments of antiquity discovered in 
their ruins ; an account of which has been published by order 
of the king of Naples, in a work of six volumes folio. The 
epocha of the foundation of Herculaneum is unknown. Diony 
sius of Halicarnassus conjectures that it maybe referred to sixty 
years before the war of Troy, or about 1342 B.C.; and there- 


RUINS OF THE ANCIENT CITY OF BAALBEC OR, BAALGAD. BUILT BY KING SOLOMON 





























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































ftU) NS OF HERCULANEUM AND POMPEII. 


537 


fo;e that it lasted about 1400 years. The thickness of the 
heaps of lava, by which the city was overwhelmed, has been 
much increased by fiery streams vomited since that catastro 
phe, and now forms a mass twenty-four feet deep, of dark 
grey stone, which is easily broken in pieces. By its nca- 
adhesion to foreign bodies, marbles and bronzes are preservsd 
in it as in a case made to fit them, and exact moulds of the 
faces and limbs of statues are frequently found in this sub¬ 
stance. 

The precise situation of this subterraneous city was not 
known till 1713, when it was accidentally discovered by some 
labourers, who, in digging a well, struck upon a statue on 
the benches of the theatre. Many others were afterwards dug 
out, and sent to France by the prince of Elbceuf. But little 
progress was made in the excavations, till Charles, infant of 
Spain, ascended the Neapolitan throne, by whose unwearied 
efforts and liberality a very considerable part of Herculaneum 
has been explored, and such treasures of antiquity drawn out, 
as form the most curious museum in the world. 

It being too arduous a task to attempt removing the cover¬ 
ing, the king contented himself with cutting galleries to the 
principal buildings, and causing the extent of one or two of 
them to be cleared. Of these, the theatre is the most consi¬ 
derable. On a balustrade which divided the orchestra from 
the stage, was found a row of statues; and, on each side of 
the pulpitum, the equestrian figure of a person of the Nonian 
family. They are now placed under porticos of the palace; 
and from the great rarity of equestrian statues in marble, 
would be very valuable objects, were the workmanship even 
less excellent than it is: one of them in particular is a very 
fine piece of sculpture. The collection of curiosities brought 
out of Herculaneum and Pompeii, consist not only of statues, 
busts, altars, inscriptions, and other ornamental appendages 
of opulence and luxury; but also comprehend an entire assort¬ 
ment of the domestic, musical, and chirurgical instruments 
used by the ancients; tripods of elegant form and exquisite 
execution, lamps in endless variety, vases and basons of noble 
dimensions, chandeliers of the most beautiful shapes, pateras 
*nd other appurtenances of sacrifice; looking-glasses of po- 
•ished metal; coloured glass, so hard, clear, and well stained, 
js to appear like emeralds, sapphires, and other precious 
stones ; a kitchen completely fitted up with copper pans lined 
vith silver, cisterns for heating water, and every utensil 
accessary for culinary purposes; specimens of various sorts 
4 combustibles, retaining their form, though burnt to a cin- 
corn, bread, fish, oil, wine, and flour; a lady’s toilet, 
$illy furnished with combs, thimbles, rings, paint, ear-rings, 
4nd other articles 


638 CURIOSITIES Rt&PECTING RUINS. 

Among the statues, which are numerous, a Mercury and a 
sleeping fawn are most admired by connoisseurs. The busta 
fill several rooms; but very few of the originals whom they 
were meant to imitate are known. The floors are paved with 
ancient mosaic. Few rare medals have been found in these 
ruins: the most curious is a gold medallion of Augustus, 
struck in Sicily, in the fifteenth year of his reign. The 
fresco paintings, which, for the sake of preservation, have 
been torn off the walls, and framed and glazed, are to be seen 
in another part of the palace. 

The streets of the city of Pompeii are said to be daily dis¬ 
encumbered. Mr. Williams, a late traveller, informs us, that 
he entered by the Appian Way through a narrow street of 
small tombs, beautifully executed, with the names of the 
deceased, plain and legible. At the gate was a sentry-box, in 
which the skeleton of a soldier was found, with a lamp in his 
hand. The streets are lined with public buildings, the painted 
decorations of which are fresh and entire. There were several 
tradesmen’s shops also discovered—such as, a baker’s, an 
oilman’s, an ironmonger’s, a wine shop, with money in the till, 
and a surgeon’s house, with chirurgical instruments; also a 
great theatre, a temple of justice, an amphitheatre 220 feet 
long, various temples, a barrack for soldiers, (the columns of 
which are scribbled with their names and jests,) and stocks 
for prisoners, in one of which a skeleton was likewise dis¬ 
covered. The principal streets are about sixteen feet wide; 
the subordinate ones from six to ten feet. 

The Ancient Ruins of Balbec. —To give a just idea 
of these ruins, we must suppose ourselves descending 
from the interior of the town. After having crossed the 
rubbish and huts with which it is filled, we arrive at a vacant 
place, which appears to have been a square; there, in front, 
towards the west, we perceive a grand ruin, which consists of 
two pavilions ornamented with pilasters, joined at their bot¬ 
tom angle by a wall one hundred and sixty feet in length. 
This front commands the open country from a terrace, on the 
edge of which we distinguish with difficulty the bases of 
twelve columns, which formerly extended from one pavilion 
to the other, and formed a portico. The principal gate is 
obstructed by heaps of stones ; but, that obstacle surmounted, 
we enter an empty space, which is an hexagonal court of one 
hundred and eighty feet in diameter. This court is strewed 
with broken columns, mutilated capitals, and the remains of 
pilasters, entablatures, and cornices ; around it is a row of 
ruined edifices, which display all the ornaments of the richest 
architecture. 

At the end of this court, opposite the west, is an outlet. 


THE PARTHENON. AT ATHENS 


























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































, 

. 














































BALBEC. 


539 

which formerly was a gate, through which we perceive a still 
more extensive range of ruins, whose magnificence strongly 
excites curiosity. To have a full prospect of these, we must 
ascend a slope, up which were the steps to this gate ; and we 
then arrive at the entrance of a square court, much more 
spacious than the former, being three hundred and fifty feet 
wide, and three hundred and thirty-six in length. The eye is 
first attracted by the end of this court, where six enormous 
and majestic columns render the scene astonishingly grand 
and picturesque. Another object, not less interesting, is a 
second range of columns to the left, which appear to have 
been part of the peristyle of a temple ; but before we pass 
thither, we cannot refuse particular attention to the edifices 
which inclose this court on each side. They form a sort of 
gallery, which contains various chambers, seven of which may 
be reckoned in each of the principal wings, viz. two in a 
semicircle, and five in an oblong square. The bottom of these 
apartments still retains pediments of niches and tabernacles, 
the supporters of which are destroyed. On the side of the 
court they are open, and present only five or six columns 
totally destroyed. The beauty of the pilasters, and the rich¬ 
ness of the frieze of the entablature, are admirable. The 
singular effect which results from the mixture of the garlands, 
the large foliage of the capitals, and the sculpture of wild 
plants with which they are every where ornamented, is 
peculiarly pleasing. In traversing the length of the court, we 
find in the middle a little square esplanade, where was a 
pavilion, of which nothing remains but the foundation. Oil 
arriving at the foot of the six columns, we perceive all the 
boldness of their elevation, and the richness of their work 
manship. Their shafts are twenty-one feet eight inches in 
circumference, and fifty-eight high; so that the total height, 
including the entablature, is from seventy-one to seventy-two 
feet. 

The sight of this superb ruin, thus solitary and unac¬ 
companied, at first strikes us with astonishment; but, on 
a more attentive examination, we discover a series of founda¬ 
tions, which mark an oblong square of two hundred and sixty- 
eight feet in length, and one hundred and forty-six wide, and 
which, it seems probable, was the peristyle of a grand temple, 
the primary purpose of the whole structure. It presented to 
the great court, on the east, a front of ten columns, with nine¬ 
teen on each side, which, with the other six, made in all fifty- 
four. The ground on which it stood is an oblong square, on a 
level with this court, but narrower, so that there was only a terrace 
of twenty-seven feet wide round the colonnade; the esplanade 
this produces fronts the open country towards the west, by a ' 
sloping wall of about thirty feet. This descent, near the city, 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING RUIN8- 


540 

becomes less steep, so that the foundation of the pavilion is 
level with the foot of the hill; whence it is evident that the 
whole ground of the courts has been artificially raised. 

Such was the former state of this edifice; but the southern 
vde of the grand temple was afterwards blocked up to build 
a smaller one, the peristyle and walls of which are still 
remaining. This temple, situated somewhat lower than the 
other, presents a side of thirteen columns by eight in front, 
(in all thirty-four,) which are likewise of the Corinthian order; 
their shafts are fifteen feet eight inches in circumference, 
and forty-four in height. The building they surround is an 
oblong square, the front of which, turned towards the east, is 
out of the line of the left wing of the great court. To reach 
it, we must cross trunks of columns, heaps of stone, and a 
ruinous wall, by which it is now hid. After surmounting 
these obstacles, we arrive at the gate, where we may survey 
the inclosure, which was once the habitation of a god ; but 
instead of the solemn scene of a prostrate people, and sacri¬ 
fices offered by a multitude of priests, the sky, which is open, 
from the falling in of the roof, only lets in light to shew a 
chaos of ruins covered with dust and weeds. The walls, 
formerly enriched with all the ornaments of the Corinthian order, 
now present nothing but pediments of niches and taberna¬ 
cles, of which almost all the supporters are fallen to the 
ground. Between these niches is a range of fluted pilasters, 
whose capitals support a broken entablature ; but what re¬ 
mains of it displays a rich frieze of foliage, resting on the heads 
of satyrs, horses, bulls. Sec. Over this entablature was the 
ancient roof, which was fifty-seven feet wide, and one hundred 
and ten in length. The walls which supported it are thirty- 
one feet high, and without a window. It is impossible to 
form any idea of the ornaments of this roof, except from the 
fragments lying on the ground ; but it could not have been 
richer than the gallery of the peristyle : the principal remain¬ 
ing parts contain tablets in the form of tables, on which are 
represented Jupiter seated on his eagle, Leda caressed by the 
swan, Diana with her bow and crescent, and several busts, 
which seem to be figures of emperors and empresses. 

Ruins of Agrigentum, in Sicily. —The present town, 
Girgenti, occupies the mountain on which the ancient citadel 
stood. At the north-east angle of the ancient limits, upon 
some foundations of large irregular stones, a church has 
been erected ; a road appears hewn in the solid rock, for the 
convenience of votaries, who visited this temple in ancient 
days. It was then dedicated to Ceres and her daughter 
Proserpine, the peculiar patronesses of Sicily. Bishop Blaise 
has succeeded to their honours. 


































































































AGR1GENTUM, IN SICILY. 


541 


At the south-east corner, where the ground, rising gradu¬ 
ally, ends in a bold eminence, which is crowned with majestic 
columns, are the ruins of a temple, said to have been con¬ 
secrated to Juno. To the west of this, stands the building 
commonly called the Temple of Concord ; the stone of which, 
and the other buildings, is the same as that of the neighbour¬ 
ing mountains and cliffs, a conglutination of sea-sand and 
shells, full of perforations,—of a hard and durable texture, and 
a deep reddish brown colour. This Doric temple has all its 
columns, entablature, pediments, and walls, entire; only part 
of the roof is wanting. It owes its preservation to the piety 
of some Christians, who have covered half the nave, and con¬ 
verted it into a church, consecrated under the invocation of 
*St. Gregory, bishop of Girgenti. 

In the same direction are rows of sepulchres cut in the 
rock. Some masses of it are hewn into the shape of coffins ; 
others are drilled full of small square holes, employed in a 
different mode of interment, and serving as receptacles of 
urns. One ponderous piece of it lies in an extraordinary 
position; by the failure of its foundation, or the shock of an 
earthquake, it has been loosened from the general quarry, 
and rolled down the declivity, where it now remains supine, 
with the cavities turned upwards. 

Only a single column marks the confused heap of moss- 
grown ruins belonging to the temple of Hercules. It stood 
on a projecting rock above a chasm in the ridge, which was 
cut through for a passage to the port. 

In the same tract, over some hills, is situated the Tomb of 
Thero. It is surrounded by aged olive-trees, which cast a 
wild irregular shade over the ruin. The edifice inclines to 
the pyramidal shape, and consists at present of a triple 
plinth, and a base supporting a square pedestal: upon this 
plain solid foundation is raised a second order, having a win¬ 
dow in each front, and at each angle two Ionic pilasters, 
crowned with an entablature of the Doric order. Its inside 
is divided into a vault, a ground room, and one in the Ionic 
story, communicating with each other by means of a small 
internal staircase. 

In the plain are seen the fragments of the temple of Aescula¬ 
pius : part of two columns and two pilasters, with an inter¬ 
mediate wall, support the end of a farm-house, and were 
probably the front of the cells. 

Towards the west are the gigantic remains of the temple of 
Jupiter Olympus, minutely described by Diodorus Siculus. 
It may literally be said, that it has not one stone left upon 
another; and it is barely possible, with the help of much 
conjecture, to discover the traces of its plan and dimensions. 
Diodorus calls it the largest temple in the whole island; 


542 


CUR OS1T1ES RESPECTING RUINS. 


but adds, that the calamities of war caused the work to be 
abandoned before the roof could be put on; and that the 
Argentines were ever after reduced to such a state of poverty 
and dependence, that they never had it in their power to finish 
this superb monument of the taste and opulence of their 
ancestors. The length of this temple was 370 Greek feet, its 
breadth 60, and its height 220, exclusive of the foundation; 
the extent and solidity of its vaults and underworks, its spa¬ 
cious porticos and exquisite sculpture, were suited to the gran¬ 
deur of the whole. 

The next ruin belongs to the temple of Castor and Pollux : 
vegetation has covered the lower parts of the building, and 
only a few fragments of columns appear between the vines. 
This was the point of the hill where the wall stopped on the 
brink of a large fishpond, spoken of by Diodorus: it was cut 
in the solid rock thirty feet deep, and water was conveyed to it 
from the hills. In it was bred a great quantity of fish, for the 
use of public entertainments ; swans, and various other kinds 
of wild fowl, swam along its surface, for the amusement of 
the citizens; and the great depth of water prevented an enemy 
from surprising the town on that side. It is now 
used as a garden. 

On the opposite bank are two tapeiing columns without 
their capitals, placed in a tuft of carob trees. Monte Toro, 
where Hanna encamped with the Carthaginian army, before 
the Roman consuls drew him into an engagement that ruined 
his defensive plan, is a noble back-ground in this picturesque 
group of objects. 

The whole space, comprehended within the walls of the 
ancient city, abounds with traces of antiquity, foundations, 
brick arches, and little channels for the conveyance of water; 
but in no part are there any ruins that can be presumed to have 
belonged to places of public entertainment. This is the more 
extraordinary, as the Agrigentines were fond of shows and 
dramatic performances; and the Romans never dwelt in any 
place long, without introducing their savage games. 

We conclude this division of Curiosities by a description of 
the Ancient Grandeur of Carthage. —At the third Punic 
war, Carthage appears to have been one of the first cities in 
the world. It was no less than 360 stadia, or forty-five miles, 
in circumference, and was joined to the continent by an isth¬ 
mus, twenty-three stadia, or three miles and a furlong, in 
breadth. On the west side projected a long tract of Fand. 
half a stadium broad; which shooting out into the sea, sepa¬ 
rated it from a lake, or morass, and was strongly fortified on 
all sides by rocks and a single wall. In the middle of the 
city stc od the citadel of Byrsa, having on the top of it a 


dry, and 










































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































’ 






' 











, 









. 










ANCIENT GRANDEUR OF CARTHAGE. ,543 

temple sacred to iEsculapius, seated upon rocks, to which 
the ascent was by sixty steps. On the south side the city 
was surrounded by a triple wall, thirty cubits high; flanked 
all round by parapets and towers, at equal distances of 48C 
feet. Every tower had its foundation sunk thirty-two feet 
deep, and was four stories high, though the walls were but 
two : they were arched; and in the lower part, corresponding 
in depth with the foundations above-mentioned, were stalls, 
large enough to hold 300 elephants, with their fodder. See. 
Over these were stalls and other conveniences for 4000 horses; 
and there was likewise room for lodging 20,000 foot and 4000 
cavalry, without incommoding the inhabitants. There were 
two harbours, which had one common entrance, seventy feet 
broad, and shut up with chains. The first was appropriated 
to the merchants, and included in it a vast number of places of 
refreshment, and all kinds of accommodations for seamen. 
The second, as well as the island of Cothon in the midst of 
it. was lined with large quays, in which were receptacles for 
sheltering 220 ships of war. Over these were magazines of 
all sorts of naval stores. The entrance into each of these re¬ 
ceptacles was adorned with two marble pillars of the Ionic 
order, so that both the harbour and island represented on 
each side two magnificent galleries. Near this island was a 
temple of Apollo, in which was a statue of the god, of massy 
gold; and the inside of the temple was lined with plates of 
the same metal, weighing 1000 talents. The city was twenty- 
three miles in circumference, and contained 700,000 inhabit¬ 
ants. 

“ All that remains, (says Dr. Shaw,) of this once famous 
city, are,—the area of a spacious room upon one of the hills on 
which it stood, commanding the south-east shore, with several 
smaller ones at a little distance from it; the common sewers, 
which time has not in the least injured or impaired ; and the 
cisterns, which have shared only in a small degree the general 
ruin of the city 


644 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING TEMPLES, ETC. 


CHAP. LII1. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING ANCIENT BUILDINGS , TEM¬ 
PLES, OTHER MONUMENTS OF ANTIQUITY. 

Egyptian Curiosities :— Pompey’s Pillar — Buildings, and 
Library , of Alexandria—Temple of Tentyra—Palace oj 
Memnon—Temple of Osiris . 

If glorious structures and immortal deeds 
Enlarge the thought, and set our souls on fire; 

My tongue has been too cold in Egypt’s praise. 

The queen of nations, and the boast of times, 

Mother of science, and the house of gods! 

Scarce can I open wide my labouring mind, 

To comprehend the vast idea, big 

With arts and arms, so boundless is its fame. Young . 

Pyramids of Egypt —From Cabillia’s Researches, as re¬ 
corded in Belzoni’s Narrative.— 

“ The enterprise of Captain Cabillia was hazardous and 
bold, and nothing but an enthusiasm for discovery could in¬ 
duce a man to take such a step. The consul, with Mr. Briggs, 
Mr. Beechey, and myself, went to see the operations that 
were going on. Captain Cabillia’s circumstances were much 
better than mine ; but he had no superfluous wealth at com¬ 
mand, to continue what he had begun, which required a supply 
beyond his means. Mr. Briggs was the first who generously 
offered to furnish money for this purpose; and, after a con¬ 
sultation with Mr. Salt, they agreed to support the work to 
any extent that might be required. This gentleman not only 
encouraged the undertaking at the pyramid, but has exerted 
his influence with Mohammed Ali, for the general advantage 
of the commerce of Europe. 

“ The enterprise of Captain Cabillia is worthy the attention 
of every one interested in antiquities, as he had solved a 
question by which the learned world has been puzzled for 
many centuries. The famous well, which has given rise to so 
much conjecture, turns out to be a communication with a 
lower passage, leading into an inferior chamber, discovered 
and opened by himself. He first descended the well to the 
depth of thirty-eight feet, where his progress was stopped by 
four large stones. Three of these being removed, there was 
space enough for a man to pass through; but the fourth he 
could not stir, though he had the help of Mr. Kabitsch, a 
young man in the employment of Mr. Baghos, who bore a 
share of the expense with the captain. Twenty-one feet below 




































































































































































































































































































































































































































]■ 







| 






' 










PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT. 


546 


this place they found a grotto, seventeen feet long and foul 
high ; and seven feet below this, a platform, from which the 
well descended two hundred feet lower. The captain went 
down, and at the bottom found earth and sand; but from the 
hollow sound under his feet, he judged that the passage must 
communicate with some other apartment below. He then set 
some Arabs at work to remove the sand ; but the heat was so 
great, and the candles so incapable of burning, for want of 
oxygen, that they were compelled to desist. The captain then 
turned his researches to another quarter, and began to enlarge 
the entrance into the first passage of the pyramid. For this 
operation he was well rewarded; for by it he found that the 
passage continued downward, and having employed several 
men, and taken out a great deal of earth and rubbish, at last, 
after a long and ardent toil, he came in contact with the bot¬ 
tom of the well, where he found the baskets and rope which 
had been left there. The same day that this occurred, was 
that on which we had agreed to visit the pyramids, and I had 
the pleasure to be an eye-witness of the arduous task of Cap¬ 
tain Cabillia. Proceeding in his laborious researches, he 
found that the passage led into a chamber cut out of the 
rock, under the centre cf the pyramid. 

“ Captain Cabillia made several researches round the pyra¬ 
mids also, but none exceeded his toil in uncovering the temple 
sphinx. He found a small temple between the two paws, and 
a large tablet of granite on its breast. The tablet is adorned 
with several figures and hieroglyphics, and two representa¬ 
tions of sphinxes are sculptured on it. Before the entrance 
into the small temple was a lion, placed as if to guard the 
approach. Farther on from the front of the sphinx, is a stair¬ 
case of thirty-two steps, at the bottom of which is an altar, 
with a Greek inscription, of the time of the Ptolemies. At 
each side of the altar was a sphinx of calcareous stone, much 
mutilated. From the base of the temple to the summit of the 
head, is sixty-five feet; the legs of the sphinx are fifty-seven 
feet long, from the breast to the extremity of the paws, which 
are eight feet high. Forty-five feet from the first altar, he 
found another, with an inscription, alluding to the emperor 
Septimus Severus; and near to the first step was a stone, with 
another Greek inscription, alluding to Antoninus. 

“ Notwithstanding his own occupation about the sphinx. 
Captain Cabillia employed other people to carry on re¬ 
searches. He opened some of the mausoleums which were 
choked up with sand, and found several small chambers, with 
hieroglyphics and figures, some of them pretty well executed, 
and in good preservation. In one of the pits he found some 
mummies, in their linen envelopes, and various fragments of 
antiquity. He also opened some of the smaller 

3 Z 


Egypti 


546 curios ITIES RESPECTING TEMPLES, ETC. 

pyramids, and from the suggestion of Mr. Briggs to follow a 
pertain direction, he succeeded in finding the entrance into 
one of them; but it appears, that it was so decayed in the 
interior, he could advance only a few feet. No doubt this led 
into some chamber or apartment, containing perhaps a sarco¬ 
phagus, &c ” 

Belzoni’s own Researches. —M. Belzoni determined on pene¬ 
trating one of the famous pyramids, and, after an immense 
labour, succeeded in discovering the entrance, and reached a 
portcullis; but here a large block of stone stared him in the 
face, and appeared to say, Ne plus ultra. He persevered until 
the stone was removed and the passage opened, which is only 
four feet high, and three feet six inches wide. After thirty 
days’ exertion, he reached the central chamber, where he found 
a sarcophagus. This chamber is forty-six feet three inches 
long, sixteen feet three inches wide, and twenty-three feet 
six inches high. It is cut out of the solid rock, from the floor 
to the roof, which is composed of large blocks of calcareous 
stone, meeting in the centre, and forming a roof of the same 
slope as the pyramid itself. The sarcophagus is eight feet 
long, three feet six inches wide, and two feet three inches 
deep in the inside. It is surrounded by large blocks of gra¬ 
nite, apparently to prevent its removal, which could not be 
effected without great labour. The lid had been broken at 
the side, so that the sarcophagus w r as quite open. It is of 
the finest granite; but, like the other, in the first pyramid, 
there is not one hieroglyphic on it. 

On the wall, at the west end of the chamber, was an in¬ 
scription in Arabic, which has been thus translated by Mr. 
Salame :— 

“ The master Mohammed Ahmed, lapicide, has opened 
them; and the master Ottoman attended this (opening;) and 
the King Alij Mohammed at first (from the beginning) to the 
closing up.” 

M. Belzoni refutes the general assertion, that the pyramids 
were built of stone brought from the east side of the Nile ; 
since stones of immense size have been cut from the very 
rocks around the pyramids, and there is yet stone enough to 
build many others if required. He is of opinion, that the 
pyramids were erected before writing in hieroglyphics was 
invented, and that they were erected as sepulchres. By the 
measurement which he took of the second pyramid, he found 
it to be as follows :— Feet 

The base . 684 

Apotome, or central line down the front, from the top ) 

to the base .$ 

Perpendicular.,. 455 

Coating, from the top to the place where it ends. 140 





PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH. EGYPT 


































































































































































































































































































































































































POM PEY S PILLAR. 547 

Pompf.y’s Pillar at Alexandria; with an account of a 
•urprising Exploit of some British Sailors. 

The Pillar .—This pillar is situated a quarter of a league 
from the southern gate. It is composed of red granite. The 
capital is Corinthian, with palm leaves, and not indented. It 
is nine feet high. The shaft and upper member of the base 
are of one piece of ninety feet long, and nine in diameter. 
The base is a square of about fifteen feet on each side. This 
block of marble, sixty feet in circumference, rests on two 
layers of stone, bound together with lead ; which, however, 
has not prevented the Arabs from forcing out several of them, 
to search for an imaginary treasure. The whole column is one 
hundred and fourteen feet high. It is perfectly well polished, 
and only a little shivered on the eastern side. Nothing can 
equal the majesty of this monument: seen from a distance, it 
overtops the town, and serves as a signal for vessels; ap¬ 
proaching it nearer, it produces an astonishment mixed with 
awe. One can never be tired w r ith admiring the beauty of the 
capital, the length of the shaft, and the extraordinary simpli¬ 
city of the pedestal. This last has been somewhat damaged 
by the instruments of travellers, who are curious to possess a 
relic of this antiquity. Learned men and travellers have made 
many fruitless attempts to discover, in honour of what prince 
it was erected. The best informed have concluded that it 
could not be in honour of Pompey, since neither Strabo noi 
Diodorus Siculus has spoken of it. The Arabian Abulfeda, 
in his description of Egypt, calls it the Pillar of Severus. 
And history informs us, that this emperor * visited the city ot 
Alexandria;’ that he granted a senate to its inhabitants, 
who, until that time, under the subjection of a Roman magi¬ 
strate, had lived without any national council, as under the 
reign of the Ptolemies, when the will of the prince was their 
only law; and that he did not terminate his benefactions here, 
but changed several laws in their favour. This column, there¬ 
fore, Mr. Savoy concludes to have been erected by the inha¬ 
bitants as a mark of their gratitude to Severus ; and in a Greek 
inscription, now half defaced, but visible on the west side 
when the sun shines upon it, and which probably was legible 
in the time of Abulfeda, he supposes the name of Severus to 
have been preserved. He further observes, that this was not 
the only monument erected to him by the gratitude of the 
Alexandrians, for there is still seen, in the ruins of Antinoe, 
built by Adrian, a magnificent pillar, the inscription of which 
is still remaining, dedicated to Alexander Severus. 

The exploit of some British Seamen .—One of the volutes 
ol the column was prematurely brought down some years 
ago, by a prank of some English captains ; which is thus re¬ 
lated by Mr. Irwin. These jolly sons of Neptune had been 


b48 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING TEMPLES, ETC. 

pushing about the can on board one of the ships in the harbour, 
until a strange freak entered into one of their brains The 
eccentricity of the thought occasioned it immediately to be 
adopted : and its apparent impossibility was but a spur for 
the putting it into execution. The boat was ordered; and 
with proper implements for the attempt, these enterprising 
heroes pushed ashore, to drink a bowl of punch on the top of 
Pompey’s pillar! At the spot they arrived, and many con¬ 
trivances were proposed to accomplish the desired point. But 
their labour was vain; and they began to despair of success, 
when the genius who struck out the frolic, happily suggested 
the means of performing it. 

A man was dispatched to the city for a paper kite ; and 
the inhabitants, by this time apprised of what was going for¬ 
ward, flocked in crowds to be witnesses of the address and 
boldness of the English. The governor of Alexandria was 
told that these seamen were about to pull down Pompey's 
pillar. But whether he gave them credit for their respect to 
the Roman warrior, or to the Turkish government, he left 
them to themselves; and politely answered, that the English 
were too great patriots to injure the remains of Pompey. He 
knew little, however, of the disposition of the people who 
were engaged in this undertaking. Had the Turkish empire 
risen in opposition, it would not at that moment have deterred 
them. The kite was brought, and flown directly over the 
pillar ; so that when it fell on the other side, the string lodged 
upon the capital. The chief obstacle was now overcome. A 
two-inch rope was tied to one end of the string, and drawn 
over the pillar by the end to which the kite was affixed. By 
this rope, one of the seamen ascended to the top; and in less 
than an hour, a kind of shroud was constructed, by which the 
whole company went up, and drank their punch, amidst the 
shouts of the astonished multitude. 

To the eye below, the capital of the pillar does not appear 
capable of holding more than one man upon it; but our seamen 
found it could contain no less than eight persons very conve¬ 
niently. It is astonishing that no accident befel these mad 
caps, in a situation so elevated, that it would have turned 
a landman giddy in his sober senses. The only detriment 
which the pillar received, was the loss of the volute before- 
mentioned, which came down with a thundering sound, and 
was carried to England by one of the captains, as a present to 
a. lady who had commissioned him to procure her a piece of it 
Ihe discovery which they made amply compensated for this 
mischief; as without their evidence, the world would not have 
known at this hour, that there was originally a statue on this 
pillar, one foot and ancle of which are still remaining. The 
statue must have been of a gigantic size, to hare appeared of 



POMPEY’S PILLAR 























































































































































































































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1 

















































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BUILDINGS, AND LIBRARY, OF ALEXANDRIA. 549 

a man’s proportion at so great a height. There are circum¬ 
stances in this story which might give it an air of fiction, 
were it not proved beyond all doubt. Besides the testimonies 
of many eye-witnesses, the adventurers themselves have left a 
token of the fact, by the initials of their names, which are 
very legibly painted in black just beneath the capital. 

Buildings, and Library, of Alexandria. —The archi¬ 
tect employed by Alexander, in this undertaking, was the 
celebrated Dinocrates, who had acquired so much reputation 
by rebuilding the temple of Diana at Ephesus. The city was 
first rendered populous by Ptolemy Soter, one of Alexander’s 
captains, who, after the death of the Macedonian monarch, 
being appointed governor of Egypt, soon assumed the title of 
king, and took up his residence at Alexandria, about three 
hundred and four years before Christ. In the thirtieth year of 
his reign he made his son, Ptolemy Philadelphus, partner 
with him in the empire; and by this prince the city of 
Alexandria was much embellished. In the first year of his 
reign, the famous watch-tower of Pharos was finished. It 
had been begun several years before by Ptolemy Soter; and, 
when finished, was looked upon as one of the wonders of the 
world. 

The same year, the island of Pharos itself, originally seven 
furlongs distant from the continent, was joined to it by a 
causeway. This was the work of Dexiphanes, who com¬ 
pleted it at the same time that his son put the last hand to 
the tower. The tower was a large square structure of white 
marble, on the top of which, fires were kept constantly burn¬ 
ing for the direction of sailors. The building cost 800 
talents; which, if Attic, amounted to £165,000 ; if Alexan¬ 
drian, to twice that sum. The architect employed in this 
famous structure, fell upon the following contrivance to usurp 
the whole glory to himself. Being ordered to engrave upon 
it the following inscription, “ King Ptolemy, to the Gods the 
Saviours, for the Benefit of Sailors;” instead of the king’s 
name, he substituted his own, and then filling up the marble 
with mortar, wrote upon it the above-mentioned inscription. 
In process of time, the mortar being worn off, the following 
inscription appeared : “ Sostratus the Cnidian, the son of 
Dexiphanes, to the Gods the Saviours, for the Benefit of 
Sailors.” 

This year, also, was remarkable for bringing the image of 
Serapis from Pontus to Alexandria. It was set up in one of the 
suburbs of the city called Rhacotis, where a temple was after¬ 
wards erected to his honour, suitable to the greatness of that 
stately metropolis, and called, from the god worshipped there, 
Serapium. This structure, according to Ammianus Marcellinus, 




550 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING TEMPLES, ETC. 

surpassed in beauty the magnificence of all others m the 
world, except the capitol at Rome. 

Within the verge of this temple was the famous Alexan¬ 
drian library. It was founded by Ptolemy Soter, for the use 
of an academy he instituted in this city; and, from continual 
additions by his successors, became at last the finest library in 
the world, containing no fewer than seven hundred thousand 
volumes. One method adopted in collecting books for this 
library, was, to seize all those which were brought into Egypt 
by the Greeks, or other foreigners. The books were tran¬ 
scribed in the museum by persons appointed for that purpose ; 
the copies were then delivered to the proprietors, and the 
originals laid up in the library. Ptolemy Euergetes, having 
borrowed from the Athenians the works of Sophocles, Euri¬ 
pides, and iEschylus, returned them only the copies, which 
he caused to be transcribed in as beautiful a manner as pos¬ 
sible, presenting the Athenians at the same time with 13 
talents (upwards of £3000 sterling) for the exchange. As the 
museum was at first in that quarter of the city called Bru- 
chion, near the royal palace, the library was placed there like¬ 
wise ; but when it came to contain four hundred thousand 
volumes, another library within the Serapium was erected, by 
way of supplement to it, and on that account called the 
Daughter of the former. In this second library, three hundred 
thousand volumes, in process of time, were deposited ; and 
both libraries together contained the seven hundred thousand 
volumes already mentioned. In the war carried on by Julius 
Ceesar against the inhabitants of this city, the library in the 
Bruchion, with the four hundred thousand volumes it con¬ 
tained, was reduced to ashes. The library in the Serapium, 
however, still remained ; and here Cleopatra deposited two 
hundred thousand volumes of the Permagean library, with 
which Marc Antony presented her. These, and others added 
from time to time, rendered the new library at Alexandria 
more numerous and considerable than the former ; and though 
it was often plundered during the revolutions and troubles of 
the Roman Empire, yet it was again and again repaired, and 
filled with the same number of books. 

Temple of Tentyra, in Egypt. —From Belzoni’s Nai- 
rative. 

“ Little could be seen of the temple, till we came near to it, 
as it is surrounded by high mounds of rubbish of the old 
Tentyra. On our arriving before it, l was for some time at a 
loss to know where I should begin my examination; the 
numerous objects before me, all equally attractive, leaving me 
for a while in a state of suspense and astonishment. The enor 
mous masses of stone employed in the edifice, are so well 


j 


TEMPLE OF TENTYRA IN EGYPT. 





























































































































































































































































TEMPLE OF TENTYRA, IN EGYPT 651 


disposed, that the eye discovers the most just proportion 
every where. The majestic appearance of its construction, 
the variety of its ornaments, and, above all, the singularity of 
its preservation, had such an effect on me, that I seated my¬ 
self on the ground, and, for a considerable time, was lost in 
admiration. It is the first Egyptian temple the traveller sees 
on ascending the Nile, and it is certainly the most magni¬ 
ficent. It has an advantage over most others, from the good 
state of preservation it is in ; and I should have no scruple in 
saying, that it is of a much later date than any other. The 
superiority of the workmanship gives us sufficient reason to 
believe it to be of the time of the first Ptolemy ; and it is not 
improbable, that he who laid the foundation of the Alexan¬ 
drian library, instituted the philosophical society of the 
museum, and studied to render himself beloved by his people, 
might erect such an edifice, to convince the Egyptians of his 
superiority of mind over the ancient kings of Egypt, even in 


religious devotion. 


“ This is the cabinet of the Egyptian arts, the product of 
study for many centuries, and it was here that Denon thought 
himself in the sanctuary of the arts and sciences. The front 
is adorned with a beautiful cornice, and a frieze covered with 
figures and hieroglyphics, over the centre of which the 
winged globe is predominant, and the two sides are em¬ 
bellished with compartments of sacrifices and offerings. The 
columns that form the portico are twenty-four in number, 
divided into four rows, including those in the front. On 
entering the gate, the scene changes, and requires more 
minute observation. The quadrangular form of the capitals 
first strikes the eye. At each side of the square there is a 
colossal head of the goddess Isis, with cow’s ears. There is 
not one of these heads but is much mutilated, particu¬ 
larly those on the columns in the front of the temple, facing 
the outside : but, notwithstanding this disadvantage, and the 
flatness of their form, there is a simplicity in their counte¬ 
nance that approaches to a smile. The shafts of the columns 
are, covered with hieroglyphics and figures, which are in basso 
relievo, as are all the figures in the front and lateral walls. 
The front of the door-way, which is in a straight line with the 
entrance, and the sanctuary, is richly adorned with figures of 
smaller size than the rest of the portico. The ceiling contains 
the zodiac, inclosed by two long female figures, which extend 
from one side to the other of it. The walls are divided into 
several square compartments, each containing figures repre¬ 
senting deities, and priests in the act of offering or immolat¬ 
ing victims. On all the walls, columns, ceiling, or architraves, 
there is nowhere a space of two feet that is not covered with 
8DHK figures of human beings, animals, plants, emblems of 


562 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING TEMPLES, ETC. 

agriculture, or of religious ceremony. Wherever the eyes 
turn, wherever the attention is fixed, every thing inspires re¬ 
spect and veneration, heightened by the solitary situation of 
this temple, which adds "to the attraction of these splendid 
recesses. The inner apartments are much the same as the 
portico, all covered with figures in basso relievo. 

“ On the top of the temple the Arabs had built a village; 
I suppose, to be the more elevated, and exposed to the air: 
but it is all in ruins, as no one now lives there. From the 
top I descended into some apartments on the east side of the 
temple; there I saw the famous zodiac on the ceiling. The 
circular form of this zodiac led me to suppose, in some measure, 
that this temple was built at a later period than the rest, as 
nothing like it is seen any where else. In the front of the 
edifice there is a propylseon, not inferior to the works in the 
temple, and, though partly fallen, it still shews its ancient 
grandeur. On the left, going from the portico, there is a 
small temple, surrounded by columns. In the inside is a 
figure of Isis sitting with Orus in her lap ; and other female 
figures, each with a child in her arms, are observable. The 
capitals of the columns are adorned with the figures of 
Typhon. The gallery, or portico, that surrounds the tem¬ 
ple, is filled up with rubbish, to a great height, and walls 
of unburnt bricks have been raised from one column to 
another. 

“ Farther on, in a right line with the propylteon, are the 
remains of an hyptethral temple, which form a square of 
twelve columns, connected with each other by a wall, except 
at the door-way, which fronts the propylseon. The eastern 
wall of the great temple is richly adorned with figures in 
intaglio relevato; they are perfectly finished; the female 
figures are about four feet high, disposed in different com¬ 
partments. 

“ Behind the temple is a small Egyptian building, quite 
detached from the large edifice; and, from its construction, 
I would venture to say, that it was the habitation of the 
priests. At some distance from the great temple are the 
foundations of another, not so large as the first. The propy’- 
laeon is still standing, in good preservation.” 

Two objects of great curiosity are, The Palace of Mem- 
non, and The Temple of Osiris, at Abidos.— Abidos, 
an inland town of Egypt, between Ptolemais and Diospolis 
Parva, towards Cyrene, is famous for the Palace of Memnon, 
and the Temple of Osiris, and inhabited by a colony of 
Milesians. It was the only one in the country into which the 
singers and dancers were forbid to enter. This city, reduced 
to a village under the empire of Augustus, now presents to 


PALACE OF MEM NON, ETC. 


too 


our view only an heap of ruins, without inhabitants; but to 
the west of these ruins is still found the celebrated Tomb of 
Ismandes. The entrance is under a portico sixty feet high, 
and supported by two rows of massy columns. The immove¬ 
able solidity of the edifice, the huge masses which compose 
it, the hieroglyphics it is loaded with, stamp it as a work of 
the ancient Egyptians. 

Beyond it, is a temple three hundred feet long, and one 
hundred and fifty-five wide. Upon entering the monument, 
we meet with an immense hall, the roof of which is supported 
by twenty-eight columns, sixty feet high, and nineteen in 
circumference at the base. They are twelve feet distant from 
each other. The enormous stones that form the ceiling, per¬ 
fectly joined and incrusted as it were one into the other, offer 
to the eye nothing but one solid platform of marble, one 
hundred and twenty-six feet long, and twenty-six wide. The 
walls are covered with hieroglyphics. Here are seen a mul¬ 
titude of animals, birds, and human figures with pointed caps 
on their heads, and a piece of stuff' hanging down behind, 
dressed in loose robes, that come down only to the waist. 
The sculpture, however, is clumsy ; and the forms of the body, 
with the attitudes and proportions of the members, are ill ob¬ 
served. Amongst these we may distinguish some women 
suckling their children, and men presenting offerings to them. 
Here also we meet with the divinities of India. 

Monsieur Chevalier, formerly governor of Chanderna- 
gore, who resided twenty years in that country, carefully 
visited this monument on his return from Bengal. He re¬ 
marked here the gods Juggernaut, Gonez, and Vechnon, or 
Wistnou, such as they are represented in the temples of 
Indostan. 

A great gate opens at the bottom of the first hall, which 
leads to an apartment, forty-six feet long by twenty-two 
wide. Six square pillars support the roof of it, and at the 
angles are the doors of four other chambers, but so choked 
up°with rubbish that they cannot now be entered. The last 
hall, sixty-four feet long by twenty-four wide, has stairs which 
form a descent into the subterraneous apartments of this grand 
edifice. 

The Arabs, in searching after treasure, have piled up heaps 
of earth and rubbish. In the part we are able to penetrate, 
sculpture and hieroglyphics are discoverable, as in the upper 
story. The natives say that they correspond exactly with 
those above ground, and that the columns are as deep 
in the earth, as they are lofty above ground. It would 
be dangerous to go far into those vaults; for the air of 
them is so loaded with a riiephitic vapour, that a candle can 
scarcely be kept burning in them. 


554 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING TEMPLES, ETC. 


Six lions’heads, placed on the two sides of the temple, serve 
as spouts to carry off the water. One mounts to the top by 
a staircase of a very singular structure. It is built with stones 
incrusted in the wall, and projecting six feet out; so that, 
being supported only at one end, they appear to be suspended 
in the air. The walls, the roof, and the columns of this edi¬ 
fice, have suffered nothing from the injuries of time ; and did 
not the hieroglyphics, by being corroded in some places, mark 
its antiquity, it would appear to have been newly built. The 
solidity is such, that unless people make a point of destroying 
it, the building must last a great number of ages. Except 
the colossal figures, whose heads serve as an ornament to 
the capitals of the columns, and which are sculptured in re¬ 
lievo, the rest of the hieroglyphics which cover the inside are 
carved in stone. 

To the left of this great building we meet with another much 
smaller, at the bottom of which is a sort of altar. This was 
probably the sanctuary of the temple of Osiris. 


—►♦*•©•<♦«— 

CHAP. LIV. 

curiosities respecting BUILDINGS, etc. — (Continued.) 

Temple of Diana at Ephesus — Laocoon — Babylon—Alhambra 

Temple of Diana, at Ephesus. —The chief ornament of 
Ephesus was the temple of Diana, built at the common charge 
of all the states in Asia, and, for its structure, size, and furni¬ 
ture, accounted among the wonders of the world. This great 
edifice was situated at the foot of a mountain, and at the head 
of a marsh ; which place they chose, if we believe Pliny, as 
the least subject to earthquakes. This site doubled the 
charges ; for they were obliged to be at a vast expense in 
making drains to convey the water that came down the hill 
into the morass and the Cayster. Philo Byzantius tells us, 
that in this work they used such a quantity-of stone, as almost 
exhausted all the quarries in the country ; and these drains, or 
vaults, are what the present inhabitants take for a labyrinth. 
To secure the foundations of the conduits or sewers, which 
were to bear a building of such prodigious weight, they laid 
beds of charcoal, says Pliny, well rammed, and upon them 
others of wood : Pliny says, four hundred years were spent in 
building this wonderful temple, by all Asia: others say, only 
two hundred and twenty. It was four hundred and twenty- 
five feet in length, and two hundred in breadth, supported bj 
















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































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- 

11 H 111 • il 








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1 

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TEMPLE OF DIANA, AT EPHESUS. 


555 


one hundred and twenty-seven marble pillars, seventy feet high, 
of which twentv-seven were most curiously carved, and the 
rest polished. These pillars were the works of so many kings, 
and the bas-reliefs of one were done by Scopas, the most fa¬ 
mous sculptor of antiquity; the altar was almost wholly the 
work of Praxiteles. Cheiromocrates, who built the city of Alex¬ 
andria, and offered to form Mount Athos into a statue of 
Alexandria, was the architect employed on this occasion. 

The temple enjoyed the privilege of an asylum, which at 
first extended to a furlong, was afterwards enlarged by Mi- 
thridates to a bow-shot, and doubled by Marc Antony, so that 
it took in part of the city : but Tiberius, to put a stop to the 
many abuses and disorders that attended privileges of this 
kind, revoked them all, and declared that no man, guilty of 
any wicked or dishonest action, should escape justice, though 
he fled to the altar itself. 

The pr.iests who officiated in this temple were held in great 
esteem, and entrusted with the care of sacred virgins, or priest¬ 
esses, but not till they were made eunuchs. They were called 
Estiatores and Essence, had a particular diet, and were net 
allowed to go into any private house. They were maintained 
out of the profits accruing from the lake Selinusius, and an¬ 
other that fell into it; which must have been very considerable, 
since they erected a golden statue to one Artemidorus, who 
being sent to Rome, recovered them, after they had been seized 
by the farmers of the public revenues. 

All the Ionians resorted yearly to Ephesus, with their wives 
and children, where they solemnized the festival of Diana 
with great pomp and magnificence, making on that occasion 
rich offerings to the goddess, and valuable presents to her 
priests. 

The Asiarchcc, mentioned by St. Luke, (Acts xix. 31,) were, 
according to Beza, priests who regulated the public sports 
annually performed at Ephesus, in honour of Diana; and were 
maintained with the collections during the sports, for all Asia 
flocked to see them. 

The great Diana of the Ephesians, as she was styled bv 
her blind adorers, was, according to Rliny, a small statue ot 
ebony, made by one Canitia, though believed by the super¬ 
stitious to have'been sent down from heaven by Jupiter. This 
statue was first placed in a niche, which, we are told, the 
Amazons caused to be made in the trunk of an elm.. Such 
was the first rise of the veneration that was paid to Diana in 
this place. In process of time the veneration for the goddess 
daily increasing among the inhabitants ot Asia, a most stately 
and magnificent temple was built near the place where the 
elm stood, and the statue of the goddess placed in it. This 
was the first temple, and was not quite so sumptuous as the 


656 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING TEMPLES, ETC. 

second, though reckoned, as well as it, one of the wonderE 
of the world. 

The second temple of the great Diana, was remaining in 
the times of Pliny and Strabo; and is supposed to have been 
destroyed in the reign of Constantine, pursuant to the edict 
of that emperor, commanding all the temples of the heathens 
to be demolished :—the former was burnt the same day that 
Alexander was born, by one Erostratus, who owned on the 
rack, that the only thing which had prompted him to destroy 
so excellent a work, was the desire of transmitting his name 
to future ages. Whereupon the common council of Asia made 
a degree, forbidding any one to name him; but this prohibi¬ 
tion served only to make his name the more memorable, such a 
remarkable extravagance, or rather madness, being taken 

notice of bv all the historians who have written of those times. 
•/ 

Alexander offered to rebuild the temple at his own expense, 
provided the Ephesians would agree to put his name on the 
front; but they received his offer in such a manner as pre¬ 
vented the resentment of that vain prince, telling him, “ it 
was not fit that one god should build a temple to another.” 
The pillars, and other materials, that had been saved out of 
the flames, were sold, with the jewels of the Ephesian women, 
who on that occasion willingly parted with them ; and the 
sum thus raised served for the carrying on of the work till 
other contributions came in, which, in a short time, amounted 
to an immense treasure. This is the temple which Strabo, 
Pliny, and other Roman writers, speak of. It stood between 
the city and the port, and w r as built, or rather finished, as 
Livy tells us, in the reign of king Servius. Of this wonderful 
structure there is nothing at present remaining but some ruins, 
and a few broken pillars, forty feet long, and seven in dia¬ 
meter. 

Another curious monument of antiquity, which demands the 
reader's attention, is, Laocoon. —This is a celebrated mono 
ment of Greek sculpture, exhibited in marble, by Polydorus, 
Athenodorus, and Agesander, the three famous artists of 
Rhodes. This relic of antiquity was found at Rome, among 
the ruins of the palace of Titus, in the beginning of the six¬ 
teenth century, under the pontificate of Julius II. and since 
deposited in the Farnese palace. Laocoon is represented with 
his two sons, with two hideous serpents clinging round his 
body, gnawing it, and injecting their poison. Virgil has 
given us a beautiful description of the fact, jEh. lib. ii. 
201 — 222 . 

1 his statue exhibits the most astonishing dignity and tran¬ 
quillity of mind, in the midst of the most excruciating torments. 
Pliny says of it, that it is, opus omnibus pic tune el staluuriii 


BABYLON. 


56; 


aitis prafevendum .— Lib. xxxvi. c. 5. " The Laocoon (Dr. 

Giles observes) may be regarded as the triumph of Grecian 
sculpture; since bodily pain, the grossest and most ungovern¬ 
able of all our passions, and that pain united with anguish 
and torture of mind, are yet expressed with such propriety 
and dignity, as afford lessons of fortitude superior to any 
taught in the schools of philosophy. The horrible shriek 
which Virgil’s Laocoon emits, is a proper circumstance for 
poetry ; but the expression of this shriek would have totally 
degraded the statue It is softened, therefore, into a patient 
♦sigh, with eyes turned to heaven in search of relief. The in¬ 
tolerable agony of suffering nature is represented in the lower 
part, and particularly the extremity of the body; but the 
manly breast struggles against calamity. The contention is 
still more plainly perceived in his furrowed forehead ; and his 
languishing paternal eye demands assistance, less for himself 
than for his miserable children, who look up to him for help.” 
— Hist, of Greece, ii. 177. 

The Laocoon was sent to Paris by Bonaparte, in 1797. 

Babylon. —The following account of this city, in its great¬ 
est splendour, is borrowed principally from Herodotus, who 
had been on the spot, and is the oldest author who has treated 
of the subject. 

The citv of Babylon was square, being a hundred and 
twenty furlongs, that is, fifteen miles, or five leagues, every 
way ; and the whole circuit of it was four hundred and eighty 
furlongs, or twenty leagues. The walls were built with large 
bricks, cemented with bitumen, a thick glutinous fluid, which 
rises out of the earth in the neighbouring country, and which 
binds stronger than mortar, and becomes harder than brick 
itself. These walls were eighty-seven feet thick, and three 
hundred and fifty high. Those who mention them as only 
fifty cubits high, refer to their condition after Darius, son 
of Hvstaspes, had commanded them to be reduced to that 
height, to punish a rebellion of the Babylonians. 

The city was encompassed with a vast ditch, which was 
filled with water, and the sides of which were built up with 
brick-work. The earth which was dug out, was used in mak¬ 
ing bricks for the walls of the city; so that the depth and 
width of the ditch may be estimated by the extreme height 
and thickness of the walls. There were a hundred gates to 
the city, twenty-five on each of the four sides. These gates, 
with their posts, &c. were all of brass. Between every two 
gates were three towers, raised ten feet above the walls, where 
necessary ; for the city being encompassed in several places 
with marshes, which defended the approach to it. those parts 
stood in no need of towers. 


558 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING TEMPLES, ETC 

A street corresponded with each gate; so that there were 
fifty streets, which cut one another at right angles, and each 
of which was fifteen miles in length, and one hundred and 
fifty-one feet in width. Four other streets, which had houses 
on one side, and the ramparts on the other, encompassed the 
whole citv, and were each of them two hundred feet wide. 
By the streets crossing each other, the whole city was divided 
into six hundred and seventy-six squares, each of which was 
four furlongs and a half on every side, and two miles and a 
quarter in circuit. The houses of these squares were three or 
four stories high, and their fronts were embellished ; and the 
inner space was filled with courts and gardens. 

The city was divided into two parts by the Euphrates, 
which ran from north to south. A bridge of admirable struc¬ 
ture, about a furlong in length, and sixty feet in width, 
formed the communication across the river; and at the two 
extremities of this bridge were two palaces on the east, and 
the new palace on the west side of the river. The Temple of 
Belus, which stood near the old palace, occupied one entire 
square. The city was situated in a vast plain, the soil of 
which was extremely fat and fruitful. 

To people this immense city, Nebuchadnezzar transplanted 
hither an infinite number of captives, from the many nations 
that he subdued. It would appear, however, that the whole 
of it was never inhabited. 

The famous Hanging Gardens, which adorned the palace in 
Babylon, were ranked among the wonders of the world. 
They contained four hundred feet square, and were composed 
of several large terraces; and the platform of the highest 
terrace was equal in height to the walls of Babylon, that is, 
three hundred and fifty feet. The assent from terrace to ter¬ 
race was by steps ten feet wide. The whole mass was sup¬ 
ported by large vaults, built upon each other, and strengthened 
by a wall twenty-two feet thick. The tops of these arches were 
covered with stones, rushes and bitumen, and plates of lead, 
to prevent leakage. The depth of earth was so great, that in 
;t the largest trees might take root. Here was every thing 
that could please the sight; as, large trees, flowers, plants, 
and shrubs. Upon the highest terrace was a reservoir, sup¬ 
plied with water from the river. 

The predictions of the prophets against Babylon, gradually 
received their accomplishment. Berosus relates, that Cyrus, 
having taken this city, demolished its walls, lest the in¬ 
habitants should revolt. Darius, son of Hystaspes, destroyed 
the gates, 8cc. Alexander the Great intended to rebuild it, 
but was prevented by death from accomplishing his design. 
Seleucus Nicator built Seleucia on the Tigris, and this c?ty 
insensibly deprived Babylon of its inhabitants. Strabo as- 


ALHAMBRA 


559 


sures us, that under Augustus, Babylon was almost forsaken; 
and that it was no longer any thing more than a great desert. 
St. Jerome relates, on the testimony of a monk who dwelt at 
Jerusalem, that in his time, Babylon and its ancient precincts 
were converted into a great park, in which the kings of Persia 
were accustomed to hunt. 

A German traveller, named Rauwolf, who in 1574 passed 
through the place where Babylon formerly stood, speaks of 
its ruins as follows : “ The village of Elugo now stands where 
Babylon of Chaldea was formerly situated. The harbour is 
distant from it a quarter of a league, and people go on shore 
to proceed by land to the celebrated city of Bagdad, which is 
distant a journey of a day and a half eastward, on the Tigris. 
The soil is so dry and barren, that they cannot till it; and so 
naked, that I could scarcely believe, that this powerful city, 
once the most stately and renowned in all the world, and 
situated in the most fruitful country of Shinar, couid ever 
have stood in this place. My doubts, however, on this point, 
were removed, by the situation, and by many antiquities of 
great beauty, which are still to be seen, and particularly by 
the old bridge over the Euphrates, of which some piles and 
arches of brick remain, so strong as to excite admiration. 
The whole front of the village of Elugo is the hill upon which 
the castle stood; and the ruins of its fortifications, though 
demolished and uninhabited, are still visible. Behind, and at 
a small distance beyond, was the tower of Babylon, which is 
still to be seen, and is half a league in diameter. It is, how¬ 
ever, so ruinous, so low, and so full of venomous creatures, 
which lodge in holes made by them in the rubbish, that no 
one dares approach nearer to it than within half a league, 
except during two months in winter, when these animals never 
leave their holes. In particular, one sort, which the inhabitants 
of the country call eglo, possesses a very active poison, ai\d 
is larger than our lizard.” 

We shall close this chapter with a full description of an 
ancient fortress called Alhambra. 

This place was the residence of the Moorish monarchs of 
Grenada. It derives its name from the red colour of the 
materials with which it was originally built, Alhambra signify¬ 
ing a red house. It appears to a traveller as huge a heap of 
ugly buildings as can well be seen, all huddled together, 
seemingly without the least intention of forming one habita¬ 
tion out of them. The walls are entirely unornamented, con¬ 
sisting chiefly of gravel and pebbles, daubed over with plaster 
in a very coarse manner: yet this was the palace of the Moorish 
kings of Grenada, and it is indisputably the most curious 
place that exists in Spain, perhaps in the world. In many 


60 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING TEMPLES, ETC. 

countries may be seen excellent modern, as well as ancient 
architecture, both entire and in ruins; but nothing to be met 
with any where else, can convey an idea of this edifice, except 
the decorations of an opera, or the tales of the genii. 

Passing round the corner of the emperor's palace, one is 
admitted at a plain unornamented door in a corner. ** On 
my first visit, (says Mr. Swinburne, in his Travels in Spain,) 
I confess I was struck with amazement, as I stepped over the 
threshold, to find, myself on a sudden transported into a 
species of fairy land. The first place you come to is the court 
called the Communa, or Delmesucar , that is, the common baths; 
an oblong square, with a deep bason of clear water in the 
middle; two flights of marble steps leading down to the 
bottom; on each side a parterre of flowers, and a row of 
orange trees. Round the court runs a peristyle paved with 
marble; the arches bear upon very slight pillars, in propor¬ 
tions and style different from all the regular orders of architec¬ 
ture. The ceilings and walls are incrusted with fretwork in 
stucco, so minute and intricate, that the most patient draughts¬ 
man would find it difficult to follow it, unless he made himself 
master of the general plan. This would facilitate the opera¬ 
tion exceedingly; for all this work is frequently and regularly 
repeated at certain distances, and has been executed by 
means of square moulds applied successively, and the parts 
joined together with the utmost nicety. In every division 
are Arabic sentences of different lengths, most of them 
expressive of the following meanings; * There is no conqueror 
but God;' or, * Obedience and honour to our lord Abouab- 
doula.’ The ceilings are gilt or painted, and time has caused 
no diminution in the freshness of their colours, though con- 
stantly exposed to the air. The lower part of the wall is 
mosaic, disposed in fantastic knots and festoons. The porches 
at the end are more like grotto-work than any thing else to 
which they can be compared. That on the right hand opens 
into an octagon vault, under the emperor’s palace, and forms a 
perfect whispering gallery, meant to be a communication 
between the offices of both houses. Opposite to the door of 
the Communa through which you enter, is another leading into 
the Quarto de los leones, or apartment of the lions, which is an 
oblong court, one hundred feet in length, and fifty in breadth, 
environed with a colonnade, seven feet broad on the sides, and 
ten at the end. Two porticos or cabinets, about fifteen feet 
square, project into the court at the two extremities. The 
square is covered with coloured tiles; the colonnade, with 
white marble. The walls are covered, five feet up from the 
ground, with blue and yellow tiles, disposed chequerwise. 
Above and below is a border of small escutcheons, enamelled 
blue and gold, with an Arabic motto on a bend, signifying, 


ALHAMBRA. 


661 

“ No conqueror but God.” The columns that support the 
root and gallery are of white marble, very slender, and fantasti¬ 
cally adorned. They are nine feet high, including base and 
capital, and eight and a half inches diameter. They are very 
irregularly placed; sometimes singly, at others, in groups of 
th ree, but more frequently two together. The width of the 
horse-shoe arches above them, is four feet two inches for the 
large ones, and three for the smaller. The ceiling of the 
portico is finished in a much finer and more complicated man¬ 
ner than that of the Communa, and the stucco laid on the 
walls with inimitable delicacy; in the ceiling it is so artfully 
frosted and handled, as to exceed belief. The capitals are of 
various designs, though each design is repeated several times 
in the circumference of the court, but not the least attention 
has been paid to placing them regularly, or opposite to each 
other. Not the smallest representation of animal life can be 
discovered amidst the variety of foliages, grotesques, and 
strange ornaments. About each arch is a large square of 
arabesques, surrounded with a rim of characters, that are 
generally quotations from the Koran. Over the pillars is an¬ 
other square of delightful foliage work. Higher up is a wooden 
rim, or kind of cornice, as much enriched with carving as 
the stucco that covers the part underneath. Over this pro¬ 
jects a roof of red tiles, the only thing that disfigures this 
beautiful square. This ugly covering is modern, put on by 
order of Mr. Wall, the late prime minister. In the centre of 
the court are twelve ill-made lions, muzzled, their fore parts 
smooth, their hind parts rough; which bear upon their backs 
an enormous bason, out of which a lesser rises. While the 
pipes were kept in good order, a great volume of water was 
thrown up, that, falling down into the basons, passed through 
the beasts, and issued out of their mouths into a large reser¬ 
voir, where it communicated by channels with the jets d’eau 
in the apartments. This fountain is of white marble, embel¬ 
lished with many festoons and Arabic distichs, compliment¬ 
ing the monarch and his princess. 

“ Passing along the colonnade, and keeping on the south 
side, you come to a circular room, used by the men as a place 
for drinking coffee and forbets in. A fountain in the middle 
refreshed the apartment in summer. The form of this hall, 
the elegance of its cupola, the cheerful distribution of light 
from above, and the exquisite manner in which the stucco is 
designed, painted, and finished, exceed all powers of descrip- 
tionT Every thing in it inspires the most pleasing voluptuous 
ideas; yet in this sweet retreat, they say, that Abouabdoula 
assembled the Abbencarrages, and caused their heads to be 
struck off into the fountain. 

“ Continuing your walk round, you are next brought to k 

24. ^ 4 B 


662 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING TEMPLES, ETC. 

couple of rooms at the head of the court, which are supposed 
to have been tribunals, or audience chambers. 

“ Opposite to the Saladelos Abbencar rages, is the entrance into 
tlie Torre de las dos Hermanas , or the tower of the Two Sisters; 
so named from two very beautiful pieces of marble laid as flags 
in the pavement. This gate exceeds all the rest in profusion 
of ornaments, and in the beauty of prospect which it affords 
through a range of apartments, where a multitude of arches 
terminate in a large window open to the country. In a gleam 
of sunshine, the variety of tints and lights thrown upon this 
enfilade, are uncommonly rich. The first hall is the concert- 
room, where the women sat; the musicians played above in 
four balconies. In the middle is a jet d y eau. The marble 
pavement is equal to the finest existing, for the size of the 
flags and evenness of the colour. The two sisters are slabs, 
that measure fifteen feet by seven and a half, without flaw or 
stain. The walls, up to a certain height, are mosaic, and 
above are divided into very neat compartments of stucco, all 
of one design, which is also followed in many of the adjacent 
halls and galleries. The ceiling is a fretted cove. To preserve 
this vaulted roof, as well as some of the other principal cupo¬ 
las, the outward walls of the towers are raised ten feet above 
the top of the dome, and support another roof over all, by 
which means no damage can ever be caused by wet weather, 
or excessive heat and cold. 

“ From this hall you pass round the little myrtle garden of 
Lindar.ax, into an additional building made to the east end 
by Charles V. The rooms are small and low. His favourite 
motto, ‘ Plus outrh,’ appears on every beam. This leads to a 
tower, projecting from the line of the north wall, call El To- 
cador, or the dressing-room of the sultana. It is a small 
square cabinet, in the middle of an open gallery, from which it 
received light by a door and three windows. The view is 
charming. In one corner is a large marble flag, drilled full 
of holes, through which the smoke of perfumes ascended from 
furnaces below; and here, it is presumed, the Moorish queen 
was wont to sit, to fumigate and sweeten her person. The 
emperor caused this pretty room to be painted with represen¬ 
tations of his wars, and a great variety of grotesques, which 
appear to be copies, or at least imitations, of those in the 
lobby of the Vatican. 

* From lienee you go through a long passage to the hall of 
ambassadors, which is magnificently decorated with innumer¬ 
able varieties of mosaics, and the mottos of all the kings of 
Grenada. This long narrow antichamber opens into the Com- 
muna on the left hand, and on the right into the great audience 
hall in the tower of Comares; a noble apartment, thirty-six 
feet square, thirty-six high up to the cornice, and eighteen 


INTERIOR OS* AN ANCIENT ROMAN HOUSE 












































ALHAMBRA. 


563 


from til ence to the centre of the cupola. The walls on 
three sides are fifteen feet thick, on the other nine ; the lower 
range of windows thirteen feet high. The wall is inlaid with 
mosaic of many colours, disposed in intricate knots, stars, and 
other figures. In every part, various Arabic sentences are 
repeated. 

“ Having completed the tour of the upper apartments, which 
are upon a level with the offices of the new palace, you de¬ 
scend to the lower floor, which consisted of bedchambers 
and summer rooms : the back stairs and passages, that facili¬ 
tated the intercourse between them, are without number. The 
most remarkable room below is the kino’s bedchamber, which 
communicated, by means of a gallery, with the upper story. 
The beds were placed in two alcoves, upon a raised pavement 
of blue and white tiles; but as it was repaired by Philip V. 
who passed some time here, it cannot be said how it may have 
been in former times. A fountain played in the middle, to 
refresh the apartment in hot weather. 

“ Behind the alcoves are small doors, that conduct you to 
the royal baths. These consist of one small closet, with mar¬ 
ble cisterns for washing children, two rooms for grown-up 
persons, and vaults for boilers and furnaces, that supplied the 
baths with water, and the stoves with vapour, The troughs 
are formed of large slabs of white marble; the walls are orna 
mented with party-coloured earthenware, and light is admitted 
by holes in the ceiling. Hard by, is a whispering gallery, and 
a kind of gallery, said to have been made for the diversion of 
the women and children. One of the passages of communi¬ 
cation is fenced off with a strong iron gate, and called the 
Prison of the Sultana; but it seems more probable that it was 
put up to prevent any body from climbing up into the women’s 
quarter. 

“ Under the council-room is a long slip, called the King’s 
Study: and adjoining to it are several vaults, said to be the 
place of burial of the royal family. In the year 1574, four 
sepulchres were opened, but, as they contained nothing but 
bones and ashes, were immediately closed again/’ 

This description of the Alhambra, concludes by observing 
how admirably every thing was planned and calculated for 
rendering this palace the most voluptuous of all retirements : 
what plentiful supplies of water were brought to refresh it in 
the hot months of summer; what a free circulation of air was 
contrived, by the judicious disposition of doors and windows; 
what shady gardens of aromatic trees; what noble views over 
the beautiful hills and fertile plains! No wonder the Moors 
regretted Granada; no w r onder they still offer up prayers to 
God every Friday, for the recovery of this city which they 
esteem a terrestrial paradise. 


564 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING TEMPLES, ETC. 


CHAP. LV. 

curiosities respecting temples, etc.— ( Continued .) 

Seraglio — Museum — Colossus—and Obelisk. 

O 

Seraglio.—This word is commonly used to express the 
house or palace of a prince. In this sense it is frequently used 
at Constantinople : the houses of foreign ambassadors are 
called seraglios. But it is commonly used, by way of eminence, 
for the palace of the grand seignior at Constantinople ; where 
he keeps his court,—where his concubines are lodged—and 
where the youth are trained up for the chief posts of the em¬ 
pire. It is a triangle, about three Italian miles round, wholly 
within the city, at the end of the promontory Chrysoceras, 
now called the Seraglio Point. The buildings run back to 
the bottom of the hill, and thence are gardens that reach to 
the edge of the sea. It is inclosed with a very high and strong 
wall, upon which there are several watch-towers ; and it has 
many gates, some of which open towards the sea-side, and 
the rest into the city : but the chief gate is one of the latter, 
which is constantly guarded by a company of capooches, or 
porters; and in the night it is well guarded towards the sea. 
The outward appearance is not elegant; the architecture being 
irregular, consisting of separate edifices in the form of pavi¬ 
lions and domes. The ladies of the seraglio are a collection 
of beautiful young women, chiefly sent as presents from the 
provinces and Greek islands, and most of them the children of 
Christian parents. The brave prince Heraclicus for some 
years abolished the infamous tribute of children of both sexes, 
which Georgia formerly paid every year to the Porte. The 
number of women in the Harem depends on the taste of the 
reigning sultan. Selim had two thousand, Achmet had but 
three hundred, and the late sultan had nearly one thousand six 
hundred. On their admission, they are committed to the care 
of the old ladies, taught sewing, embroidery, music, dancing, 
&c. and furnished with the richest clothes and ornaments. 
They all sleep in separate beds, and between every fifth there 
is a preceptress. Their chief governess is called Katon Kiaga, 
or governess of the noble young ladies. There is no servant, 
for they are obliged to wait on one another by rotation; the 
last that is entered serves her who preceded her, and her¬ 
self. 

These ladies are scarcely ever suffered to go abroad, except 
when the grand seignior removes from one place to another, 
when a troop of black eunuchs convey them to the boats. 




CHURCH OF NOTRE DAME AT PARIS. 

































































































w 


SERAGLIO 


5tf5 


which are inclosed with lattices and linen curtains; and when 
they go by land they are put into close chariots, and signals 
are made at certain distances, to give notice that none approach 
the roads through which they march. The boats of the Harem, 
which carry the grand seignior’s wives, are manned with 
twenty-four rowers, and have white covered tilts, shut alter¬ 
nately by Venetian blinds. Among the emperor’s attendants 
are a number of mutes, who act and converse by signs with 
great quickness, and some dwarfs, w T ho are exhibited for the 
sultan’s amusement. 

When he permits the women to walk in the gardens of the 
seraglio, all people are ordered to retire, and on every side is 
a guard of black eunuchs, with sabres in their hands, while 
others go their rounds to hinder any person from seeing them. 
If any one is found in the garden, even through ignorance or 
inadvertence, he is instantly killed, and his head brought to 
the feet of the grand seignior, who rewards the guard for their 
vigilance. 

Sometimes the grand seignior passes into the gardens to 
amuse himself when the women are there, and it is then they 
make use of all their utmost efforts, by dancing, singing, se¬ 
ducing gestures, and amorous blandishments, to attract his 
affections. It is not permitted that the monarch should take 
a virgin to his bed, except during the solemn festivals, and on 
occasion of some extraordinary rejoicings, or the arrival of 
some good news. Upon such occasions, if the sultan chooses 
a new companion to his bed, he enters into the apartment of 
the women, who are ranged in files by the governesses, to 
whom he speaks, and intimates the person he likes best. As 
soon as the grand seignior has chosen the girl destined to be 
the partner of his bed, ail the others follow her to the bath, 
washing and perfuming her, and dressing her superbly, and 
thus conduct her, with singing, dancing, and rejoicing, to the 
bedchamber of the grand seignior; and if by a certain time 
she becomes pregnant, and is delivered of a boy, she is called 
asaki-sultcmess, that is to say, sultaness-mother. For the first 
son she has the honour to be crowned, and she has the liberty 
of forming her court: eunuchs are also assigned for her 
guard, and for her particular service. No other ladies, though 
delivered of bovs, are either crowned or maintained with such 
costly distinction at the first; but they have their service 
apart, and handsome appointments. At the death of the sul¬ 
tan, the mothers of the male children are shut up in th * old 
seraglio, whence they can never come out any more, unless 
any of their sons ascend the throne. 

Baron de Tott informs us, that the female slave who becomes 
the mother of the sultan, and lives long enough to see her 
son mount the throne, is the only woman who at that period 


56f» CURIOSITIES RESPECTING TEMPLES, ETC. 

acquires the distinction of sultana-mother; she is till then in 
the interior of her prison with her son. The title bachl - kadun . 
or principal woman, is the first dignity of the grand seignior’s 
Harem; and she has a larger allowance than those who have 
the title of second, third, and fourth woman, which are the 
four free women the Koran allows. 

It must strike every reader, that the present happy condi¬ 
tion of females in Christian countries is directly attributable 
to Christianity; and this stamps an inestimable value on the 
gospel. Females should consider it as the charter of their 
privileges. The Christian religion has, by its letter or spirit, 
exploded customs and practices which were the immediate 
causes of female degradation and wretchedness. It has made 
marriage pure and honourable, by prohibiting polygamy, 
and restricting within very narrow limits the dangerous liberty 
of divorce; two customs which violate the plain order and 
design of Providence in creation, which degrade woman to 
insignificance and slavery, and which brought on that disso¬ 
luteness and corruption of manners in most ancient and some 
modern nations. 

Museum, —is a collection of rare and interesting objects, 
selected from the whole circle of natural history and the arts, 
and deposited in apartments or buildings, eithef by the com¬ 
mendable generosity of rich individuals, general governments, 
or monarchs, for the inspection of the learned, and the great 
mass of the public. 

The term, which means literally a study, or place of retire¬ 
ment, is said to have been given originally to that part of the 
royal palace at Alexandria, appropriated for the use of learned 
men, and the reception of the literary works then extant. 
According to ancient writers, they were formed into classes 
or colleges, each of which had a competent sum assigned for 
their support; and we are further informed, that the establish¬ 
ment was founded by Ptolemy Philadelphus, who added a 
most extensive library. 

It would answer little purpose to trace the history of 
Museums, as the earlier part of it is involved in obscurity; 
and as we approach our own times, they multiply beyond a 
possibility of noticing even the most important. Within our 
brief limits we shall, therefore, confine ourselves to those at 
the Vatican, Florence, Paris, Oxford, and London. 

The Museum of the Vatican might originally have been said 
to occupy ali the apartments of the palace, which are more nu¬ 
merous than in any other royal residence in the world : the 
pictures, the books, the manuscripts, statues, bas-reliefs, and 
every other description of the labours of ancient artists, were 
select, uncommon, and valuable in the extreme, particularly 


MUSEUMS. 


567 


the Laocoon, already described, and said, by Pliny, to have 
been made from a single mass of marble ; which circumstance 
has since caused a doubt whether that of the Vatican is really 
the original, as Michael Angelo discovered that it is composed 
of more than one piece. It was found, in 1506, near the 
baths of Titus, and, whether an original or a copy, has ob¬ 
tained and deserves every possible admiration.—This invalu¬ 
able collection continued to increase for several centuries, and 
till nearly the present period. 

The grand dukes of Tuscany were for a long series of years 
ardent admirers of the arts, ancient and modern, and regretted 
no expense in obtaining the most rare and beautiful objects 
which vast treasures were capable of procuring; consequently 
their Museum at Florence vied with that of Rome, and, in 
some instances, the value of particular articles exceeded any 
possibility of rivalship : we allude to the Venus de Medicis, 
of which Keysler speaks thus, in his excellent account of that 
part of the continent: “I shall conclude this short criticism 
on the celebrated Venus de Medicis, with the following obser¬ 
vation, made by some able connoisseurs, namely, that if the 
different parts of this famous statue be examined separately, 
as the head, nose, &c. and compared with the like parts of 
others, it would not be impossible to find similar parts equal, 
if not superior, to those of the Venus de Medicis; but if the 
delicacy of the shape, the attitude, and symmetry of the whole, 
be considered as an assemblage of beauties, it cannot be 
paralleled in the whole world. This beautiful statue is placed 
between two others of the same goddess, both which would 
be admired by spectators in any other place ; but here all 
their beauties are eclipsed by those of the Venus de Medicis, 
to which they can be considered only as foils to augment the 
lustre of that admired statue.” Little is known in England of 
the present state of the Florentine Museum, but it is feared 
to be deplorable. 

We shall now turn our attention to the Muset Central des 
Arts, formed in the Louvre at Paris, composed with the best 
collections on the continent, and consequently consisting 
of the finest specimens of human art. 

The method adopted for arranging the paintings here assem¬ 
bled is judicious, as they are classed in nations, by which 
means the eye is conducted gradually to the acme of the art, 
in the works of the Italian masters. 

The gallery of antiquities is directly below the gallery of 
pictures ; and, to give some idea of the nature of the general 
contents, we shall mention the names of the several divisions, 
which are : La Salle de Saisons,—La Salle des Homines illus- 
tres,—L a Salle des Romains,—La Salle de Laocoon,—La Salle 
de l’Apolbn,—and La Salle des Muses. The Laocoon, which 


66'8 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING TEMPLES, ETC. 

vve have noticed in our account of the Vatican, here received 
distinguislied honours, within a space railed in; and the Apollo 
Belvidere is equally honoured, in giving name to one of the 
halls. 

These exquisite works are described in a catalogue, which 
may be obtained in the gallery ; and of the manner we shall 
venture to give a specimen, hoping that a similar method 
may be adopted, to explain the objects offered to view in our 
national repository. Under the head ‘Pythian Apollo, called 
the Apollo Belvidere, the author of the catalogue observes, 
“ This statue, the most sublime of those preserved by time, 
was found, near the close of the fifteenth century, twelve 
leagues from Rome, at Cape d’Anzo, on the borders of the 
sea, in the ruins of ancient Antium, a city equally celebrated 
for its Temple of Fortune, and for its pleasant mansions, 
erected by successive emperors, which, emulous of each other, 
they decorated with the most rare and excellent works of 
art. Julius II. when a cardinal, obtained this statue, and 
placed it in the palace where he resided, near the church of 
the Holy Apostles. After his elevation to the pontificate, he 
had it removed to the Belvidere of the Vatican, where it 
remained three centuries an object of universal admiration. 
A hero, conducted by victory, drew it from the Vatican, and 
causing it to be conveyed to the banks of the Seine, has fixed 
it here for ever.” 

Another Museum established at Paris after the return of 
order, is that of the National Monuments. These were indis¬ 
criminately destroyed, or mutilated, during the first frantic 
emotions of the revolution ; and this act contributed not a 
little to the general dislike it excited : at length the most 
enlightened part of the National Convention decreed impri¬ 
sonment in chains to those who should thenceforward injure 
or destroy the marble and bronze records of their country. 
LeNoir, a man of taste and learning, seized this opportunity of 
rescuing the French nation from the reproach it had incurred 
by destroying what was honourable to themselves; and con¬ 
ceived that, though late, it might still be possible to collect 
whole monuments in some instances, and fragments in others, 
sufficient to interest foreigners in favour of his country, or at 
least to evince to them that a change in sentiment had taken 
place. Fortunately his plan received public encouragement, 
and he has, through the assistance of government, procured 
an astonishing number of specimens from all parts of the 
kingdom. 

Mr. Pinkerton observes of this collection, “ It will not 
escape the attention of the reader of taste, that the arrange¬ 
ment is confused, nay, often capricious, and is capable of 
great improvement.” And Le Maitre says, upon the same 


MUSEUMS. 


569 

subject, “ After several hours employed in this second view, 
I continue of my former opinion, that the spot (formerly a 
convent) in which these monuments are collected, is infinitely 
too small; that the garden, meant to be the tranquil site of 
sepulchral honours, and the calm retreat of departed grandeur, 
is on so limited a scale, so surrounded with adjoining 
houses, and altogether so ill arranged, that instead of pre¬ 
senting the model of 

“ Those deep solitudes . 

Where lieav’nly pensive contemplation dwells, 

And ever musing melancholy reigns 

I 

it might easily be mistaken for the working yard of a statuary, 
or the pleasure ground of a tasteless citizen, decked out with 
Cupids, Mercuries, and Fawns.” Both these authors, how¬ 
ever, agree in praising the motives and perseverance of Le 
Noir. 

Oxford has the honour of producing the first, and not the 
least important Museum in England ; which was founded in 
1679, and the building completed in 1683, at the expense of 
the university. The students, the public, and the professors, 
are indebted to Elias Ashmole, Esq. for an invaluable collec¬ 
tion of interesting objects presented by him for their use, and 
immediately placed within it; since which period it has been 
oalled the Ashmolean Museum. The structure, in the 
Corinthian order of architecture, has a magnificent portal; 
and the variety and value of the articles contained in it, 
renders a visit to the apartments highly gratifying, particu¬ 
larly as they are increased from time to time, as often as rare 
objects can be procured. 

The British Museum, in London, a repository under the 
immediate care of government, and itself governed by fifteen 
trustees, selected from the highest and most honourable 
offices of the state, promises to exceed every other national 
institution, which is not supported by the spoliation and 
plunder of others. However inferior it may appear to those 
splendid collections, which consist of the most exquisite pro¬ 
ductions of the chisel and the pencil ever accomplished by 
man, we have the consolation to reflect, that, had it been pos¬ 
sible to procure them by purchase, the liberality of the 
British nation is such, that Italy and many other countries 
would have long since been drained: but as the case is, each 
inhabitant of England may exclaim, with his characteristic 
integrity, as he views the vast collection which he in common 
with all his countrymen possesses, “ These are individually our 
own by fair purchase or gift!” Sir Robert Cotton maybe 
said to have laid the foundation of the British Museum, by 
his presenting his excellent collection ®f manuscripts to the 



£70 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING TEMPLES, ETC. 

public; those, and the offer of Sir Hans Sloane’s books, 
manuscripts, and curious articles in antiquity and naturai 
history, for £20,000, suggested the propriety of accepting the 
latter, and providing a place for the reception of both : from 
this time government proceeded rapidly in forming the plan, 
and at length every interior regulation for officers, trustees, &c. 
being made, Montague House, situated in Russell-street, 
Bloomsbury, was purchased for £10,250, and fitted for the 
reception of the articles then possessed, and to be bought at 
the further expense of £14,484. 6s. 4d.: after which Lord Ox¬ 
ford’s manuscripts were procured for £10,000, to which the 
King added others; and since the above period, vast numbers 
of interesting things have been placed there,—Sir William 
Hamilton’s discoveries, a vast variety of valuable medals, 
fossils, minerals, manuscripts, and printed books, together 
with several Egyptian antiquities, and the late Mr. Tovvns- 
ley’s marbles and bas-reliefs from Italy. The latter were 
given to the public under the express condition that a proper 
place should be built for their reception, which has been 
complied with, and they are now exhibited, with the rest of 
the Museum, to an admiring people. 

Various alterations have taken place in the regulations 
adopted for the convenience of those who read at the Museum, 
and the visitors, since 1757, when it was first opened for 
inspection and study; and it is but justice to say, each was 
intended well, though till lately it was thought that too many 
impediments existed in the way of visiting that which was 
solely intended for the use of the community : at present, 
however, no such complaint can be made with truth, as any 
decently dressed persons, presenting themselves at certain 
hours, are admitted free of every kind of expense. Admission 
even to the reading room, is attended with no other diffi¬ 
culty than necessarily follows the ascertaining whether the 
applicant is deserving of the indulgence, or likely to injure 
the interests of the institution; when there, every facility is 
afforded him by commodious tables, with pens and ink for 
writing, and a messenger in waiting to bring him any books he 
may think proper to select from the vast stores of literature 
submitted in this generous way to his use. 

Colossus, —is a statue of vast or gigantic size. The most 
eminent of this kind was the Colossus of Rhodes, a brazen statue 
of Apollo, one of the wonders of the world. It was the 
workmanship of Chares, a disciple of Lysippus, who spent 
twelve years in making it; and was at length overthrown bv 
an earthquake, B. C. 224, after having stood about sixty-six 
years. Its height was a hundred and five feet; there were 
few people who could encompass its thumb, which is said to 


snnsywva 


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/ 


* 




COLOSSUS OF RHODES.-OBELISKS. 


671 


jave been a fathom in circumference, and its fingers were 
larger than most statues. It was hollow, and in its cavities 
were large stones, employed by the artificer to counterbalance 
its weight, and render it steady on its pedestal. 

On occasion of the damage which the city of Rhodes sus¬ 
tained by the above-mentioned earthquake, the inhabitants 
sent ambassadors to all the princes and states of Greek 
origin, in order to solicit assistance for repairing it; and they 
obtained large sums, particularly from the kings of Egypt, 
Macedon, Syria, Pontus, and Bithynia, which amounted to 
a sum five times exceeding the damages which they had suf¬ 
fered. But instead of setting up the Colossus again, for which 
purpose the greatest part of it was given, they pretended that 
the oracle of Delphos had forbidden it, and converted the 
money to other uses. Accordingly, the Colossus lay neg¬ 
lected on the ground for the space of eight hundred and 
ninety-four years, at the expiration of which period, or about 
the year of our Lord 653 or 672, Moawyas, the sixth caliph, 
or emperor of the Saracens, made himself master of Rhodes, 
and afterwards sold the statue, reduced to fragments, to a 
Jewish merchant, who loaded nine hundred camels with the 
metal; so that, allowing eight hundred pounds weight for each 
load, the brass of the Colossus, after the diminution which it 
had sustained by rust, and probably by theft, amounted to 
seven hundred and twenty thousand pounds vveignt. The 
basis that supported it was of a triangular figure : its extremi¬ 
ties were sustained by sixty pillars of marble. There was a 
winding staircase to go up to the top of it; where might 
be discovered Syria, and the ships that went to Egypt, in 
a great looking-glass that was hung about the neck of the 
statue. 

This enormous statue was not the only one that attracted 
attention in the city of Rhodes. Pliny reckons one hundred 
other colossuses, not so large, which rose majestically in its 
different quarters. 

Obelisk, —in architecture, is a truncated, quadrangular, and 
slender pyramid, raised for the purpose of ornament, and fre¬ 
quently charged either with inscriptions or hieroglyphics. 
Obelisks appear to be of very great antiquity, and to have 
been first raised to transmit to posterity precepts of philoso¬ 
phy, which were cut in hieroglyphical characters : afterwards 
they were used to immortalize the great actions of heroes, and 
the memory of persons beloved and venerated for having 
performed eminent services to their country. 

The first obelisk mentioned in history was that of Rameses, 
king of Egypt, in the time of the Trojan war, which was forty 
cubits high ; Phuis, another king of Egypt, raised one of 


572 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING l'EMPLES, ETC. 

fiftv-fi ve cubits; and Ptolemy Philadelphus, another of eighty 
eight cubits, in memory of Arsinoe. Augustus erected one at 
Rome, in the Campus Martius, which served to mark the 
hours on an horizontal dial, drawn on the pavement. They 
were called by the Egyptian priests, the Fingers of the Sun, 
because they were made in Egypt to serve also as stiles or gno¬ 
mons, to mark the hours on the ground. The Arabs still call 
them Pharaoh’s Needles ; whence the Italians call them Agug- 
lia, and the French Aiguilles. 

The famous obelisks called the Devil’s Arrows, now reduced 
to three, the fourth having been taken down in the seven¬ 
teenth century, stand about half a mile from the town of 
Boroughbridge, to the south-west, in three fields, separated by 
i lane, nearly two hundred feet asunder, on elevated ground, 
sloping every way. Mr. Drake urges many arguments for 
their Roman antiquity, and plainly proves them to be natural, 
and brought from Plumpton quarries, about five miles off: or 
from Tekly, sixteen miles off. The cross in the town, twelve 
feet high, is of the same kind of stone. The easternmost, or 
highest, is twenty-two feet and a half high, by four broad, and 
four and a half in girth ; the second, twenty-one and a half 
by fifty-five and a quarter; the third, sixteen and a half by 
eighty-four. Stukeley’s measures differ. The flutings are 
cut in the stone, but not through : the tallest stands alone, 
and leans to the south. Plot and Stukeley affirm them to be 
British monuments, originally hewn square. Dr. Gale sup¬ 
posed that they were Mercuries, which had lost their heads 
and inscriptions; but in a manuscript note in his Antoninus, 
he acknowledges that he was misinformed, and that there 
was no cavity to receive a bust. 

On the north side of Penrith, in the church-yard, are two 
square obelisks, of a single stone each, eleven or twelve feet 
high, about twelve inches diameter, and twelve by eight at 
the sides ; the highest about eighteen inches diameter, with 
something like a transverse piece to each, and mortised into a 
round base. They are fourteen feet asunder, and between 
them is a grave, which is inclosed between four semicircu¬ 
lar stones, of the unequal lengths of five, six, four and a 
half, and two feet high, having on the outsides rude carv¬ 
ing, and the tops notched. This is called the Giant’s Grave, 
and ascribed to Sir Evan Ceesarius, who is said to have 
been as tall as one of the columns, and capable of stretching 
his arms from one to the other; to have destroyed robbers and 
wild boars in Englewood forest; and to have had an hermitage, 
called Sir Hugh’s Parlour. 

A little west of these is a stone called the Giant’s Thumb, 
six feet high, fourteen inches at the base, contracted to ten, 
which is only a rude cross. 



COCOA-NUT TREES 



THE PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT 

































































K EM ARK ABLE OBELISK. 573 

We shall conclude this chapter with a description of a Re 
MARKABLE OBELISK, NEAR FoRRES, IN SCOTLAND. 

About a mile from Forres, on the left-hand side of the road, 
is a remarkable obelisk, said to be the most stately monument 
of the Gothic kind in Europe ; and supposed to have been 
erected in memory of the treaty between Malcolm II. and 
Canute the Great, in 1008. It has been the subject of many 
able pens ; and is thus described by Mr. Cordiner, in a letter to 
Mr. Pennant: “ In the first division, underneath the Gothic 
ornaments, at the top are nine horses, with their riders, march¬ 
ing forth in order: in the next is a line of warriors on foot, 
brandishing their weapons, and appear to be shouting for the 
battle. The import of the attitudes in the third division is 
very dubious, their expression indefinite. The figures, which 
form a square in the middle of the column, are pretty complex, 
but distinct; four sergeants with their halberts, guarding a 
company, under which are placed several human heads, which 
iiave belonged to the dead bodies piled up at the left of the 
division : one appears in the character of executioner, severing 
the head from another body ; behind him are three trumpeters 
sounding their trumpets, and before him two pair of combat¬ 
ants fighting with sword and target. A troop of horse next 
appear, put to flight by infantry, whose first lines have bows 
and arrows, and the three following swords and targets. In 
the lowermost division now visible, the horses seem to be 
seized by the victorious party, their riders beheaded, and 
the head of their chief hung in chains, or placed in a frame ; 
the others being thrown together beside the dead bodies, 
under an arched cover. The greatest part of the other side 
of the obelisk, occupied by a sumptuous cross, is covered 
over with a uniform figure, elaborately raised, and interwoven 
with great mathematical exactness. Under the cross are two 
august personages, with some attendants, much obliterated, 
but evidently in an attitude of reconciliation ; and il the mo¬ 
nument was erected in memory of the peace concluded between 
Malcolm and Canute, upon the final retreat ot the Danes, 
these large figures may represent the reconciled monarchs. 
On the edge, below the fretwork, are some rows ol figures 
joined hand in hand, which may also imply the new degree of 
confidence and security that took place after the feuds were 
composed, which are characterized on the front of the pillar. 
But to whatever particular transaction it may allude, it can 
hardly be imagined, that in so early an age of the arts in Scot¬ 
land, as it must have been raised, so elaborate a performance 
would have been undertaken, but in consequence of an event 
of the most general importance; it is therefore surprising, 
that no more distinct tradition of it arrived at the sera when 
fctters were known. The height of this monument, called 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING TEMPLES, ETC. 


574 

King Sueno’s Stone, above the ground, is twenty-three feet, 
besides twelve or fifteen feet under ground. Its breadth 
is three feet ten inches, by one foot three inches in thick¬ 
ness. 


CHAP. LVI. 

curiosities respecting temples, etc. — (Concluded.) 

Inverlochy Castle — Magdalen’s Hermitage—Curiosities of Fri - 
b u rg — Curio si ties of A ugs b u rg—Escurial — Flo rence Statues —• 
Great Wall of China—Floating Gardens—Curiosity at 
Falermo. 

Inverlochy Castle, —is an ancient castle near Fort Wil¬ 
liam, in Inverness-shire. It is adorned with large towers, 
which, by the mode of building, seem to have been the work 
of the English, in the time of Edward I. who laid large fines 
on the Scotch Barons, for the purpose of erecting castles. 
The largest of these is called Cummin’s Tower. “ The castle, 
(says the Rev. Thomas Ross, in his Statistical Account of Kil- 
manivaig) has survived the burgh, and now stands alone in 
ancient magnificence, after having seen the river Lochy, that 
formerly filled its ditches, run in another course, and has out¬ 
lived all history and tradition of its own builder and age. It is 
a quadrangular building, with round towers at the angles, 
measuring thirty yards every w’ay within the walls. The 
towers and ramparts are solidly built of stone and lime, nine 
feet thick at the bottom, and eight feet above. The towers 
are not entire, nor are they all equally high. The western is 
the highest and largest, and does not seem to have been less 
than fifty feet when entire; the rampart between them, from 
twenty-five to thirty. Ten or twelve yards without the walls 
the ditch begins, which surrounded the castle, from thirty U 
forty feet broad. The whole building covers about one thou¬ 
sand six hundred yards; and within the outside of the ditch 
are seven thousand square yards, nearly an acre and a half 
English. The whole building would require from five hundred 
to six hundred men to defend it. From the name of the 
western tower, it is probable this castle was occupied by the 
Cummins in the time of Edward I. and previous to that 
period by the Thanes of Lochaber; among others by the noted 
Bancho, predecessor of the race of Stuart. There is a tradi¬ 
tion that this castle was once a royal residence, and that the 
famous league betwixt Charles the Great of France, and 
Achaius king of Scots, had been signed there on the part of 
the Scotch monaich, A D. 790.” 


MAGDALEN'S HERMITAGE. FR1BURG. 57 ti 

Ma gdalen’s Hermitage —This place is situated about 
a league from Friburg, in Switzerland, and is described b} 
Mr. Blainville, and also by Mr. Addison. They both say it 
is situated among woods and rocks, in the prettiest solitude 
imaginable. The hermit, (they say,) who was then alive, had 
worked out of the rock a pretty chapel, with an altar, sacristy, 
and steeple; also five chambers, a parlour, refectory, kitchen, 
cellar, and other conveniences. The funnel of his chimney, 
which pierces from his kitchen to the top of the rock, slanting 
all the way, is ninety feet high, and cost him so much toil, 
that he was a whole year about it, and often despaired of 
finishing his design. All this must appear the more surpris¬ 
ing, when we consider the dimensions of the different parts of 
this hermitage, the chapel being sixty-three feet in length, 
thirty-six in breadth, and twenty-two in height. The sacristy, 
or vestry, is twenty-two feet square, and the height of the 
steeple seventy feet. The chamber between the chapel and 
the refectory, is above forty feet long; the refectory itself is 
twenty-one long; and the cellar is twenty-five feet long, and ten 
feet deep. But the hall or parlour is particularly admired, 
being twenty-eight paces in length, twelve in breadth, and 
twenty feet in height, with four openings for windows, much 
higher and wider than those of our best houses. At one end 
of this hall was the hermit’s cabinet, with a small collection 
of books and other curiosities. To add to the pleasantness 
and convenience of this habitation, he had cut the side of the 
rock into a flat, and having covered it with good mould, had 
formed a pretty garden, planted with divers sons of fruit- 
trees, herbs, and flowers ; and by following the veins of water 
that dropped from several parts of the rock, he had made 
himself two or three fountains, which supplied his table, and 
watered his little garden. 

This hermit, whose name was Jean du Pre, began this 
laborious undertaking at the age of thirty, and said he was 
twenty-five years in completing it, having had no sort of assist¬ 
ance from any person whatsover, except one servant. He 
intended to have carried on his work still farther, but was 
drowned in 1708 , as he was crossing a neighbouring river in 
a boat, with some company that came to visit him on St. 
Anthony’s day, the patron of his chapel. His place is sup¬ 
plied by a priest, who subsists by the generosity of strangers 
that come to see the hermitage, whom he generally entertains 
with bread and wine, and a nosegay. 


Curiosities of Friburg. —Friburg is a large town of 
Switzerland, seated on the Sanen, in a most singular and 
picturesque situation. Mr. Cox, in his Travels in Switzerland, 
thus describes it: “ It stands partly in a small plain, partly 


676 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING TEMPLES, ETC. 

on bold acclivities on a ridge of rugged rocks, half encircled 
by the river Sanen, and is so entirely concealed by the circum¬ 
jacent hills, that the traveller scarcely catches the smallest 
glimpse, until he bursts upon a view of the whole town from 
the overhanging eminence. The fortifications, which consist 
of high stone walls and towers, inclose a circumference of 
about four miles ; within which space the eye comprehends 
a singular mixture of houses, rocks, thickets, and meadows, 
varying instantly from wild to agreeable, from the bustle of 
a town to the solitude of the deepest retirement. The Sanen 
winds in such a serpentine manner, as to form in its course, 
within the space of two miles, five obtuse angles, between 
which the intervening parts of the current are parallel to each 
other. On all sides the descent to the town is extremely 
steep; in one place the streets often pass over the roofs of the 
houses. Many of the edifices are raised in regular gradation, 
like the seats of an amphitheatre; and many overhang the 
edge of a precipice in such a manner, that, on looking down, 
a weak head w r ould be apt to turn giddy. But the most 
extraordinary point of view is from the Pont-neuf. On the 
north-west a part of the town stands boldly on the sides and 
the piked back of an abrupt ridge; and from east to west, 
a semicircle of high perpendicular rocks is seen, whose base 
is washed and undermined by the winding Sanen, and whose 
tops and sides are thinly scattered with shrubs and under¬ 
wood. On the highest points of the rocks, and on the very 
edge of the precipice, appears, half hanging in the air, the 
gate called Bourguillon : a stranger standing on the bridge 
would compare it to Laputa, or the Flying Island, in Gulliver’s 
Travels; and would not conceive it to be accessible, but by 
means of a cord and pulleys. The houses, constructed with 
a gray sandstone, are neat and well built; and the public 
edifices, particularly the cathedral, are extremely elegant.” 

Curiosities of Augsburg. —In the square, near the 
town-house, is the Fountain of Augustus, which is a marble 
bason, surrounded with iron balustrades finely wrought: at 
the four corners are four brass statues as large as life, two of 
women, and two of men ; in the middle of the bason is a 
pedestal, at the foot which are four sphinxes, squirting water; 
a little above these, are four infants holding four dolphins in 
their arms, which pour water out of their mouths; and over 
these are festoons and pine-apples of brass; upon the pedestal 
is the statue of Augustus, as large as life. The fountain most 
remarkable next to this, is that of Hercules, which is an 
hexagon bason with several brass figures,particularly Hercules 
engaging the hydra.—Another curiosity is the Secret Gate, 
which was contrived to let in persons safely in time of war 


AUGSBURG.-THE ESCUR1AL. 


577 


it has so many engines and divisions with gates and Keys, 
and apartments for guards, at some distance from each other, 
where passengers are examined, that it is impossible for the 
town to be surprised this way; the gates are bolted ana un¬ 
bolted, opened and shut, by unseen operators, so that it iooks 
like enchantment.—The Water Towers are also very curious, 
of which there are three, seated on a branch of the Lech, which 
runs through the city in such a torrent, as to drive many 
mills, which work a number of pumps, that raise the water in 
large leaden pipes to the top of the towers. One of these 
sends water to the public fountains; and the rest, to near one 
thousand houses in the city. 

The Escurial, —is a royal residence of Spain, fifteen miles 
dorth-west of Madrid. It is the largest and most superb 
structure in the kingdom, and one of the finest in Europe. 
The word is Arabic, meaning “ a place full of rocks.” It is 
built in a dry barren spot, surrounded with rugged mountains, 
insomuch that every thing which grows there is owing to art. 
This place w 7 as chosen, it is said, for the sake of the stone 
wherewith the fabric is built, which is got from a mountain 
just by, and is very durable; and the design of erecting it 
was to commemorate a victory which Philip II. obtained over 
the French (by the assistance of the English forces) at St. 
Quintin, on St. Lawrence’s day, in the year 1557. 

The Spanish description of this structure forms a sizeable 
quarto volume. Its founder expended upon it six millions of 
ducats. The apartments are decorated with an astonishing 
variety of paintings, sculpture, tapestry, ornaments of gold 
and silver, marble, jasper, gems, and other curious stones, 
surpassing all imagination. This building, besides its palace, 
contains a church, large and richly ornamented ; a mausoleum ; 
cloisters; a convent; a college; and a library, containing 
about thirty thousand volumes ; besides large apartments for 
all kinds of artists and mechanics, noble walks, with extensive 
parks and gardens, beautified with fountains and costly orna¬ 
ments. The fathers that live in the convent are two hundred, 
-iid they have an annual revenue of £12,000. 

It was begun by Philip in 1562, five years after the battle, 
and completed in twenty-two years. It consists of several 
courts and quadrangles, which all together are disposed in the 
shape of a gridiron, the instrument of the martyrdom of St. 
Lawrence; the apartment where the king resides, forming the 
handle. The building is a long square, of six hundred and 
forty by five hundred and eighty feet, and the height up to 
v .he roof is sixty feet all round, except on the garden side, where 
the ground is more taken away. At each angle is a square 
tower, two hundred feet high. The number of windows in th* 

4 D 


57S CURIOSITIES RESPECTING TEMPLES, ETC. 

west front is exactly 200; in the east front, 366. The orders 
are Doric and Ionic. There are three doors in the principal 
front. Over the grand entrance are the arms of Spain, carved 
in stone ; and a little higher, in a niche, a statue of St. Law¬ 
rence in a deacon’s habit, with a gilt gridiron in his right 
hand, and a book in his left. Directly over the door is a 
basso-relievo of two enormous gridirons, in stone. 

This vast structure, however, with its narrow high towers, 
small windows, and steep sloping roof, exhibits a very uncouth 
style of architecture ; at the same time that the domes, and 
the immense extent of its fronts, render it a wonderfully grand 
object from every point of view. 

The church is in the centre, is large, awful, and richly or¬ 
namented. The cupola is bold and light. The high altar is 
composed of rich marbles, agates, and jaspers of great rarity, 
the produce of this kingdom. Two magnificent catafalcos 
fill up the side arcades of this sanctuary : on one, the emperor 
Charles V. his wife, daughter, and two sisters, are represented 
in bronze, larger than life, kneeling; opposite are the effigies 
of Philip II. ar d of his three wives, of the same materials, 
and in the same devout attitude. Underneath, is the burial- 
place of the royal family, called the Pantheon : twenty-five 
steps lead down to this vault, over the door of which is a Latin 
inscription, denoting, that “ this place, sacred to the remains 
of the Catholic kings, was intended by Charles the emperor, 
resolved upon by Philip II. begun by Philip III. and com¬ 
pleted by Philip IV.” The mausoleum is circular, thirty-six 
feet in diameter, and incrusted with fine marbles in an elegant 
taste. The bodies of the kings and queens lie in tombs of 
marble, in niches, one above the other. The plan of these 
sepulchres is grand, and executed with a princely magnifi¬ 
cence ; but, as a modern traveller observes, in a style rather 
too gay, too light, and too delicately fitted up, for the idea 
we are apt to form of a chapel destined for the reception of 
the dead. The collection of pictures dispersed about various 
parts of the church, sacristy, and convent, has been considered 
as equal, if not superior, to any gallery in Europe, except 
that of Dresden. Formed out of the spoils of Italy, and the 
wasted cabinet of that unfortunate monarch, Charles I. of 
England, it contains some of the most capital works of the 
greatest painters that have flourished since the revival of the 
art. In the sacristy is an altar called La Santa Forma: this 
is a kind of tabernacle of gems, marbles, woods, and other 
precious materials, inlaid in gilt bronze ; in which, rather 
than in the excellence of the workmanship, or taste of the 
design, consists the merit of this rock of riches. Before it 
hangs a curtain, on which Coello has represented Charles II. 
and all his court ir. procession, coming to place this Forma 


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FLORENCE STATUES.-GREAT WALL OP CHINA. 579 

This is esteemed one of the most curious collections of por¬ 
traits in the world ; for all the persons are drawn with the 
greatest strength of colour and truth of expression, and are 
said to be perfect resemblances, not only of the monarch and 
grandees, but even of the monks, servants, and guards. The 
statues, busts, and the medallions of the Escurial, are nei¬ 
ther very numerous, nor remarkable for their excellence ; but 
the library contains a most precious collection of manuscripts, 
many fine drawings, and other curiosities. 

Notwithstanding the coldness of the exposure, the late 
king, for the sake of hunting, used to pass several months of 
the year at this palace. 

Florence Statues. —In the Duke of Florence’s garden 
at Pratoline, is the statue of Pan ; sitting on a stool, with a 
wreathed pipe in his hand, and that of Syrinx, beckoning him 
to play on his pipe. Pan, putting away his stool, and stand¬ 
ing up, plays on his pipe ; this done, he looks on his mistress, 
as if he expected thanks from her, takes the stool again, and 
sits down with a sad countenance.—There is also the statue 
of a Laundress at her work, turning the clothes up and 
down with her hand and battledore, wherewith she beats tVem 
in the water.—There is the statue of Fame, loudly sounding 
her trumpet; an artificial toad creeping to and fro; a dragon 
bowing down his head to drink water, and then vomiting it 
up again ; with divers other pieces of art, that administer 
wonder and light to the beholders. 

The Great Wall of China. —The principal defence of 
the empire against a foreign enemy is the Great Wall, which 
separates China from Tartary, extending more than fifteen 
hundred miles in length, and of such thickness, that six horse¬ 
men may easily ride abreast upon it. It is flanked with towers, 
two bow-shots distant from one another: Walker says, there 
are forty-five thousand of these towers, (a number rather in¬ 
credible,) and that the wall extends two thousand miles. It is 
said, that a third of the able-bodied men in the empire were 
employed in constructing this wall. The workmen were 
ordered, under pain of death, to place the materials so closely, 
that not the least entrance might be afforded for any instru¬ 
ment of iron ; and thus the work was constructed with such 
solidity, that it is still almost entire, though two thousand 
vears have elapsed since it was constructed. 

This extraordinary work is carried, not only through the 
low lands and valleys, but over hills and mountains; the 
height of one of which was computed by F.Verbiest, at one 
thousand two hundred and thirty-six feet above the level ot 
the spot where he stood. According to F. Martini, it begins 


580 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING TEMPLES, ETC. 

at the gulf of Leatong, and reaches to the mountains near the 
city of Kin, on the Yellow River; between which places it 
meets with no interruption except to the north of the city of 
Suen, in Peche-li, where it is interrupted by a ridge of inac¬ 
cessible mountains, to which it is closely united. It is like¬ 
wise interrupted by the river Hoang-ho; but for others of an 
inferior size, arches have been constructed, through which 
the water passes freely. Mr. Bell informs us, that it is carried 
across rivers, and over the tops of the highest hills, without 
the least interruption, keeping nearly along that circular range 
of barren rocks which incloses the country; and, after run¬ 
ning about one thousand two hundred miles, ends in impassable 
mountains and sandy deserts. The foundation consists of 
large blocks of stone laid in mortar; but all the rest is of 
brick. The whole is so strong and well-built, that it scarcely 
needs any repairs ; and in the dry climate in which it stands, 
may remain in the same condition for many ages. When car¬ 
ried over steep rocks, where no horse can pass, it is about 
fifteen or twenty feet high ; but when running through a valley, 
or crossing a river, it is about thirty feet high, with square 
towers and embrasures at equal distances. The top is flat, and 
paved with cut stone ; and where it rises over a rock or emi¬ 
nence, there is an ascent made by an easy stone stair. 

This wall (our author adds) was begun and completely 
finished in the short space of five years; and it is reported, 
that the labourers stood so close for many miles, that they 
could hand the materials from one to another. This seems 
the more probable, as the rugged rocks among which it is 
built must have prevented all use of carriages ; and neither 
clay for making bricks, nor any kind of cement, are to be 
found among them. 

Floating Gardens. —Abbe Clavigero, in his History of 
Mexico, says, that when the Mexicans were brought under 
subjection to the Colhuan and Tapanecan nations, and confined 
to the miserable little islands on the Lake of Mexico, they 
had no land to cultivate, until necessity compelled them to 
form moveable fields and gardens, which floated on the waters 
of the lake. The method which they adopted to make these, 
and which they still practise, is extremely simple. They 
plat and twist together willows and roots of marsh plants, or 
other materials, which are light, but capable of supporting 
the earth firmly united. Upon this foundation they lay the 
iight bushes which float on the lake; and over all, the mud 
and dirt which they draw up from the bottom. Their regular 
figure is quadrangular ; their length and breadth various ; but 
generally they are about eight perches long, and not more 
than three in breadth, and have less than a foot of elevation 


CURIOUS SIGHT AT PALERMO. 


581 


above the surface of the water. These were the first fields 
which the Mexicans had after the foundation of Mexico ; there 
they first cultivated maize, pepper, and other plants. In time, 
as these fields became numerous from the industry of the 
people, they cultivated gardens of flowers and odoriferous 
plants, which they employed in the worship of their gods, 
and for the recreation of their nobles. At present they culti¬ 
vate flowers, and every sort of garden herbs, upon them. Every 
day at sunrise, innumerable vessels loaded with various kinds 
of flowers and herbs, cultivated in those gardens, arrive by 
the canals, at the great market-place of that capital. All 
plants thrive in them surprisingly ; the mud of the lake affords 
a very fertile soil, and requires no water from the clouds. In 
the large gardens there is commonly a little tree, and even a 
little hut, to shelter the cultivator, and defend him from rain 
or the sun. When the cliinampa, or owner of a garden, wishes 
to change his situation, to remove from a disagreeable neigh¬ 
bour, or to come nearer to his own family, he gets into his 
little vessel, and by his own strength alone, if the garden is 
small, he tows it after him, and conducts it wherever he pleases. 
That part of the lake, where these floating gardens are, is a 
place of high recreation, where the senses receive all possible 
gratification. 

We conclude this chapter with an account of a Curious 
Sight at Palermo. 

Among the remarkable objects in the vicinity of Palermo, 
pointed out to strangers, they fail not to particularize a convent 
of Capuchins, at a small distance from the town, the beautiful 
gardens of which serve as a public walk. You are shewn un¬ 
der the fabric a vault, divided into four great galleries, into 
which the light is admitted by windows cut out at the top of 
each extremity. In this vault are preserved, not in flesh, but 
in skin and bone, all the Capuchins who have died in the 
convent since its foundation, as well as the bodies of several 
persons from the city. There are here private tombs belong¬ 
ing to opulent families, who, even after death, disdain to be 
confounded with the vulgar part of mankind. 

It is said, that in order to secure the preservation of the 
bodies, they are prepared by being gradually dried before a 
slow fire, so as to consume the flesh without greatly injuring 
the skin. When perfectly dry, they are invested with the 
Capuchin habit, and placed upright on tablets, disposed step 
above step along the sides of the vault ^ the head, the arms, 
and the feet, are naked. A preservation like this is horrid 
The skin, discoloured, dry, and as if it had been tanned, nay, 
torn in some places, is glued close to the bone. It is easy 
to imagine, from the different grimaces of this numerous 

(5 ' 


682 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE ARK, ETC 

assemblage of fleshless figures, rendered still more frightful 
by a long beard on the chin, what a hideous spectacle this 
must exhibit; and whoever has seen a Capuchin alive, may 
form an idea of the singular effect produced by this repository 
of dead friars. 


CHAP. LVII. 

Curiosities respecting the Ark of Noah—The Galley of Hiero — 

and the Bridge of Xerxes. 

The Ark of Noah. —That such a wonderful structure aa 
this once existed, admits not of any doubt in the Jewish, 
Christian, and Mahommedan world ; yet its dimensions far 
exceed any vessel of modern date, even of the most extensive 
range, and appear to have been equally unrivalled in ancient 
times. 

There are nevertheless various difficulties which have been 
proposed in regard to it, among those by whom its existence 
has been admitted. One question is, as to the time employed 
by Noah in building it. Interpreters generally believe, that 
he was an hundred and twenty years in forming this vast 
structure; but some allow only fifty-two years; some no more 
than seven or eight, and others still much less. The Mahom- 
medans say, he had but two years allowed him for this work. 
Another question sometimes agitated is, what kind of wood is 
meant by gopher wood ? Some think cedar, or box; others 
cypress, the pine, fir-tree, and the turpentine tree. Pelletier 
prefers the opinion of those who hold the ark to be made of 
cedar: the reasons he urges for this preference are, the in¬ 
corruptibility of that wood ; the great plenty thereof in Asia; 
whence Herodotus and Theophrastus relate, that the kings of 
Egypt and Syria built whole fleets of it in lieu of deal: and 
the common tradition throughout the East imports, that the 
ark is preserved entire to this day on mount Ararat. 

The dimensions of the ark, as delivered by Moses, are three 
hundred cubits in length, fifty in breadth, and thirty in 
height; which, compared with the great number of things it 
was to contain, seem to many to have been too scanty. And 
hence an argument has been drawn against the authority of 
the relation. Celsus long ago laughed at it, calling it the 
“ absurd ark.” This difficulty is solved by Buteo and Kircher, 
■who, supposing the common cubit of a foot and a half, prove, 
geometrically, that the ark was abundantly sufficient for all 
the animals supposed to be lodged therein. The capacity of 
the ark will be doubled, if we admit, wdth Cumberland, &c 




THE ARK OF NOAH. 


583 


that the Jewish cubit was twenty-one thousand eight hun¬ 
dred and eighty-eight inches. Smellius computes the ark to 
have been above half an acre in area. Cuneus, and others, 
have also calculated the capacity of the ark. Dr. Arbuthnot 
computes it to have been eighty-one thousand and sixty-two 
tons. Father Lamy says, that it was an hundred and ten feet 
longer than the church of St. Mary at Paris, and sixty-four feet 
narrower; to which his English translator adds, that it must 
have been longer than St. Paul’s church in London, from 
west to east, broader than that church is high in the inside, 
and about fifty-four feet in height of our measure. 

The vast assemblage of things contained in the ark, besides 
eight persons of Noah’s family, consisted of one pair of every 
species of unclean animals, with provisions for them all, dur¬ 
ing the whole year. The former appears, at first view, almost 
infinite, but if we come to a calculation, the number of species 
of animals will be found much smaller than is generally 
imagined; out of which, in this case, are to be excepted such 
animals as can live in the water; and Bishop Wilkins 
imagines, that only seventy-two of the quadruped kind needed 
a place in the ark. 

It appears to have been divided into three stories; and it io 
agreed on, as most probable, that the lowest story was 
destined for the beasts, the middle for the food, and the upper 
for the birds, with Noah and his family; each story being 
subdivided into different apartments, stalls, &c. Though 
Josephus, Philo, and other commentators, add a kind of 
fourth story, under all the rest; being, as it were, the hold of 
the vessel, to contain the ballast, and receive the filth and 
ordure of so many animals. 

Drexelius makes three hundred apartments; father Four 
nier, three hundred and three ; the anonymous author of the 
Questions of Genesis, four hundred; Buteo, Temporarius, 
Arias Montanus, Wilkins, Lamy, and others, suppose as 
many partitions as there were different sorts of animals. 
Pelletier only makes seventy-two, viz. thirty-six for the birds, 
and as many for the beasts : his reason is, that if we suppose 
a greater number, as three hundred and thirty-three, or four 
hundred, each of the eight persons in the ark must have had 
thirty-seven, forty-one, or fifty stalls to attend and cleanse 
daily, which he thinks impossible. But there is not much in 
this : to diminish the number of stalls, without a diminution 
of the animals, is vain; it being, perhaps, more difficult to 
take care of three hundred animals in seventy-two stalls, than 
in three hundred. 

Buteo computes, that all the animals contained in the ark, 
could not be equal to five hundred horses ; he even reduces the 
whole to the dimensions of fifty-six pair of oxen. Father Lamy 


THE ARK OF NOAH. 


584 

enlarges it to sixty-four pair, or an hundred and twenty-eight 
cxen; so that, supposing one ox equal to two horses, if the 
ark had room for two hundred and tifty-six horses, there must 
have been room for all the animals. And the same author 
demonstrates, that one floor of it would suffice for five hundred 
horses, allowing nine square feet to a horse. 

Of the food contained in the second story, it is observed 
by Beauteo, from Columella, that thirty or forty pounds of 
hay ordinarily suffices an ox for a day; and that a solid cubit 
of hay, as usually pressed down in our hay-ricks, weighs 
about forty pounds ; so that a square cubit of hay is more 
than enough per day for an ox. Now it appears, that the second 
story contained one hundred and fifty thousand square cubits; 
which, divided between two hundred and six oxen, will afford 
to each, more hay by two-thirds than he can eat in a year. 

Bishop Wilkins computes all the carnivorous animals equi¬ 
valent, as to the bulk of their bodies, and their food, to 
twenty-seven wolves; and all the rest to two hundred and 
eighty beeves. For the former he allows the sustenance of 
eighteen hundred and twenty-five sheep; and for the latter, 
one hundred and nine thousand five hundred cubits of hay : 
all which will be easily contained in the two first stories, and 
much room to spare. As to the third story, nobody doubts 
of its being sufficient for the fowls, with Noah, his sons, and 
daughters. 

Upon the whole, the learned Bishop remarks, that of the 
two, it appears much more difficult to assign a sufficient num¬ 
ber and bulk of necessary things to answer the capacity of 
the ark, than to find room Enough for the several species of 
animals already known to have been there. This he attributes 
to the imperfection of our lists of animals, especially those of the 
unknown parts of the earth ; adding, that the most expert ma¬ 
thematician, at this day, could not assign the proportions of a 
vessel better accommodated to the purpose, than is here done; 
and hence finally concludes, that “ the capacity of the ark, 
which has been made an objection against scripture, ought 
to be esteemed a confirmation of its divine authority : since, 
in those ruder ages, men, being less versed in arts and philo¬ 
sophy, were more obnoxious to vulgar prejudices than now; 
so that, had it been of human invention, it would have been 
contrived according to those wild apprehensions which arise 
from a confused and general view of things; as much too big, 
as it has been represented too little.” 

The Galley of Hiero. —It is to Iliero that Syracuse was 
indebted for those amazing machines of war, which the Syra¬ 
cusans made use of when besieged by the Romans. Th' 
public buildings, such as palaces, temples, arsenals, 8cc. which 


THE GALLEY OF H1ERO. 


f> 85 


were erected in Syracuse, by his order, and under the direction 
of Archimedes, were the greatest ornaments of that stately 
metropolis. He caused also an infinite number of ships to be 
built, for the exportation of corn, in which the whole riches 
of the island consisted. We are told of a galley built by his 
order, which was looked upon as one of the wonders of that 
age. Archimedes, who was overseer of the work, spent a 
whole year in finishing it, Hiero daily animating the workmen 
with his presence. This ship had twenty benches of oars, 
three spacious apartments, and all the conveniences of a large 
palace. The floors of the middle apartment were all inlaid, 
and represented in various colours the stories of Homer’s Iliad. 
The ceilings, windows, and all other parts, were finished with 
wonderful art, and embellished with all kinds of ornaments. 
In the uppermost apartment there was a spacious gymnasium, 
or place of exercise, and walks, with gardens, and plants of all 
kinds, disposed in wonderful order. Pipes, some of hardened 
clay, and others of lead, conveyed water all round to refresh 
them. But the finest of the apartments was that of Venus: 
the floors were inlaid with agates, and other precious stones; 
the inside was lined with cypress-wood; and the windows 
were adorned with ivory, paintings, and small statues. In 
this apartment there was a library, a bath with three great 
coppers, and a bathing vessel made of one single stone, of 
various colours, containing two hundred and fifty quarts. 
It was supplied with water from a great reservoir at the head 
of the ship, which held a hundred thousand quarts. The ves¬ 
sel was adorned on all sides with fine paintings, and had eight 
towers of equal dimensions, two at the head, two at the stern, 
and four in the middle. Round these towers were parapets, 
from whence stones might be discharged against the enemy’s 
vessels when they approached. Each tower was constantly 
guarded by four young men completely armed, and two archers. 
To the side of the vessel was fastened an engine, made by 
Archimedes, which threw a stone of three hundred pounds 
weight, and an arrow eighteen feet in length, the distance of 
a stadium, or a hundred and twenty-five feet. Though the 
hold of this vessel was exceedingly deep, a single man could 
soon clear it of water, with a machine invented for that pur¬ 
pose by Archimedes. 

The story of this magnificent vessel was celebrated in poetic 
numbers by an Athenian poet, for which he was rewarded 
by Hiero, who understood the value of verse, with a thousand 
medimni, that is, six thousand bushels of wheat, which he 
caused to be carried to the Pyrseus, or port of Athens. Hieru 
afterwards made a present of this great vessel to Ptolemy, 
(probably Philadephus,) king of Egypt, and sent it to Alexan¬ 
dria. As there was at that time a great famine in Egypt, good 
o z .. 4 E 


IHE BRIDGE OF XERXES. 


086 

king Hiero sent along with it several other ships of less 
burden, with three hundred thousand quarters ot corn, ten 
thousand great earthen jars of salt fish, twenty thousand 
quintals of salt meat, and an immense quantity of other pro¬ 
visions 

Xerxes’ Bridge of Boats over the Hellespont.— 
Xerxes, having resolved to attack Greece, that he might omit 
nothing which could contribute to the success of his under¬ 
taking, entered into an alliance with the Carthaginians, who 
were, at that time, the most powerful people of the west; 
whereby it was agreed, that, while the Persians invaded 
Greece, the Carthaginians should fall upon the Greek colo¬ 
nies in Sicily and Italy, that thereby they might be diverted 
from helping each other. The Carthaginians appointed 
Hamilcar their general, who not only raised what forces he 
could in Africa, but with the money sent him by Xerxes, hired 
a great many mercenaries in Spain, Gaul, and Italy ; so that 
his army consisted of three hundred thousand men, besides a 
proportionable number of ships for transporting his forces, 
and the necessary provisions. Thus Xerxes, agreeable to the 
prophecy of Daniel, having, by his strength through his 
riches, stirred up all the nations of the then known world, 
against the realm of Greece, that is, all the west under the 
command of Hamilcar, and all the east under his own banners, 
set out from Susa, to enter upon this war, in the fifth year of 
his reign, after having spent three years in making vast 
preparations throughout all the provinces of his wide-spread¬ 
ing empire. From Susa he marched to Sardis, which was 
the place appointed for the general rendezvous of all his land 
forces, while his navy advanced along the coasts of Asia 
Minor, towards the Hellespont. 

Two things Xerxes commanded to be done before he came 
to the sea-side ; one of which was, that a passage should be 
cut through Mount Athos. This mountain reaches a great 
way into the sea, in the form of a peninsula, and is joined to 
the land by an isthmus twelve furlongs over. The sea in this 
place is very tempestuous, and the Persian fleet had formerly 
suffered shipwreck in doubling this promontory. To prevent 
the like disaster, Xerxes caused this passage to be cut through 
the mountain, broad enough to let two galleys, with three 
banks of oars each, pass in front. By this means, he severed 
from the continent the cities of Dion, Olophyxus, Acrothoon, 
Ihysus, and Cleone. It is said, however, that Xerxes under¬ 
took this enterprise only out of ostentation, and to perpetuate 
the memory of his name, since he might, with far less trouble, 
have caused his fleet to be conveyed over the isthmus, as was 
the practice in those days. 


T HE BRIDGE OF XERXES. 


587 


He likewise commanded a bridge of boats to be laid over the 
Hellespont, for the passing of his forces from Asia into Europe. 
The sea which separates Sestos and Abydos, where the bridge 
was built, is seven furlongs over. The work was carried on 
with great expedition by the Phoenicians and Egyptians, who 
had no sooner finished it, but a violent storm arising, broke 
it in pieces, and dispersed or dashed against the shore the 
vessels of which it was composed : which when Xerxes heard ; 
he fell into such a violent transport of anger, that he com¬ 
manded three hundred stripes to be inflicted on the sea, and 
a pair of fetters to be thrown into it; enjoining those who were 
trusted with the execution of his orders, to pronounce these 
words:—“Thou salt and bitter element, thy master has con¬ 
demned thee to this punishment, for offending him without 
cause ; and is resolved to pass over thee, in spite of thy bil¬ 
lows, and insolent resistance/’ The extravagant folly and 
madness of this prince did not stop here, for, to crown the 
whole, he commanded the heads of those who had the direc¬ 
tion of the work to be struck off*. 

In their room he appointed more experienced architects to 
build two other bridges, one for the army, the other for the 
beasts of burden, and the baggage. When the whole work 
was completed, and the vessels which formed the bridges 
secure against the violence of the winds, and the current of 
the water, Xerxes departed from Sardis, where the army had 
wintered, and directed his march to Abydos. When he ar¬ 
rived at that city, he desired to see all his forces together; 
and, to that end, ascending a stately edifice of white stone, 
which the Abydenians had built, on purpose to receive him 
in a manner suitable to his greatness, he had a free prospect 
to the coast, seeing at one view both his fleet and land forces. 
The sea was covered with his ships, and the large plains of 
Abydos with his troops, quite down to the shore. While he 
was surveying the vast extent of his power, and deeming him¬ 
self the most happy of mortals, his joy was suddenly turned 
into grief; he burst into a flood of tears: which Artabanus 
perceiving, asked him what had made him, in a few moments, 
pass from an excess of joy to so great a grief. The king re¬ 
plied, that, considering the shortness of human life, he could 
not restrain his tears; for, of all these numbers of men, not 
one, said he, will be alive a hundred years hence. Artabanus, 
who neglected no opportunity of instilling into the young 
prince’s mind sentiments of kindness towards his people, find¬ 
ing him touched with a sense of tenderness and humanity, 
endeavoured to make him sensible of the obligation that is 
incumbent upon princes, to alleviate the sorrows, and sweeten 
the bitterness, which the lives of their subjects are liable to, 
sine? it is not in their power to prolong them. In the same 


THE BRIDGE OF XERXES. 


588 

conversation, Xerxes asked his uncle, whether, if he had not 
seen the vision which made him change his mind, he would 
still persist in the same opinion, and dissuade him from 
making war upon Greece. Artabanus sincerely owned, that 
he still had his fears, and was very uneasy concerning two 
things, the sea and the land; the sea, because there were no 
ports capable of receiving and sheltering such a fleet, if 
a storm should arise; and the land, because no country could 
maintain so numerous an army. The king was very sensible 
of the strength of his reasoning; but as it was now too late 
to go back, he made answer, that, in great enterprises, men 
ought not to enter into so nice a discussion of all the incon¬ 
veniences that may attend them : that bold and daring under¬ 
takings, though subject to many evils and dangers, are 
preferable to inaction, however safe : that great successes are 
no otherwise to be obtained than by venturing boldly; and 
that, if his predecessors had observed such scrupulous and 
timorous rules of politics, the Persian empire would never 
have attained to so high a degree of glory and grandeur. 

All things being now in readiness, and a day appointed for 
the passing over of the army, as soon as the first rays of the 
sun began to appear, all sorts of perfumes were burnt upon 
the bridge, and the way strewed with myrtle. At the same 
time, Xerxes, pouring a libation into the sea out of a golden 
cup, and addressing the sun, implored the assistance of that 
deity, begging that he might meet with no impediment so 
great, as to hinder him from carrying his conquering arms to 
the utmost limits of Europe. This done, he threw the cup 
into the Hellespont, with a golden bowl, and a Persian 
cimeter; and the foot and horse began to pass over that 
bridge which was next to the Euxine, while the carriages and 
beasts of burden passed over the other, which was placed 
nearer the iEgean sea. The bridges were boarded, and 
covered over with earth, having rails on each side, that the 
horses and cattle might not be frightened at the sight of the 
sea. The army spent seven days and nights in passing over, 
though they marched day and night, without intermission, 
and were, by frequent blows, obliged to quicken their pace. 
At the same time, the fleet made to the coasts of Europe. 
After the whole army was passed, Xerxes advanced with his 
land forces, through the Thracian Chersonessus to Doricus. 
a city at the mouth of the river Hebrus, in Thrace: but the 
fleet steered a quite different course, standing to the west¬ 
ward for the promontory of Sarpedon, where they were com¬ 
manded to attend farther orders. Xerxes, having encamped 
in the large plains of Doriscus, and judging them convenient 
for reviewing and numbering his troops, dispatched orders to 
his admirals to bring the fleet to the adjacent shore, that he 


THE BRIDGE OF XERXES. 


589 

might take an account both of his sea and land forces. His 
land army, upon the muster, was found to consist of one 
million seven hundred thousand foot, and fourscore thousand 
horse ; which, together with twenty thousand men that con¬ 
ducted the camels, and took care of the baggage, amounted 
to one million eight hundred thousand men. His fleet con¬ 
sisted of twelve hundred and seven large ships, and three 
thousand galleys and transports : on board of all these vessels, 
there were found to be five hundred and seventeen thousand 
six hundred and ten men. So that the whole number of sea 
and land forces, which Xerxes led out of Asia to invade 
Greece, amounted to two millions three hundred and seven* 
teen thousand six hundred and ten men. 

We are told, that, on his passing the Hellespont, to enter 
Europe, an inhabitant of that country cried out: " O Jupiter, 
why art thou come to destroy Greece, in the shape of a 
Persian, and under the name of Xerxes, with all mankind 
following thee ; whereas thy own power is sufficient to do this, 
without their assistance?” After he had entered Europe, the 
nations on this side the Hellespont that submitted to him, 
added to his land forces three hundred thousand more, and 
two hundied and twenty ships to his fleet, on board of which 
were twenty-four thousand men. So that the whole number 
of his forces, when he arrived at Thermopylae, was two millions 
six hundred and forty-one thousand six hundred and ten men, 
without including servants, eunuchs, women, sutlers, and 
other people of that sort, who were computed to equal the 
number of the forces : so that the whole multitude of persons 
that followed Xerxes in this expedition, amounted to five 
millions two hundred and eighty-three thousand two hundred 
and twenty. Among these ihillions of men, there was not one 
that could vie with Xerxes, either in comeliness or stature, or 
that seemed more worthy of that great empire. But this is 
a poor recommendation, when unaccompanied with other 
qualifications of more sterling worth. Accordingly, Justin, 
after he has mentioned the number of his troops, emphatically 
concludes, “ but this vast body wanted a head.” Besides the 
subordinate generals of each nation, who commanded the 
troops of their respective countries, the whole army was 
under the command of six Persian generals: viz. Mardonius, 
the son of Gobryus : Triatatsechm^s, the son of Artabanus ; 
Smerdones, the son of Otanes (the two latter were cousins to 
Xerxes;) Masistus, the son of'Darius by Atossa; Gerges, the 
son of Ariazus; and Megabyzus, the son of the celebrated 
Zopyrus. The ten thousand Persians, who were called the 
Immortal Band, obeyed no other commander but Hydarnes. 
The fleet was commanded by four Persian admirals : and like¬ 
wise the cavalry had 'heir particular generals and commanders. 


. 5W) 


CURIOSITIES-BASALTIC AND ROCKY. 


CHAP. LVIII. 

BASALTIC AND ROCKY CURIOSITIES. 

Giant's Causeway — Stonehenge. 

Giant s Causeway, in Ireland. —The following account 
is taken from notes of a mineralogical excursion to the 
Giant’s Causeway, by the Rev. Dr. Grierson, as published in 
the Annals of Philosophy. 

“ I left (says the Doctor) Colerain on the morning of Sept. 
17, in company with a gentleman of that place, whose obliging¬ 
ness, intelligence, hospitality, and kindness, afforded me a 
most agreeable specimen of the Irish character, and pro¬ 
ceeded to Giant’s Causeway. The day was charming; and it 
is not easy for me to express the gratification I felt, as we 
made our way through a fine and gently varied district, at 
the idea of having it in my power soon to contemplate in 
favourable circumstances one of the most stupendous and 
interesting natural phenomena, that are any where to be seen. 
From Coleraine to the Causeway is eight miles in a northerly 
direction, and I could observe no rock on our way, but the 
trap formation. On crossing the river Bush, at the village 
called Bushmills, the country begins gradually to rise, and we 
descry, about two miles before us, a ridge of considerable 
height, seeming to terminate quite abruptly on the other side. 
What we perceive is the land side of the precipice of the 
Giant’s Causeway. It seems to have been a hill of basalt, 
with nearly perpendicular columnar concretions, cut in two, 
as it were, by a vertical section, and the half of the hill next 
the sea carried away. On getting in front of this precipice, 
which you do by a pass on the west side of it, a most 
stupendous scene presents itself. The precipice, extending 
for a mile or two along the shore, is in many places quite 
perpendicular, and often three hundred and fifty and four 
hundred feet high, consisting of pure columnar basalt, some 
of the columns fifty feet in perpendicular height, straight and 
smooth, as if polished with a chisel. In other parts the 
columns are smaller, inclined, or bent; and a less length of 
them strikes the eye. From the bottom of this precipice 
issues, with a gentle slope of about one foot in thirty towards 
the sea, an immense and surprising pavement, as it were, con¬ 
sisting of the upper ends of the fragments of vertical columns 
of basalt, that have been left when the seaward half of the 
basaltic hill was carried off. The ends of these columns are 
»n general fifteen or twenty inches in diameter, some of 



THE GIANT’S CAUSEWAY, 

A stupendous collection of natural columns of basalt, on the coast of Ireland. 



THE SPECTRE OF THE BROKEN. 

This wonderful and startling phenomenon is often observed in the Hartz Mountains in Germany, 
















































































- 




















. 













































t 





■ 
















giant’s CAUSEWAY, IN IRELAND. 591 

them of three sides, some four, five, six, seven, eight, or even 
nine. Five or six sides seem to prevail most. From the 
bottom of the precipice to the sea at low water, along this 
pavement or causeway, which, from the artificial appearance 
it puts on, has doubtless, in a rude age, given name to the 
place, is a length of seven hundred and thirty feet. It has 
been observed to proceed into the ocean as far as can be 
tiaced by the eye in a calm and clear day. To any person 
who has seen both this place and StafFa, the idea naturally 
enough suggests itself, that they are parts of the same once 
continuous immense bed of columnar basalt. 

“ There are properly three pavements proceeding into the 
sea, distinguished by the names of the Great Causeway, the 
Middle Causeway, and the West Causeway. These are three 
large gently sloping ridges of the ends of basaltic columns, 
with depressions between them, covered with large blocks or 
masses, that seem to have been from time to time detached, and 
rolled from the precipice. I had no opportunity of perceiv¬ 
ing with what rocks the basalt of the Giant’s Causeway is 
connected. I am told conchoidal white lime-stone meetsiit 
on both the east and west sides. There is in one place, near 
the east side of the Great Causeway, a green-stone vein, eight 
Dr ten feet wide, intersecting the basalt from north-west to 
south-east. 

“ There was now pointed out to us by the guides a very 
rare and curious phenomenon, and which is particularly 
interesting, as it has been thought, by those who hold the 
igneous origin of basalt, to be a confirmation of their doctrine. 
Nearly opposite to the West Causeway, and within about 
eighty feet of the top of the cliff*, is found to exist a quantity 
of slags and ashes, unquestionably the production of fire. 
On ascending to this spot, which can be easily done, I found 
the slags and ashes deposited in a sort of bed about four feet 
thick, and running horizontally along the face of the basaltic 
precipice twenty or thirty feet. The ashes are in general 
observed to lie undermost, and the slags above them. They 
are covered with a considerable quantity of earth and stones, 
which all consist of basalt, are of a large size, some of them 
three or four feet or more in diameter, and the ashes likewise 
rest on the same sort of materials. What struck me here was, 
that these ashes and slags are entirely unconnected with any 
rock or formation which seems to be in situ, or in its original 
position. They are therefore, in my opinion, distinctly arti¬ 
ficial, and nothing more than the remains cf some large and 
powerful fire, which had been kept burning for a long while 
on the top of this precipice, used either as a signal, or for 
some other purpose which we cannot now ascertain ; and that, 
owing to the part of the cliff on which the ashes were lying 


592 CURIOSITIES — BASALTIC AND ROCKY. 

having given way and tumbled down, they have been thu« 
buried beneath the ruins, and there remain. 

“ A considerable way from the repository of the ashes and 
slao-s, and to the east of the Great Causeway, is another curi¬ 
ous 3 appearance. Here, in the pure basalt, seventy or eighty 
feet from the top of the cliff, is a horizontal bed of wood coal, 
eight feet thick. The coal to all appearance rests immediately 
on the basalt below, and the ends of perpendicular basaltic 
columns are seen distinctly to rest on it above. The basalt is 
not in the least changed by the contact of the coal, nor the 
coal by that of the basalt. The coal is very beautiful and 
distinct, and in one place is seen a coalified tree, (if I may 
use the word,) ten or twelve inches in diameter, running di¬ 
rectly in below the basalt. 

“ Within sight of this spot, and about three hundred yards to 
the east of it, are the beautifully conspicuous basaltic pillars, 
forty-five feet long, and vertical, with the longest ones in the 
middle, and others gradually shortening towards each side, 
like the columns of an organ. From this appearance they 
have received the appropriate name of The Organ . 

“ At the bottom of this cliff, by examining and breaking 
the loose columnar pieces of the rock that have fallen down, 
we found many fine specimens of calcedony, zeolite, and semi¬ 
opal. These occur in cavities in the basalt. Sometimes the 
cavity is not completely filled with the calcedony or opal; 
and when that is the case, the empty space is observed to be 
always the upper part of the cavity, while the rock is in situ. 
Moreover, the surface of the calcedony or opal, next to the 
empty space, is always found to be flat and horizontal, which 
would shew that the substance must have been filtered into 
its situation in a fluid state, and afterwards consolidated.” 

Stonehenge, —a celebrated monument of antiquity, stands 
in the middle of a flat area, near the summit of a hill six miles 
from Salisbury. It is inclosed by a circular double bank and 
ditch near thirty feet broad, after crossing which, we ascend 
thirty yards before we reach the work. The whole fabric cor> 
sisted of two circles and two ovals. The outer circle is about 
one hundred and eight feet diameter, consisting, when entire, 
of sixty stones, thirty uprights, and thirty imposts, of which 
remain only twenty-four uprights, seventeen stan ding, and 
seven down, three and a half feet asunder; and eight imposts. 
Eleven uprights have their five imposts on them by the grand 
entrance. These stones are from thirteen to twenty feet high. 
The lesser circle is somewhat more than eight feet from the in¬ 
side of the outer one, and consisted of forty lesser stones (the 
highest six feet,) of which only nineteen remain, and only 
eleven standing: the w r alk between these tw r o circles is three 


STON EHENGE. 


693 


hundred feet in circumference. The adytum, or cell, is an 
oval formed of ten stones, (from sixteen to twenty-two feet 
high,) in pairs, with imposts, which Dr. Stukeley calls trili- 
thons, and above thirty feet high, rising in height as they go 
round, and each pair separate, and not connected as the outer 
pair; the highest eight feet. Within these are nineteen smaller 
single stones, of which only six are standing. Three of the 
five trilithons at the west end fell flat westward, levelling also 
in their descent, a stone of the second circle that stood in the 
line of their precipitation, on the 3d of January, 1797. At the 
upper end of the adytum is the altar, a large slab of blue 
coarse marble, twenty inches thick, sixteen feet long, and 
four broad ; pressed down by the weight of the vast stones 
that have fallen upon it. The whole number of stones, up¬ 
rights and altar, is exactly one hundred and forty. The stones 
are far from being artificial, but were most probably brought 
from those called the Grey Weathers, on Marlborough Downs, 
fifteen or sixteen miles off; and if tried with a tool, they ap¬ 
pear of the same hardness, grain, and colour, generally reddish. 
The heads of oxen, deer, and other beasts, have been found 
on dio-oino; in and about Stonehenge ; and human bones in 
the circumjacent barrows. There are three entrances from 
the plain to this structure, the most considerable of which is 
from the north-east, and at each of them were raised, on the 
outside of the trench, two huge stones, with two smaller within, 
parallel to them. 

It has long been a dispute among the learned, by what 
nation, and for what purpose, these enormous stones were 
collected and arranged. The first account of this structure 
we meet with, is in Geoffrey of Monmouth, who, in the reign 
of King Stephen, wrote the History of the Britons, in Latin. 
He tells us, that it was erected by the counsel of Merlin, the 
British enchanter, at the command of Aurelius Ambrosius, 
the British king, in memory of four hundred and sixty Britons, 
who were murdered by Hengist the Saxon. The next account 
is that of Polydore Virgil, who says that the Britons erected 
this as a sepulchral monument of Boadicea, the famous British 
queen. Inigo Jones is of opinion, that it was a Roman tem¬ 
ple, from a stone sixteen feet long, and four broad, placed in 
an exact position to the east, altar-fashion. Mr. Charlton 
attributed it to the Danes, who where two years masters of 
Wiltshire : a tin tablet, on which were some unknown cha¬ 
racters, supposed to be Runic, was dug up near it, in the 
reign of Henry VIII. but is lost. 

Its common name, Stonehenge, is Saxon, and signifies a 
Stone Gallows, to which these stones, having transverse im¬ 
posts, bear some lesemblance. It is also called, in Welsh, 
Choir Gawr, or the Giant’s Dance. Mr. Grose thinks that 

4 F 


594 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 


Dr. Stukeley has completely proved this structure to have 
been a British temple, in which the Druids officiated. He 
supposes it to have been the metropolitan temple of Great 
Britain, and translates the words choir gawr, the great choir, 
or temple. Mr. Bryant is of opinion, that it was erected by a 
colony of Cuthites, probably before the time of the Druids ; 
because.it was usual with them to place one vast stone upon 
another, for a religious memorial; and these they often placed 
. so equally, that a breath of wind would sometimes make them 
vibrate. Of such stones, one remains in the pile of Stone¬ 
henge. The ancients distinguished stones erected with a reli¬ 
gious view, by the name of Amber; by which was signified 
any thing solar and divine. The Grecians called them petra 
ambrosia. Stonehenge, according to Mr. Bryant, is com¬ 
posed of these amber stones: hence the next town is denomi¬ 
nated Ambresbury ; not from a Roman Ambrosius, but from 
the ambrosia petra, in whose vicinity it stood. Some of these 
were Rocking Stones; and there was a wonderful monument 
of this sort near Penzance, in Cornwall, which still retains 
the name of Main-amber, or the Sacred Stones. Such a one 
is mentioned by Apollonius Rhodius, supposed to have been 
raised in the time of the Argonauts, in the island of Tenos, as 
the monument of the two-winged sons of Boreas, slain by 
Hercules ; and there are others in China, and other coun¬ 
tries. 


CHAP. L1X. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE VARIOUS CUSTOMS 

OF MANKIND 

Curious Demonstrations of Friendship—Singularities of different 
Nations in Eating—Female Beauty and Ornaments—Various 
Modes of Salutation — Maiden—Lady of the Lamb—Curious 
Custom respecting Catching a Hare—Extraordinary Ancient 
Custom . 


—-Customs, 

Though they be never so ridiculous. 

Nay, let e’m be unmanly, yet are follow’d. ShaJispeare. 

Curious Demonstrations of Friendship.—The de¬ 
monstrations of Iriendship in a rude state have a savage and 
gioss character, which it is not a little curious to observe. 
The Tartars pull a man by the ear to press him to drink, and 
they continue tormenting him till he opens his mouth ; and 





DEMONSTRATIONS OF FRIENDSHIP. 


59o 


when they have accomplished their object, they clap then 
hands and dance before him. 

No customs seem more ridiculous, than those practised by 
a Kamtschadale, when he wishes to make another his friend. 
He first invites him to his hut to eat. If the invitation is ac¬ 
cepted, the host and his guest strip themselves in a cabin, 
which is heated to an uncommon degree. While the guest 
devours the food with which they serve him, the other con¬ 
tinually stirs the fire. The stranger must bear the excess of 
the heat, as well as of the repast. He discharges the food 
from his stomach ten times before he will yield ; but at length, 
obliged to acknowledge himself overcome, he begins to com¬ 
pound matters. He purchases a moment’s respite by a present 
of clothes or dogs ; for his host threatens to heat the cabin, 
and to oblige him to eat till he dies. The stranger has the 
right of retaliation allowed to him : he treats the other in the 
same manner, and exacts the same presents. Should his host not 
accept the invitation of his guest, whom he has so handsomely 
regaled, he would come and inhabit his cabin, till he had 
obtained from him the presents he had in so singular a manner 
given to him. 

For this extravagant custom a curious reason has been al¬ 
leged. It is meant to put the person to a trial, where friendship 
is sought. The Kamtschadale, who is at the expense of the 
fires and the repast, is desirous to know if the stranger has 
the strength to support pain with him, and if he is generous 
enough to share with him some part of his property. While 
the guest is employed on his meal, he continues heating the 
cabin to an insupportable degree, and, as a last proof of the 
stranger’s constancy and attachment, he exacts more clothes 
and more dogs. The host passes through the same ceremo¬ 
nies in the cabin of the stranger; and he shews in his turn, 
with what degree of fortitude he can defend his friend.—It is 
thus the most singular customs would appear simple, if it 
were possible for the philosopher to contemplate them on the 
spot. 

As a distinguishing mark of esteem, two friendly Negroes 
of Ardra drink out of one cup at the same time. The king of 
Loango eats in one house, and drinks in another. A Kamt¬ 
schadale kneels before his guest; he cuts an enormous slice 
from a sea-calf; he crams it entire into the mouth of his 
friend, furiously crying out, Tana! (There!) and cutting away 
what hangs about his lips, snatches and swallows it with 
avidity. 


Singularities of Different Nations in Eating.— 
The Maldivian islanders eat alone. They retire into the most 
hidden parts of their houses ; when they draw down the clothe 


596 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 

that serve as blinds to their windows, that they may eat 
unobserved. This custom probably arises from the savage, 
in the early periods of society, concealing himself to eat, from 
a fear that another with as sharp an appetite, but possessing more 
bodily strength than himself, should come and ravish his meal 
from him. The powerful ideas of witchcraft, too, are widely 
spread among barbarians; and they are not a little fearful 
that some incantation may be made use of while devouring 
their victuals. 

In noticing the solitary meal of the Maldivian islander, 
another reason may be alleged for this misanthropical 
repast. They never will eat with any one who is inferior to 
them in birth, in riches, or in dignity; and as it is a difficult 
matter to settle this equality, they are condemned to lead this 
unsociable life. 

On the contrary, the islanders of the Philippines are remark¬ 
ably sociable. Whenever one of them finds himself without 
a companion to partake of his meal, he runs till he meets with 
one ; and we are assured, that, however keen his appetite may 
be, he ventures not to satisfy it without a guest. 

The tables of the rich Chinese shine with a beautiful 
varnish, and are covered with silk carpets very elegantly 
worked. They do not make use of plates, or knives and 
forks: every guest has two little ivory or ebony sticks, which 
he handles very adroitly. 

The Otaheiteans, who are lovers of society, and very gentle 
in their manners, feed separately from each other. At the hour 
of repast, the members of each family divide ; two brothers, 
two sisters, and even husband and wife, father and mother, 
have each their respective basket. 

They place themselves at the distance of two or three yards 
from each other; they turn their backs to their companions, 
and take their meal in profound silence. 

Various are the opinions and customs of mankind with 
respect to Female Beauty and Ornaments, —as will be 
perceived from the following prejudices of different nations. 

The ladies in Japan gild their teeth ; and those of the Indies 
paint them red. The blackest teeth are esteemed the most 
beautiful in Guzerat, and in some parts of America. In 
Greenland the women colour their faces with blue and yellow ; 
and a Muscovite lady would consider her beauty incomplete, 
unless she were plastered over with paint, however prodigal 
nature may have been in her gifts. The Chinese must have 
their feet as diminutive as those of the she-goats, and to ren¬ 
der them thus, their youth is passed in tortures. In ancient 
Persia, an aquiline nose was often thought worthy of the 
crown ; and if there was any competition between two princes, 





THE EMPEROR OF CHINA. 



















































































FEMALE BErtUTY AND ORNAMENTS. 69' 

the people generally went by this criterion of majesty. In 
some countries, the mothe r s break the noses of their children; 
and others press the head between two boards, that it may 
become square. The modern Persians have a strong aversion 
to red hair: the Turks, on the contrary, are warm admirers of 
it. The Indian beauty is thickly smeared with bear’s fat; 
while the female Hottentot regrets not the absence of silks 
and wreaths of flowers, if she can but receive from the 
hand of her lover the warm entrails and reeking tripe of 
animals he has just slaughtered, that she may deck herself 
with these enviable ornaments. 

In China, small eyes are liked ; and the girls are continually 
plucking their eyebrows, that they may be small and long. The 
Turkish women dip a gold brush in the tincture of a black 
drug, which they pass over their eyebrows. This is too 
visible by day, but it looks shining by night. They also 
tinge their nails with a rose colour. 

An ornament for the nose appears to us perfectly unneces¬ 
sary. The Peruvians, however, think otherwise; and they 
h-ang on it a weighty ring, the thickness of which is regulated 
by the rank of their husbands. The custom of boring the 
nose, as our ladies do their ears, is very common in several 
nations. Through the perforation are hung various materials; 
such as green crystal, gold, stones, a single and sometimes 
a great number of gold rings, which become at times rather 
troublesome to them. 

The female head-dress is carried in some countries to 
singular extravagance. The Chinese fair carries on her head 
the figure of a certain bird. This b.rd is composed of copper 
or of gold, according to the quality of the person : the wings 
spread out, fall over the front of the head-dress, and conceal 
the temples ; the tail, long and open, forms a beautiful tuft 
of feathers ; the beak covers the top of the nose ; the neck 
is fastened to the body of the artificial animal by a spring, 
that it may the more freely play, and tremble at the slightest 
motion. 

The extravagance of the Myantses is far more ridiculous 
than the above. They carry on their heads a slight board, 
rather longer than the foot, and about six inches broad: with 
this they cover their hair, and seal it with wax. They cannot 
lie down, nor lean, without keeping the neck very straight; 
and the country being very woody, it is not uncommon to 
find them with their head-dress entangled in the trees. When¬ 
ever they comb their hair, they pass an hour by the fire in 
melting the wax; but this combing is only performed once or 
twice a year. 

To this curious account, extracted from Duhalde, we must 
join that jf the inhabitants of the land of Natal. They wear 


598 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 

caps or bonnets, from six to ten inches high, composed of 
the fat of oxen. They then gradually anoint the head with 
a purer grease, which mixing with the hair, fastens these 
bonnets for their lives. 

The reader will be amused with the following account of 
The Various Modes of Salutation. —When men, says 
the compiler of L’Esprit des Usages et des Coutumes, salute 
each other in an amicable manner, it signifies little whether 
they move a particular part of the body, or practise a parti¬ 
cular ceremony. In these actions there must exist different 
customs. Every nation imagines it employs the most reason¬ 
able ones. This infinite number of ceremonies may be 
reduced to two kinds; to reverences or salutations, and 
to the touch of some part of the human body. Modes of 
salutation have very different characters, and it is not un¬ 
interesting to examine their shades. Many display a refine¬ 
ment of delicacy; while others are remarkable for their 
simplicity, or sensibility. 

The islanders near the Philippines take the hand or foot 
of him they salute, and with it they gently rub their face. 
The Laplanders apply their nose strongly against that of the 
persons they salute. Dampier says, that at New Guinea they 
are satisfied in placing on their heads the leaves of tiees, 
which have ever passed for symbols of friendship and peace. 
Other salutations are very incommodious : it requires great 
practice to enable a man to be polite in an island in the 
straits of the Sound. Houtman tells us, “ they raised his 
left foot, which they passed gently over the right leg, and 
thence over his face.” The inhabitants of the Philippines 
bend their bodies very low, ir Macing their hands on their 
cheeks, and raising at the same time one foot in the air, with 
their knee bent. An Ethiopian takes the robe of another, 
and ties it about his own waist, so that he leaves his friend 
half naked. This custom of undressing takes other forms: 
sometimes men place themselves naked before the person 
whom they salute, to show their humility, and that they are 
unworthy of a covering in his presence. This was practised 
before Sir Joseph Banks, when he received the visit of two 
Otaheitan ladies. Their innocent simplicity did not appear 
immodest in the eyes of the virtuoso. Sometimes they only 
undress partially. The Japanese only take off a slipper; the 
people of Arracan their sandals in the street, and their 
stockings in the house. The grandees of Spain claim the 
right of appearing covered before the king, to shew that they 
are not so much subjected to him as the rest of the nation. 

Snelgrave gives an odd representation of the embassy 
which the king of Dahomy sent to him. The ceremonies of 


MODES OF SALUTATION.—THE MAIDEN. 


599 


salutations consisted in the most ridiculous contortions. 
W hen two negro monarchs visit, they salute by snapping 
th lee times the middle finger. Barbarous nations frequently 
imprint on their salutations their character. When the 
inhabitants of Carmena (says Atheneeus) would shew a pecu¬ 
liar mark of esteem, they breathed a vein, and presented for 
the beverage of their friend the blood as it issued. The 
Franks tore hair from their head, and presented it to the per¬ 
son whom they saluted. The slave cut his hair, and offered 

_ ' 

it to his master. The Chinese are singularly affected in their 
personal civilities: they ev.n calculate the number of their 
reverences. The men move their hands in an affectionate 
manner, while they are joined together on their breast, and 
bow their head a little. If two persons meet after a long 
separation, they both fall on their knees and bend their faces 
to the earth, ar d this they repeat two or three times. They 
substitute artificial ceremonies for natural actions. Their 
expressions mean as little as their ceremonies. If a Chinese 
is asked how he finds himself in health? He answers, “ Very 
well, thanks to your abundant felicity.” If they w ould tell 
a man that he looks well, they say, “ Prosperity is painted on 
your face;” or, “Your air announces your happiness.” All these 
and many other answers are prescribed by the Chinese academy 
of compliments. There are determined the number of bows, 
the expressions to be employed, the genuflections, and the 
inclinations to be made to the right or left hand, the saluta¬ 
tions of the master before the chair, where the stranger is to 
be seated, for he salutes it most profoundly, and wipes the 
dust away with the skirts of his robe. The lower class of 
people are equally nice in these punctilios ; and ambassadors 
pass forty days in practising them before they can appear at 
court. A tribunal of ceremonies has been erected, and every 
day very odd decrees are issued, to which the Chinese most 
religiously submit. The marks of honour are frequently 
arbitrary : to be seated, with us, is a mark of repose and 
familiarity ; to stand up, that of respect. There are countries, 
however, in which princes will only be addressed by persons 
who are seated, and it is considered as a favour to be per¬ 
mitted to stand in their presence. This custom prevails in 
despotic countries: a despot cannot suffer, without disgust, 
the elevated figure of his subjects ; he is pleased to bend theii 
bodies with their genius; his presence must lay those who 
behold him prostrate on the earth ; he desires no eagerness, 
no attention; he would only inspire terror. 

We shall next give an account of The Maiden. —This 
term is applied to an ancient English custom, or, more 
properly, to an instrument for beheading criminals ; of the use 


600 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 

and form of which Mr. Pennant gives the following account: 
•* It seems to have been confined to the limits of the forest of 
Hardwick, or the eighteen towns and hamlets within its pre¬ 
cincts. The time when this custom took place is unknown ; 
whether Earl Warren, lord of this forest, might have estab¬ 
lished it among the sanguinary laws then in use against the 
invaders of the hunting rights, or whether it might not take 
place after the woollen manufactures at Halifax began to gain 
strength, is uncertain. The last is very probable, for the wild 
country around the town was inhabited by a lawless set, whose 
depredations on the cloth-tenters might soon stifle the efforts 
of infant industry. For the protection of trade, and for the 
greater terror of offenders by speedy execution, this custom 
seems to be established, so as at last to receive the force of 
law, which was ‘That if a felon be taken within the liberty of 
the forest of Hardwick, with goods stolen out, or within the 
said precincts, either handhaband, backberand, or confes- 
sioned, to the value of thirteen-pence-halfpenny, he shall, after 
three market days, or meeting days, within the town of Hali¬ 
fax, next after such his apprehension, and being condemned, 
be taken to the gibbet, and there have his head cut from his 
body/ The offender had always a fair trial; for as soon as he 
was taken, he was brought to the lord’s bailiff, at Halifax : he 
was then exposed to the three markets, (which here were held 
thrice in a week,) placed in the stocks, with the goods stolen 
on his back, or, if the theft was of the cattle kind, they were 
placed by him ; and this was done both to strike terror into 
others, and to produce new informations against him. 

* The bailiff' then summoned four freeholders of each town 
within the forest, to form a jury. The felon and prosecutors 
were brought face to face; and the goods, the cow, or horse, 
or whatsoever was stolen, produced. If he was found guilty, 
he was remanded to prison, had a week’s time allowed for 
preparation, and then was conveyed to this spot, where his 
head was struck off with this machine. I should have pre¬ 
mised, that if the criminal, either on apprehension, or in the 
way of execution, should escape out of the limits of the forest, 
(part being close to the town,) the bailiff had no further power 
over him, but if he should be caught within the precincts at 
any time after, he was immediately executed on his former 
sentence. 

“ This privilege was very freely used during the reign oi 
Elizabeth; the records before that time are lost. Twenty- 
five suffered in her reign, and at least twelve from 1623 to 
1650; after which, I believe, the privilege was no more ex¬ 
erted. 

“This machine of leath is now destroyed; but I saw one 
°f the same kind in a room under the parliament-house a( 



A CHINESE S C II O O 


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' 

























LADY OF THE LAMB.—CATCHING A HARE, ETC. 601 

Edinburgn, where it was introduced by the regent Morton, 
who took a model of it as he passed through Halifax, and at 
length suffered by it himself. It is in form of a painter’s easel, 
and about ten feet high : at four feet from the bottom is a 
cross bar, on which the felon lays his head, which is kept 
down by another placed above. In the inner edges of the 
frames are grooves ; in these is placed a sharp axe, with a vast 
weight of lead, supported at the very summit with a peg: to 
that peg is fastened a cord, which the executioner cutting, the 
axe falls, and does the affair effectually, without suffering; the 
unhappy criminal to undergo a repetition of strokes, as has 
been the case in the common method. I must add, that if the 
sufferer is condemned for stealing a horse or a cow, the string 
is tied to the beast, which, on being whipped, pulls out the 
peg, and becomes the executioner.” This apparatus is now 
in possession of the Scottish Antiquarian Society. 

Lady of the Lamb. —At Kidlington, in Oxfordshire, there 
is a custom, that on the next Monday after Whitsun-week, 
there is a fat live lamb provided, and the maids of the town, 
having their thumbs tied behind them, run after it; and she 
that with her mouth takes and holds the lamb, is declared 
Lady of the Lamb,—which being dressed by the butcher, with 
the skin hanging on, is carried on a long pole before the lady 
and her companions to the green, attended with music, and 
a morisco-dance of men, and another of women, where the 
rest of the day is spent in dancing, mirth, and merry glee. 
The next day the lamb is part baked, boiled, and roasted, for 
the lady’s feast; where she sits majestically, at the upper end 
of the table, and her companions with her, with music and 
other attendants, which ends the ceremony. 

The following is a Curious Custom Respecting catch¬ 
ing a Hare. —They have an ancient custom at Coleshill, in 
the county of Warwick, that if the young men of the town can 
catch a hare, and bring it to the parson of the parish, before 
ten of the clock on Easter Monday, the parson is bound to 
give them a calf’s head, and an hundred of eggs for their 
breakfast, and a groat in money. 

This chapter concludes with an account of an Extraordi¬ 
nary Ancient Custom. —A court, called Lawless Court, is 
held annually on Kingshill, at Ptochford, in Essex, on Wed¬ 
nesday morning next after Michaelmas-day, at cock-crowing, 
at which court the whole of the business is transacted in a 
whisper; no candle is allowed in the court, nor any pen and 
ink, but the proceedings are written with a piece of charcoal, 
and he that holds suit and service there, and does not appear, 

4 G 


602 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 

forfeits double the amount of his rent to the lord of the manor 
This court is mentioned by Camden, who says, ‘‘ the servile 
attendance was imposed on the tenants for conspiring at the 
like unseasonable time to raise a commotion.” It belongs to 
the honour of Raleigh, and is called Lawless, because held 3t 
*n unlawful hour, or, quia dicta sine lege. 




CHAP. LX. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE CUSTOMS OF MANKIND.— 

(Continued.) 

Marriage Ceremonies of different Nations—Marriage Custom oj 
the Japanese—Bacon Flitch Custom at Dunmoiv , Essex —On 
the Origin of Bings in general—Matrimonial Bing — Extra¬ 
ordinary Marriage Custom — Hand-Fasting. 

Tho’ fools spurn Hymen’s gentle pow’rs, 

They who improve his golden hours, 

By sweet experience know, 

That marriage, rightly understood, 

Gives to the tender and the good 

A paradise below. Cotton . 

Marriage Ceremonies of different Nations.— 
Marriage ceremonies vary in different countries, and at 
different times. Where the practice is to purchase a wife, whe¬ 
ther among savages, or among; luxurious people in hot climates, 
payment of the price completes this marriage, without any 
other ceremony. Other ceremonies, however, are sometimes 
practised. In old Rome, the bride was attended to the bride¬ 
groom’s house, with a female slave carrying a distaff and a 
spindle, importing that she ought to spin for the family. 
Among the savages of Canada, and of neighbouring countries, 
a strap, a kettle, and a faggot, are put in the bride’s cabin, as 
symbols of her duty, viz. to carry burdens, to dress victuals, 
and to provide wood. On the other hand, the bride, in token 
of her slavery, takes her axe, cuts wood, bundles it up, and 
lays it before the door of the bridegroom’s hut. All the 
salutation she receives is, “ It is time to go to rest.” The 
inhabitants of Sierra Leone, on the coast of Africa, have in 
all their towns a boarding-school, where young ladies are 
educated for a year, under the care of a venerable old gentle¬ 
man. When their education is completed, they are carried 
in their best attire to a public assembly ; which may be 
terme^ a matrimonial market, because there young men cod- 


MARRIAGE CEREMONIES. 603 

▼ene to make a choice. Those who fit themselves to their 
fancy pay the dowry; and, over and above, reward the old 
superintendant for his extraordinary care in educating the 
bride. In the island of Java, the bride, in token of subjection, 
washes the bridegroom’s feet; and this is a capital ceremony. 
In Russia, the bride presents to the bridegroom a bundle of 
rods, to be used against her when she deserves to be chas* 
tised; and at the same time she pulls off his boots. Very 
different were the manners of Peru before the Spanish con¬ 
quest. The bridegroom carried shoes to the bride, and put 
them on with his own hands ; but there, purchasing wives 
is unknown. Marriage ceremonies in Lapland are directed 
by the same principle. It is the custom there, for a man to 
make presents to his children of rein-deer; and young women 
who have a large stock of these animals, have lovers in 
plenty. A young man looks for such a wife at a fair, or at a 
meeting for paying taxes. Being solicitous, in particular, to 
have an eloquent pleader, he carries to the house of the young 
woman some of his relations. They are all admitted except 
the lover, who must wait till he be called in. After drinking 
some spirits, brought with them for the purpose, the spokes¬ 
man addresses the father in humble terms, bowing the knee, as 
if he were introduced to a prince. He styles him the worship¬ 
ful father, the high and mighty father, the best and most 
illustrious father, &c. 

The marriage ceremonies among the Hottentots are of 
a singular nature. After all matters are adjusted among the 
old people, the young couple are shut up by themselves ; and 
pass the night in struggling for superiority, which proves a 
very serious work, where the bride is reluctant. If she 
persevere to the last without yielding, the young man is 
discarded ; but, if he prevail, which commonly happens, the 
marriage is completed by another ceremony, no less singular. 
The men and women squat on the ground in different circles, 
the bridegroom in the centre of one, and the bride in the 
centre of another, where ceremonies of a most indelicate 
nature take place. The ceremonies among the present Greeks 
are no less remarkable. Among other particulars, the bride¬ 
groom and bride walk three rounds; during which they are 
kicked and cuffed heartily. Tournefort adds, that he only 
and his companions forbore to join in the ceremony; which 
was ascribed to their rusticity, and ignorance of polite man¬ 
ners. Marriage ceremonies among the Kamtschadales are 
extremely whimsical. A young man, after making his pro¬ 
posals, enters into the presence of his intended father-in-law. 
If he prove agreeable, he is admitted to the trial of the touch. 
The young woman is swaddled up in leathern thongs, and in 
that condition is put under the guard of some old women. 


604 CURIOSITIES RESPECT IN G CUSTOMS 

Watching every opportunity of a slack guard, he endeavours 
to uncase her, in order to touch what is always the most con¬ 
cealed. The bride must resist, in appearance at least; and 
therefore cries out for her guards, who fall with fury on the 
bridegroom, tear his hair, scratch his face, and act in violent 
opposition. The attempts of the lover sometimes prove 
unsuccessful for months; but the moment the touch is 
achieved, the bride testifies her satisfaction, by pronouncing 
the word Ni, Ni, with a soft and loving voice. The next night 
they associate together without any opposition. 

One marriage ceremony among 1 the island negroes is singu¬ 
lar. As soon as preliminaries are adjusted, the bridegroom, 
with a number of his companions, set out at night, and sur¬ 
round the house of the bride, as if intending to carry her off 
by force. She and her female attendants, pretending to make 
all possible resistance, cry aloud for help, but no person 
appears. This resembles strongly a marriage ceremony that 
is, or was, customary in Wales. On the morning of the wed¬ 
ding-day, the bridegroom, accompanied with his friends on 
horseback, demands the bride. Her friends, who are likewise 
on horseback, give a positive refusal; upon which a mock 
scuffle ensues. The bride, mounted behind her nearest kins¬ 
man, is carried off, and is pursued by the bridegroom and his 
friends, with loud shouts. It is not uncommon on such an 
occasion to see two or three hundred sturdy Cambro-Britons 
riding at full speed, crossing and jostling, to the no small 
amusement of the spectators. When they have fatigued them¬ 
selves and their horses, the bridegroom is suffered to overtake 
his bride. He leads her away in triumph, and the scene is 
concluded with feasting and festivity. The same marriage 
ceremony was usual in Muscovy, Lithuania, and Livonia, as 
reported by Olaus Magnus. 

Marriage Custom of the Japanese. —A very singular 
custom at the marriages of the Japanese, is, that the teeth of 
the bride are made black by some corrosive liquid. The teeth 
remain black ever after, and serve to shew that a woman is 
married, or a widow. Another circumstance is, at the birth 
of every child, to plant a tree in a garden or court-yard, which 
attains its full growth in as many years as a man requires to 
be mature for the duties of marriage. When he marries, the 
tree is cut down, and the wood is made into chests and boxes, 
to contain the clothes and other things which are made for 
the new-married couple. 

The Japanese may marry as often as they please : marriages 
with sisters are prohibited, but they can marry any other re¬ 
lative. 



WITNESSING A BATTLE FROM THE CLOUDS. 




























































































































































































































> 





BACON FLITCH CUSTOM, AT DUN MOW. 605 

Ba con Flitch Custom at Dunmow, Essex. —Man;y 
persons who are so often jocular about a certain “ Flitch of 
Bacon,” with those who are supposed to be in a much happier 
state than themselves, are not always familiar with the origin 
of this institution, and with the whimsical rhyming oath to be 
taken with the flitch. Old Fuller has preserved it, in his very 
scarce work of the Worthies ; and it will probably amuse those 
who have more wit than reading on this occasion. 

The celebrated flitch of bacon of Dunmow, in Essex, which 
can only be claimed, without perjury, by a select few in the 
married state, was a jocular institution by the monks of a 
monastery, in the priory of Dunmow, in Essex. Fuller observes, 
that these mortified men would be mirthful at times, as hereby 
may appear.— 

“ Any person from any p'art of England, coming hither, and 
humbly kneeling on tw r o stones at the church door (which are 
yet to be seen,) before the priory or convent, might demand 
a gammon or flitch of bacon, upon the solemn taking of the 
prescribed oath. 

The following is a copy of the register of the form and 
ceremony observed on a claim made more than a century ago, 
to this flitch of bacon, by William Parsley, of Much-Easton, 
and Jane, his wife. 

Dunmow, Nuper.—At a court baron of the Priorat’ right 
worshipful Sir Thomas May, knight, there holden upon Friday 
the seventh of June, in the thirteenth year of the reign of our 
sovereign Lord William III. by the grace of God, &c. and in 
the year of our Lord, 1701, before Thomas Wheeler, gent 
steward of the said manor. It is thus enrolled :— 


= r “ Elizabeth Beaumont, spinster, 

© \ Henrietta Beaumont, spinster, 

5 Annabella Beaumont, spinster, 

crq J Jane Beaumont, spinster, 

* v. Mary Wheler, spinster, 

“ Be it remembered, that at this court, in full and open 
court, it is found, and presented by the homage aforesaid, that 
William Parsley, of Much-Easton, in the county of Essex, 
butcher, and Jane his wife, have been married for the space of 
three years the last past, and upward ; and it is likewise found, 
presented, and adjudged, by the homage aforesaid, that the 
said AVilliam Parsley, and Jane his wife, by means of their 
quiet, peaceable, tender, and loving cohabitation, for the 
space of time aforesaid, (as appears by the said homage,) are 
fit and qualified persons to be admitted by the court to receive 
the ancient and accustomed oath, whereby to entitle them¬ 
selves to have the bacon of Dunmow delivered unto them, 
according to the custom of the manor. 

“Whereupon, at this court, in full and open court, came 



606 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 


the said William Parsley, and Jane his wife, in their proper 
persons, and humbly prayed, they might be admitted to take 
the oath aforesaid; whereupon the said steward, with the 
jury, suitors, and other officers of the court, proceeded, with 
the usual solemnity, to the ancient and accustomed place for 
the administration of the oath and receiving the gammon 
aforesaid, (that is to say) the two great stones lying near the 
church door, within the said manor; where the said William 
Parsley, and Jane his wife, kneeling down on the said two 
stones, and the said steward did administer unto them the 
above-mentioned oath in these words, or to this effect fol¬ 
lowing, viz. 

You do swear by custom of confession. 

That you ne’er made nuptial transgression; 

Nor since you w ere married man and wife. 

By household brawls, or contentious strife, 

Or otherwise, in bed or at board. 

Offended each other in deed or in word ; 

Or in a twelve months’ time and a day, 

Repented not in thought any way; 

Or since the church clerk said Amen, 

Wish’d yourselves unmarried again ; 

But continue true, and in desire 
As when you join’d hands in holy quire. 

“ And immediately thereupon, the said William Parsley, 
and Jane his wife, claiming the same gammon of bacon, the 
court pronounced the sentence for the same, in these words, 
or to the effect following: 

Since to these conditions, without any fear, 

Of your own accord you do freely swear, 

A whole gammon of bacon you do receive, 

And bear it away with love and good leave, 

For this is the custom of Dunmow well known;— 

Though the pleasure be ours, the bacon’s your own, 

** And accordingly a gammon of bacon was delivered unto 
the said William Parsley, and Jane his wife, with the usual 
solemnity. 

“ Examined per Thomas Wheeler, steward. The same day 
a gammon was delivered to Mr. Reynolds, steward to Sir 
Charles Barington, of Hatfield, Broad Oak.” 

The Origin of Rings in general. —The origin of rings, 
their matter and uses, together with the supposed virtue of 
the precious stones set in them, afford a subject well deserv¬ 
ing the notice of the curious. According to the accounts of the 
heathen mythology, Prometheus, who in the first times had 
discovered a great number of secrets, having been delivered 
from the chains by which he was fastened to Mount Caucasus 


\ 





EGVPT1AN SHOPKEEPER 












































































































































































































































































ORIGIN OF RINGS. 


607 


for stealing fire from heaven ; in memory cr acknowledgment 
of the favour he received from Jupiter, made himself, of one 
of those chains, a ring, in whose collet he represented the 
figure of part of the rock where he had been detained, or 
rather, as Pliny says, set in it a bit of the same rock, and put 
it on his finger. This was the first ring, and the first stone. But 
we otherwise learn that the use of rings is very ancient, and 
that the Egyptians were the first inventors of them; which 
seems confirmed by the history of Joseph, who, as we read in 
Genesis, chap. xli. for having interpreted Pharaoh’s dream, 
received not only his liberty, but was rewarded with this 
prince’s ring, and the superintendency of Egypt. Josephus, 
in the third book of the Jewish Antiquities, says, the Israelites 
had the use of them after passing the Red Sea, because 
Moses, on his return from Mount Sinai, found that they had 
forged the golden calf from their wives’ rings. The same 
Moses (which was upwards of four hundred years before the 
wars of Troy) permitted the priests to have established the 
use of gold rings, enriched with precious stones. The high- 
priest wore upon his ephod, which was a kind of camaieu, 
rings, that served him as clasps; a large emerald was set, 
and engraved with mysterious names. The ring he w r ore on 
his finger was of estimable value and celestial virtue. Had 
not Aaron, the high priest of the Hebrews, a ring on his 
finger, whereof the diamond, by its virtue, operated pro¬ 
digious things? for it changed its vivid lustre into a dark 
colour, when the Hebrews were to be punished by death for 
their sins : when they were to fall by the sword, it appeared 
of a blood colour; if they w r ere innocent, it sparkled as usual. 
It is observable, that the ancient Hebrews used rings in the 
time even of the war of Troy. Queen Jezebel, to destroy 
Nabath, as it is related in the first book of Kings, made use 
of the ring of Ahab, king of the Israelites, her husband, to 
seal the counterfeit letters that ordered the death of that 
unfortunate man. Did not Judah, as mentioned in the thirty- 
eighth chapter of Genesis, deceive his daughter-in-law Tamar, 
(who had disguised herself,) by giving her his ring and brace¬ 
lets as a pledge of the faith he had promised her? Though 
Homer is silent in regard to rings both in his Iliad and 
Odyssey, they were, notwithstanding, used in the time of the 
Greeks and Trojans; and it is from them that several 
other nations received them. The Lacedemonians, as re¬ 
lated by Alexander ab Alexandro, pursuant to the orders 
of their king Lycurgus, had only iron rings, despising 
those of gold ; probably because their king was willing there¬ 
by to retrench luxury, and discourage the use of effeminate 
ornaments among his subjects, as inconsistent with the manly 
plainness of Spartan virtue. 


6()tf CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 

The ring was reputed, by some nations, a symbol of libe¬ 
rality, esteem, and friendship, particularly among the Per¬ 
sians, none being permitted to wear any, except given to him 
from the king himself. This is what may also be remarked 
in the person of Apollonius Thyaneus, who, as a token of 
singular esteem and great liberality, received one from the 
great Jarchas, prince of the gymnosophists, who were the 
ancient priests of the Indies, and dwelt in forests, as our bards 
and Druids, where they applied themselves to the study ol 
wisdom, and to the speculation of the heavens and stars. This 
philosopher, by the means of that ring, learned every day the 
greatest secrets in nature. 

Though the ring found by Gyges, shepherd to the king of 
Lydia, has more of fable than truth in it, it will not, however, 
be amiss to relate what is said concerning Herodotus, Caelius 
after Plato, and Cicero, in the third book of his Offices. 
This Gyges, after a great flood, passed into a very deep cavity 
in the earth, where having found, in the belly of a brasen horse, 
with a large aperture in it, a human body of enormous size, 
he pulled from off one of the fingers, a ring of surprising vir¬ 
tue ; for the stone on the collet rendered him who wore it 
invisible, when the collet was turned towards the palm of the 
hand ; so that the party could see, without being seen, all 
manner of persons and things. Gyges, having made trial of 
its efficacy, bethought himself that it would be a means for 
ascending the throne of Lydia, and for gaining the queen by it. 
He succeeded in his designs, having killed Candaules, her 
husband. The dead body this ring belonged to was that of 
an ancient Brahmin, who in his time was chief of all. The 
rings of the ancients often served for seals. Alexander the 
Great, after the defeat and death of Darius, used his ring for 
sealing the letters he sent into Asia, and his own for those he 
sent to Europe. It wrs customary in Rome for the bridegroom 
to send the bride, before marriage, a ring of iron, without 

• i O' * <D * ' 

either stone or collet, to denote how lasting their union ought 
to be, and the frugality they were to observe together; but 
luxury herein soon gained ground, and there was a necessity 
of moderating it. Caius Marius did not wear one of gold 
till his third consulship: and Tiberius, as Suetonius says, 
made some regulation in the authority of wearing rings ; for 
besides the liberty of birth, he required a considerable revenue, 
both on the father and grandfather’s side. 

In the preceding dissertation we have anticipated the Ma¬ 
trimonial Ring, therefore our further observations need be 
but few. 

Swinburne says, the iron ring was adorned with an adamant, 
the metal hard and du'rable, signifying the duration and pros- 


HAND-FASTING.— FUNERAL CEREMONIES. 609 

periiy of the contract. “ Howbeit,” he says, “ it skilleth not 
at this day what metal the ring be of. The form of it being 
round, and without end, doth import that their love should 
circulate and flow continually. The finger on which this ring 
is to be worn, is the fourth finger on the left hand, next unto 
the little finger, because there was supposed a vein of blood 
to pass from thence into the heart.” 

We shall conclude this chapter with an account of an an¬ 
cient custom, called Hand-Fasting. 

This custom formerly took place at an annual fair, in the 
parish of Eskdale-muir, in Dumfriesshire, thus described by 
the Rev. W. Brown, in his Statistical Account of that parish : 
“ At that fair it was the custom for the unmarried persons of 
both sexes, to choose companions with whom they were to 
live till that time next year. If they were pleased with each 
other at that time," then they continued together for life; if 
not, they separated, and were free to make another choice, as 
at first. The fruit of their connection, if there were any, was 
always attached to the disaffected person. A priest, whom 
they named Book-i’-bosom, (because he carried in his bosom 
a Bible, or a register of the marriages,) came from time to 
time to confirm the marriages.” Mr. Brown traces this custom 
from the Romans.—See Sir J. Sinclair’s Statistical Account, 
vol. xii. p. 615. 


CHAP. LXI. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE CUSTOMS OF MANKIND.- 

( Continued.) 

Funeral Ceremonies oj the t.indent Ethiopians—Funeral Cere¬ 
monies of the Chinese—Ancient Funeral Ceremonies of the 
Dajakkese—Ancient Modes of Mourning—Feasts among the 
Ancients of various Nations—Feast oj Lanterns. 

Funeral Ceremonies of the Ancient Ethiopians.— 
The Ethiopians had very particular ceremonies in their fune¬ 
rals. According to Ctesias, after having salted the bodies, 
they put them into a hollow statue of gold, which resembled 
the deceased, and are placed in a niche, on a pillar set up 
for that purpose. The remains of the richest Ethiopians were 
thus honoured : the bodies of those of the next class were 
contained in silver statues; the poor were enshrined in statues 
of earthenware. Herodotus informs us, that the nearest 
relations of the dead kept the body a year in their houses, 




610 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 

and offered sacrifice and first-fruits during that time to their 
deceased friend ; and at the end of the year, they fixed the 
corpse in a place set apart for the purpose near their town. 
The inhabitants of the country above Meroe had various me¬ 
thods of paying respect to their deceased friends. Some 
threw their bodies into the river, thinking that the most 
honourable sepulchre. Others kept them in their houses in 
niches, thinking that their children would be stimulated to 
virtuous deeds by the sight of their ancestors ; and that grown 
people, by the same objects, would retain their parents in 
their memories. Others put their dead bodies into coffins of 
earthenware, and buried them near their temples. To swear 
with their hand laid upon a corpse, was their most sacred and 
inviolable oath. 

Funeral Ceremonies of the Chinese. —The funeral 
ceremonies are considered by the Chinese as the most import¬ 
ant of any. A few moments after a person has expired, he is 
dressed out in his richest attire, and adorned with every badge 
of his dignity; after which he is placed in the coffin. The 
preparation of a coffin, in which his body may be inclosed 
after death, is one of the chief objects of attention to a Chi¬ 
nese during his life, and great expense is often thrown away 
upon it; insomuch that the poor will give all they are worth, 
and the rich expend one thousand crowns; nay, a son will sell 
himself for a slave, to purchase a coffin for his father. Some¬ 
times the coffin, when purchased with all this labour and ex¬ 
pense, will remain twenty years useless in the family ; but it 
is considered as the most valuable piece of furniture in his 
possession. The manner of interment is as follows :—First, 
they sprinkle some lime in the bottom of the coffin ; then they 
lay the body in it, taking care to place the head on a pillow, 
and to add a great deal of cotton, that it may remain steady. 
The body remains thus exposed seven days ; but the time may 
be reduced to three, if any weighty reason makes it neces¬ 
sary ; and, during this interval, all the relations and friends, 
who are purposely invited, come and pay their respects to the 
deceased, the nearest relations remaining in the house. The 
coffin is exposed in the hall of ceremony, which is then hung 
with white, but some pieces of black or violet-coloured silk 
are here and there interspersed, as well as some other orna* 
ments of mourning. Before the coffin is placed a table, on 
which stands the image of the deceased, or a carved ornament 
inscribed with his name ; and these are always accompanied 
with flowers, perfumes, and lighted wax candles. In the 
mean time those who enter the hall stflute the deceased, as if 
still in life, dhey prostrate themselves before the table, and 
knock their foreheads several times against the earth; after 


FUNERAL CEREMONIES OF THE CHINESE. 611 

which they place on the table some perfumes and wax candles. 
Their salutations are returned by the eldest son, accompanied 
by his brothers. The latter come forth from behind a curtain, 
which hangs on one side of the coffin, creeping along the 
ground until they reach the spot where those stand whom they 
are going to salute; after which, they return without rising 
up. The women are also concealed behind the same cur¬ 
tain, from whence they every now and then send forth dismal 
cries. 

The funeral procession at last commences. A troop of men 
march in a file, carrying different figures made of pasteboard, 
and representing slaves, lions, tigers, horses, &c. Others 
follow, marching in two files ; some of whom carry standards, 
some flags, or censers filled with perfumes; while melancholy 
and plaintive airs are played by others, on musical instru¬ 
ments. These musicians immediately precede the coffin, which 
is covered with a canopy, in form of a dome, of violet-coloured 
silk: its four corners are ornamented with tufts of white silk, 
neatly embroidered, and covered at the top with net-work. 
The coffin is placed on the bottom of this machine, and is 
carried by sixty-four men. The eldest son, clothed in a frock 
of canvass, having his body bent, and leaning on a staff, fol¬ 
lows near the coffin ; and behind him his brothers and nephews, 
but none of them clothed in canvass. Then come the rela¬ 
tions and friends, all clad in mourning, and followed by a great 
number of chairs, covered with white stuff, containing the 
wives and female slaves of the deceased. These make great 
show of sorrow, by doleful, yet methodical cries. When 
they arrive at the burying-place, the coffin is deposited in a 
tomb appropriated for it, not far from which there are tables 
arranged in different halls, on which the assistants are enter¬ 
tained with great splendour. The entertainment is sometimes 
followed by fresh marks of homage to the corpse; but these 
are often changed into thanks to the eldest son, who, how¬ 
ever, answers only by signs. But if the deceased was a gran¬ 
dee of the empire, a certain number of his relations do not 
leave the tomb for a month or two; but reside in apartments 
provided for them, and every day renew their marks of grief, 
with the children of the deceased. The magnificence of these 
funeral ceremonies is proportioned to the wealth or dignity of 
the deceased. That of one of the brothers of the emperor, 
was attended by sixteen thousand people, each of whom had 
a particular office assigned him relating to the ceremony. 
Mourning continues in China for three years ; during all which 
time they must abstain from flesh and wine, nor can they as¬ 
sist at any entertainment, or attend any public assembly. At 
first they are not even permitted to go abroad; and when they 
do so, they are carried in a chair, covered with a white cloth. 


(512 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 


Sometimes the filial piety of the Chinese is carried to such 
a length, that they preserve the bodies of their fathers in 
their houses for three or four years, and impose upon them¬ 
selves a great number of other duties, using no other seat 
during the day, but a stool covered with a white serge, and 
no other bed but a plain mat made of reeds, which is placed 
neai the coffin. 

Funeral and Marriage Ceremonies of the Dajak- 
kese Inhabitants of Borneo. —The corpse is placed in a 
coffin, and remains in the house till the son, the father, or the 
nearest of blood, can procure or purchase a slave, who is 
beheaded at the time that the corpse is burnt, in order that 
he may become the slave of the deceased in the next world. 
The ashes of the deceased are then placed in an earthen urn, 
on which various figures are exhibited ; and the head of the 
slave is dried, and prepared in a peculiar manner with cam¬ 
phor and drugs, and deposited near it. It is said that this 
practice often induces them to purchase a slave guilty of some 
capital crime, at five-fold his value, in order that they may 
be able to put him to death on such occasions. 

Marriage Ceremonies .—Nobody can be permitted to marry 
till he can present a human head of some other tribe to his 
proposed bride, in which case she is not permitted to refuse 
him. It is not, however, necessary that this should be ob¬ 
tained entirely by his own personal prowess. When a person 
is determined to go a head-hunting, as it is often a very 
dangerous service, he consults with his friends and acquaint¬ 
ances, who frequently accompany him, or send their slaves 
along with him. The head-hunter then proceeds with his 
party in the most cautious manner to the vicinity of the 
villages of another tribe, and lies in ambush till they surprise 
some heedless unsuspecting wretch, who is instantly de¬ 
capitated. Sometimes, too, they surprise a solitary fisherman 
in a river, or on the shore, who undergoes the same fate. 
When the hunter returns, the whole village is filled with joy, 
and old and young, men and women, hurry out to meet him, 
and conduct him with the sound of brasen cymbals, dancing 
in long lines to the house of the female he admires, whose 
family likewise come out to greet him with dances, pro¬ 
vide him a seat, and give him meat and drink. He still holds 
the bloody head in his hand, and puts part of the food into 
its mouth, after which, the females of the family receive the 
head from him, which they hang up to the ceiling over the 
door. 

If a man’s wife die, he is not permitted to make proposals 
of marriage to another, till he has provided another head of 
a different tribe, as if to revenge the death of his deceased 


MARK) A G K. - A N Cl ENT MODES OF MOURNING. 613 

wife. The heads procured in this manner, they preserve with 
great care, and sometimes consult in divination. The re¬ 
ligious opinions connected with this practice, are by no means 
correctly understood. Some assert, that they believe that 
every person whom a man kills in this world, becomes his 
slave in the next. The Idaan, it is said, think that the 
entrance into paradise is over a long tree, which serves for 
a bridge, over which it is impossible to pass without the 
assistance of a slave slain in this world. 

The practice of stealing heads causes frequent wars among 
the different tribes of the Idaan. Many persons never can 
obtain a head, in which case they are generally despised by 
the warriors and the women. To such a height is it carried, 
however, that a person who had obtained eleven heads, has 
been seen by Mr. Burn; and he pointed out his son, a young 
lad, who had procured three. 

Ancient Modes of Mourning. —Amongst the ancient 
Jews, on the death of their relations or intimate friends, 
mourning was expressed by weeping, tearing their clothes, 
smiting their breasts, or lacerating them with their nails, 
pulling or cutting off their hair and beards, walking softly, 
i. e. barefoot, lying upon the ground, fasting, or eating upon 
the ground. They kept themselves close shut up in their 
houses, covered their faces, and abstained from all work, even 
reading the law, and saying their usual prayers. They neither 
dressed themselves, nor made their beds, nor cut their nails, 
nor went into the bath, nor saluted any body. The time of 
mourning was generally seven days, less or more, according 
to circumstances, but thirty days were thought sufficient 
upon the severest occasions. The different periods of tin* 
time of mourning required different degrees of grief, and 
different tokens of it. 

The Greeks, on the death of their friends, shewed their 
sorrow by secluding themselves from all gaiety, entertain¬ 
ments, games, public solemnities, wine, and music. They 
sat in gloomy and solitary places, stripped themselves of all 
external ornaments, put on a coarse black stuff by way of 
mourning, tore their hair, shaved their heads, rolled them¬ 
selves in the dust and mire, sprinkled ashes on their heads, 
smote their breasts with their palms, tore their faces, and 
frequently cried out with a lamentable voice and drawling 
tone. At the funerals of soldiers, their fellow soldiers, as a 
testimony of their affliction, held their shields, their spears, 
and the rest of their armour, inverted. 

The tokens of private grief among the Romans, were the 
same as those among the Greeks. Black or dark brown were 
the colours of the mourning habits worn by the men; they were 


614 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 


also common to the women. The mourning of the emperors 
at first was black. In the time of Augustus, the women were 
white veils, and the rest of their dress was black. From the 
lime of Domitian, they wore nothing but white habits, without 
any ornaments of gold, jewels, or pearls. The men let their 
hair and beards grow, and wore no wreaths of flowers on their 
heads, while the days of mourning continued. The longest 
time of mourning: was ten months : this was Numa’s establish- 
ment, and took in his whole year. For a widow to marry 
during this time, was infamous. Mourning was not used for 
children who died under three years of age. From this age 
to ten., they mourned as many months as the child was years 
old. A remarkable victory, or other happy event, occasioned 
the shortening of the time of mourning. The birth of a child, 
or the attainment of any remarkable honour in the family, 
certain feasts in honour of the gods, or the consecration of a 
temple, had the same effect. After the defeat at Cannae, the 
commonwealth decreed that mourning should not be worn for 
more than thirty days, that the loss might be forgot as soon 
as possible. When public magistrates died, or persons of 
great note, also when any remarkable calamity happened, all 
public meetings were intermitted, the schools of exercise, baths, 
shops, temples, and all places of concourse, were shut up, 
and the whole city put on a face of sorrow; the senators laid 
aside the laticlave, and the consuls sat in a lower seat than 
ordinary. This was the custom of Athens also, and was 
observed upon the death of Socrates, when the fickle Athe¬ 
nians became sensible of the calamity their state had suffered 
in the loss of that great and virtuous man. 

The modes of mourning differ in various countries, as well 
as the colours used for that end. In Europe, the ordinary 
colour for mourning is black ; in China, it is white ; in Turkey, 
blue or violet; in Egypt, yellow ; in Ethiopia, brown. White 
obtained formerly in Castile, on the death of their princes. 
Herrera observes, that the last time it was used was in 1498, 
at the death of prince John. Each people assign their reasons 
for the particular colour of their mourning : white is supposed 
to denote purity ; yellow, that death is the end of human hopes, 
in regard that leaves when they fall, and flowers when they 
fade, become yellow ; brown denotes the earth, whither the 
dead return; black, the privation of light; blue expresses the 
happiness which it is hoped the deceased does enjoy; and 
purple or violet, sorrow on the one side, and hope on the other, 
as being a mixture of black and blue. 

Fea STS AMONG THE ANCIENTS OF VARIOUS NATIONS.— 
All nations, whether savage or civilized, have regarded the 
pleasures of the table as the occasion of the most agreeable 


FEASTS AMONG VARIOUS NATIONS. 015 

Bociety. This species of enjoyment (abstracted from its sus¬ 
ceptibility of a^use) makes but one family of all that it brings 
together. It levels the distinctions introduced by policy or 
prejudice, and disposes men to regard one another as brethren. 
Here people feel the equality established by nature; here 
they forget the evils of life; extinguish their animosities, and 
drop their enmities. For this reason Aristotle considers as a 
breach of the social principle, that custom of the Egyptians 
of eating apart, and praises the convivial repasts established 
by Minos and Lycurgus. 

We learn from Herodotus, that the ancients had neither 
cups nor bowls at their feasts, but that they drank out of little 
horns tipt with silver or gold. The Greeks and Romans kept 
a domestic, for the purpose of reading during their meals and 
feasts. Sometimes the chief of the family himself performed 
the office of reader ; and history informs us, that the Emperor 
Severus often read while his family ate. The time of reading 
was generally at supper; and guests were invited to a reading 
as they are now-a-days to play at cards. 

The Greeks, in their flourishing times, did not profane, 
(according to their own expression) the holiness of the table, 
but rather adorned it with ingenious and elegant conversation : 
they proposed moral topics, of which Plutarch has preserved 
a collection. Heroes rarely assembled convivially, without 
bringing affairs of consequence into discourse, or deliberating 
upon those that regarded either present events or future con¬ 
tingencies. The Scythians, while at meat, used to make the 
strings of their bows resound, lest their warlike virtues might 
be enfeebled or lost in the season of pleasure. People of rank 
among the Rhodians, by a fundamental law of the state, were 
obliged to dine daily with those who had the management 
of affairs, in order to deliberate with them concerning such 
things as were necessary or useful for the country; and on 
this account the principal ministers of the kingdom were 
obliged to keep open table for all who could be of use to the 
state. The Persians also generally deliberated on business at 
table, but never determined, or put their determinations in 
execution, except in the morning before eating. 

Among the Romans, the place where they supped was gene¬ 
rally the vestibule, that a more retired part of the house might 
not encourage licentiousness and disorder. There were several 
laws that restricted their meals to these vestibules. When 
luxury reigned in Rome, they had superb halls for their enter¬ 
tainments. Lucullus had many, each of which bore the name 
of some deity ; and this name was a mark which indicated to 
the servants the expense of the entertainment. The expense 
of a supper in Lucullus’s hall of Apollo, amounted to fifty 
thousand drachmas. Singers, dancers, musicians, stage-play- 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 

ers, jesters, and buffoons, were brought into these halls to 
amuse the guests. 

Plutarch informs us, that Csesar, after his triumphs, treated 
the Roman people at twenty-two thousand tables; and by 
calculation it would seem, that there were at these tables up¬ 
wards of two hundred thousand persons. The hall in which 
Nero feasted, by the circular motion of its walls and ceiling, 
imitated the revolutions of the heavens, and represented the 
different seasons of the year, changing at every course, and 
showering down flowers and perfumes on the guests. The 
Romans did not, as we do, use but one table at their feasts; 
they had generally two : the first was for the service of animal 
food, which was afterwards removed, and another introduced 
with fruits; at this last they sung, and poured out t’heir liba¬ 
tions. The Greeks and eastern nations had the same custom, 
and even the Jews in their solemn feasts, and at sacrifices. 
The Romans, in the time of Nero, had tables made of citron- 
wood brought from Mauritania; they were varnished with 
purple and gold. Dion Cassius affirms, that Seneca had five 
hundred of these, which he made use of one after another ; 
and Tertullian tells us, that Cicero had but one. The Romans 
chose the king of the feast by a throw of the dice. At the 
conclusion of the feast they drank out of a large cup, as often 
as there were letters in the names of their mistresses. 

Feasting seems to have been the chief delight of the Britons, 
Germans, Gauls, and all the other Celtic nations ; in which 
they indulged themselves to the utmost, as often as they had 
opportunity. “ Among these nations (says M. Pellontier, in 
his Hist. Celt. lib. ii. c. 12. p. 463.) there is no public as¬ 
sembly, either for civil or religious purposes, duly held ; no 
birth-day, marriage, or funeral, properly celebrated ; no treaty 
of peace or alliance rightly cemented,—without a great feast.” 
When the Germans, says Tacitus, wanted to reconcile enemies, 
to make alliances, to name chiefs, or to treat of war and 
peace, it was during the repast that they took counsel; a 
time in which the mind is most open to the impressions of 
simple truths, or most easily animated to great attempts. 
These artless people, during the conviviality of the feast, spoke 
without disguise. Next day they weighed the counsels of the 
former evening: they deliberated at a time when they were 
not disposed to feign, and took their resolution when they 
were least liable to be deceived. It was by frequent enter¬ 
tainments of this kind, that the great men or chieftains gained 
the affections and rewarded the services of their followers ; and 
those who made the greatest feasts were sure to be most 
popular, and to have the greatest retinue. These feasts, in 
which plenty was more regarded than elegance, lasted com- 
nonly several days, and the guests seldom retired until they 




ANCIENT METHOD OF STORMING A FORT 
























































































































































































































, 





































































































































FEASTS AMONG VARIOUS NATIONS. 


(317 


had consumed all the provisions and exhausted all the 
liquors. 

Atheneeus describes an entertainment that was given by 
Arcamnes, a very wealthy prince of Gaul, which continued 
a whole year without interruption, and at which all the people 
of Gaul, and even all strangers who passed through that 
country, were made welcome. At these feasts they some¬ 
times consulted about the most important affairs of state, 
and formed resolutions relating to peace and war; imagin¬ 
ing that men spoke their real sentiments with the greatest 
freedom, and were apt to form the boldest designs, when their 
spirits were exhilarated with the pleasures of the table. The 
conversation at these entertainments very frequently turned 
on the great exploits, which the guests themselves, or their 
ancestors, had performed in war ; which sometimes occasioned 
quarrels, and even bloodshed. It was at a feast that the two 
illustrious British princes, Carbar and Oscar, quarrelled about 
their own bravery and that of their ancestors, and fell by 
mutual wounds.— Ossian, vol. ii. p. 8, &c. 

As to the drink used at those feasts, particularly in Britain, 
it seems probable, that before the introduction of agriculture 
into the island, mead, or honey diluted with water, was the 
only strong liqa<w known to its inhabitants, as it was to many 
other ancient nations in the same circumstances. This con¬ 
tinued to be a favourite beverage among the ancient Britons 
and their posterity, long after they had become acquainted 
with other liquors, ("See Mead.) After the introduction of 
agriculture, ale or beer became the most general drink of all 
the British nations who practised that art, as it had long been 
of all the Celtic people on the continent, ("See Ale.) If the 
Phoenicians or Greeks imported any wine into Britain, it was 
only in very small quantities; that liquor being very little 
known in this island before it was conquered by the Homans. 
The drinking vessels of the Gauls, Britons, and other Celtic 
nations, were for the most part made of the horns of oxen 
and other animals; but those of the Caledonians consisted 
of large shells, which are still used by some of their posterity 
in the Highlands of Scotland. 

The dishes in which the meat was served up were either of 
wood or earthenware, or a kind of baskets made of osiers. 
These last were most used by the Britons, as they very much 
excelled in the art of making them, both for their own use 
and for exportation. The guests sat in a circle upon the 
ground, with a little hay, grass, or the skin of some animal, under 
them. A low table or stool was set before each person, with 
the portion of meat allotted to him upon it. In this distribu¬ 
tion, they never neglected to set the largest and best piece# 
before those who were most distinguished for their rank, 

41 


618 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 

their exploits, or their riches. Every guest took the meat set 
before him in his hands, and, tearing it with his teeth, iecl 
upon it in the best manner he could. If any one found diffi¬ 
culty in separating any part of his meat with his hands and 
teeth, he made use of a large knife, that lay in a particular 
place for the benefit of the whole company. Servants, or 
young boys and girls, the children of the family, stood behind 
the guests, ready to help them to drink, or any thing they 
wanted. 

As the ancient Britons greatly excelled, and very much 
delighted in, music, all their feasts were accompanied with 
the ioys of song, and the music of harps. In the words of 
Ossian, (vol. ii. p. 9, See.) “ whenever the feast of shells is 
prepared, the songs of bards arise. The voice of sprightly 
mirth is heard. The trembling harps of joy are strung. They 
sing the battles of heroes, or the heaving breasts of love.” 
Some of the poems of that illustrious British bard appear to 
have been composed in order to be sung by the hundred 
bards of Fingal, at the feasts of Selma, (see vol. i. p. 87, 209.) 
Many of the songs of the bards, which were sung and played 
at the feasts of the ancient Britons, were of a grave and solemn 
strain, celebrating the brave actions of the guests, or of the 
heroes of other times; but these were sometimes intermixed 
with sprightly and cheerful airs, to which the youth of both 
sexes danced. It has been observed by some authors, that 
no nation comes near the English in the magnificence of their 
feasts. Those made at our coronations, instalments, conse¬ 
crations, &c. transcend the belief of foreigners ; and yet it is 
doubted whether those now in use are comparable to the feasts 
of former ages. 

William the Conqueror, after he was peaceably settled on 
the throne of England, sent agents into different countries, to 
collect the most admired and rare dishes for his table; by 
which means, says John of Salisbury, this island, which is 
naturally productive of plenty and variety of provisions, was 
overflowed with every thing that could inflame a luxurious 
appetite. The same writer tells us, that he was present at an 
entertainment which lasted from three p. m. to midnight, at 
which delicacies were served up, which had been brought 
from Constantinople, Babylon, Alexandria, Palestine, Tripoli. 
Syria, and Phoenicia. These delicacies were doubtless very 
expensive. Thomas Becket (says his historian Fitz-Stephen) 
gave £5, equivalent to £75 at present, for one dish of eels* 
The sumptuous entertainments which the kings of England 
gave to their nobles and prelates, at the festivals of Christmas* 
Easter, and Whitsuntide, in which they spent a great part of 
their revenues, contributed very much to diffuse a taste for 
profuse and expensive banqueting. It was na f ural for a proud 


ROMAN SOLDIERS AND CONSUL 




















































































































































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■ 














■ 




• 

















































































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' 






































FEASTS AMONG \aRIOUS NATIONS. 


619 


and wealthy baron to imitate, in his own castle, the enteitain- 
ments he had seen in the palace of his prince. Many of the 
clergy, toa, both seculars and regulars, being very rich, kept 
excellent tables. 

The monks of St. Swithin’s, at Winchester, made a formal 
complaint to Henry II. against their abbot, for taking away 
three of the 13 dishes they used to have every day at 
dinner. The monks of Canterbury were still more luxurious : 
for they had at least 17 dishes every day, besides a dessert; 
and these dishes were dressed with spiceries and sauces, 
which excited the appetite as well as pleased the taste. Great 
men had some kinds of provisions at their tables, that are 
not now to be found in Britain. 

When Henry II. entertained his own court, the great officers 
of his army, with all the kings and great men of Ireland, in 
Dublin, at the feast of Christmas, A. D. 1171, the Irish princes 
and chieftains were quite astonished at the profusion and 
variety of provisions which they beheld, and were with difficulty 
prevailed upon by Henry to eat the flesh of cranes, a kind of 
food to which they had not been accustomed. In the remain¬ 
ing monuments of this period, we meet with the names of 
several dishes, as deUegrout,maupigyrmim, karumpie, See. the 
composition of which is now unknown. 

The coronation feast of Edward III. cost £2835. 18s. 2d. 
equivalent to about £40,000 of our money. At the installation 
of Ralph, abbot of St. Augustine, Canterbury, A. D. 1309, 
6000 guests were entertained with a dinner, consisting of 
3000 dishes, which cost £287. 5s. equal in value to £4300 
in our times. “ It would require a long treatise (says Matthew 
Paris) to describe the astonishing splendour, magnificence, 
and festivity, with which the nuptials of Richard Earl of Corn¬ 
wall, and Cincia daughter of Raymund Earl of Provence, were 
celebrated at London", A. D. 1243. To give the reader some 
idea of it, in a few words, above 30,000 dishes were served 
up at the marriage dinner.” 

The nuptials of Alexander III. of Scotland, and the princess 
Margaret of England, were solemnized at York, A. D. 1251, 
with still greater pomp and profusion. “ If I attempted (says 
M. Paris) to display all the grandeur of this solemnity,—the 
numbers of the noble and illustrious guests,—the richness and 
variety of the dresses,—the sumptuousness of the feasts,—the 
multitudes of the minstrels, mimics, and others whose busi¬ 
ness it was to amuse and divert the company, those of my 
readers who were not present, would imagine that I was im¬ 
posing upon their credulity. The following particular will 
enable them to form a judgment of the whole. The arch¬ 
bishop of York made the King of England a present of 60 fat 
oxen; which made only one article of provision for the 


f)20 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 

marriage feast, and were all consumed at that entertainment 
The marriage feast of Henry IV. and his queen, Jane of Navarre, 
consisted of six courses; three of flesh and fowl, and three 
of fish. All these courses were accompanied and adorned 
with suttleties, as they were called. These suttleties were 
figures in pastry, of men, women, beasts, birds, &c. placed on 
the table, to be admired, but not touched. Each figure had 
a label affixed to it, containing some wise or witty saying, 
suited to the occasion of the feast, which was the reason they 
were called suttleties.” 

The installation feast of George Neville, archbishop of 
York, and chancellor of England, exceeded all others in 
splendour and expense, and in the number and quality of the 
guests. The reader may form some idea of this enormous 
feast, from the following list of provisions prepared for it. In 
wheat, 300 quarters; in ale, 300 tuns; in wine, 100 tuns; in 
ypocrasse pipes, 1 ; in oxen, 104; in wild bulls, 6; in muttons, 
1000; in veals, 304; in porks, 304; in swans, 400; in geese, 
2000; in capons, 1000; in pigs, 2000; in plovers, 400; in 
quails, 1200; in fowls called rees, 2400; in peacocks, 104; in 
mallards and teals, 4000; in cranes, 204; in kids, 204; in 
chickens, 2000; in pigeons, 2000; in conies 4000; in bitterns, 
204; in heronshaws, 400; in pheasants, 200 ; in partridges, 
500; in woodcocks, 400; in curlews, 100; in egritis, 1000; 
in stags, bucks, and roes, 500 and more; in pasties of venison, 
cold, 4000; in parted dishes of jellies, 1000; in plain dishes 
of jellies, 3000; in cold tarts, baked, 4000; in cold custards, 
baked, 3000 ; in hot pasties of venison, 1500; in hot custards, 
2000; in pikes and breams, 308; in porpoises and seals, 12: 
spices, sugared delicates, and wafers, plenty. No turkeys are 
mentioned in this enormous bill of fare, because they were 
not then known in England. Cranes, heronshaws, porpoises, 
and seals, are seldom seen at modern entertainments. One 
of the most expensive singularities attending the royal feasts 
in those days, consisted in what they called Intermeats. These 
were representations of battles, sieges, &c. introduced between 
the courses, for the amusement of the guests. The French 
excelled in exhibitions of this kind. At a dinner given by 
Charles V. of France to the emperor Charles IV. A. D. 1378, 
the following intermeat was exhibited : a ship, with masts, 
sails, and rigging, was seen first; she had for colours the arms 
of the city of Jerusalem : Godfrey of Bouillon appeared upon 
deck, accompanied by several knights armed cap-a-pie: the 
ship advanced into the middle of the hall, without the machine 
which moved it being perceptible. Then the city of Jerusalem 
appeared, with all its towers lined with Saracens. The ship 
approached the city; the Christians landed, and began to as* 
sault, while the besieged made a good defence : several scaling- 


ANCIENT PERSIAN SOLDIERS 

























































































































FEAST OF LANTERNS. 


621 

ladders were thrown down ; but at length the city was taken. 
Intermeats at ordinary banquets consisted of certain delicate 
dishes, introduced between the courses, and designed rather 
for gratifying the taste, than for satisfying hunger. At those 
feasts, besides ale and cider, there were great quantities of 
wine of various kinds. Of these, a poet who wrote in the 
fourteenth century, gives an ample enumeration ; wherein he 
mentions ypocrasse, malespine, algrade, garnade, and other 
kinds now hardly known. Some of these liquors, as ypocrasse, 
pyment, and claret, were compounded of wine, honey, anc 
spices, of different kinds, and in different proportions. 

The chapter concludes with the Feast of Lanterns. —In 
China, this is a celebrated festival, held from the thirteenth to 
the sixteenth day of the first month; so called from the im¬ 
mense number of lanterns hung out of the houses and streets; 
which, it is said, is no less than two hundred millions. On 
this day are exposed lanterns of all prices, whereof some are 
said to cost two thousand crowns. Some of their grandees 
retrench somewhat every day out of the regular expenses of 
their table, dress, equipage, &c. to appear the more mag¬ 
nificent in their lanterns. They are adorned with gilding, 
sculpture, painting, japanning, &c. and their size is extrava¬ 
gant ; some being from twenty-five to thirty feet diameter, 
representing halls and chambers. Two or three such machines 
together would make handsome houses ; so that in China they 
are able to eat, lodge, receive visits, hold balls, and act plays, 
in a lantern. To illuminate them, they light up in them an in¬ 
credible number of torches or lamps, which at a distance have 
a beautiful effect. In these they exhibit various kinds of 
shows, to divert the people. Besides these enormous lanterns, 
there is a multitude of smaller ones, each about four feet high, 
and ore and a half broad. 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 


t>22 


CHAP. LXII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE CUSTOMS OF MANKIND. - 

(Continued.) 

Origin of the Sheriff’s counting Hobnails—Origin of the Order 
of the Garter—Origin and History of the Claim and Allow¬ 
ance of the *Beneft of Clergy ’ in Criminal Convictions — 
Cxirious Tenures—The Origin of May Poles and Garlands — 
Curious Custom at Oakham—Curious Practice in North Hol¬ 
land* 


Origin of the Sheriff's counting Hobnails. —This 
is not an absurd custom of antiquity, such as nobody knows 
when it begun, or why it is continued ; but it originated from 
the following circumstances :— 

In former times, when money was very scarce, and when 
we had no larger coin than a penny, the reserved rents or 
grants of lands or tenements, especially small ones, were 
usually paid in something that had a reference to the nature 
of the thing granted, or the occupation of the grantee. 

The two following extracts from records in the Exchequer 
with the translation, will clear up the point. 

“ Walter de Brun Mareschallus, de Stranda, redit compotum 
de sex femis. equorum, pro habenda quadam placea in Paro- 
chia St. Clementis, ad fabrica quam ibidem locandam.”— 
Mag. Rot. 19. Henry III. 

“ Walter Mareschallus, ad Crucem Lapideam, redit sex ferra 
equorum cum clavibus, pro quadam fabrica quam de Rege 
tenet in capite ex opposito crucis lapidea.”— Memor. 1. Ed¬ 
ward I. 

“ Walter le Brun, Mareshall, or farrier, of the Strand, renders 
six horse-shoes, to have a certain place in the parish of St. 
Clement’s, to build a forge there .”—Great Rolls of the 19th 
Henrif III. 

‘‘Walter MareshaL, or the farrier at the Stone Cross, ren 
ders six horse-shoes with their nails, for (or as a reserved rent) 
a certain forge, opposite to the stone cross, which he holds of 
the king in capite .”—Memoranda Rolls in the Exchequer of the 
first year of King Edward the First. 

The first of these points out the beginning, as well as the 
reason, of the payment of these horse-shoes and nails; for it 
was to have a piece of ground to build a forge on, therefore 
that must be the first payment. The nineteenth year of Henry 
the Third falls in with 1234, now five hundred and eighty-eight 
\ ^ ^ ^ ^ * In process of time, this piece of ground, and 


ORDER OF THE GARTER.-BENEFIT OF CLERGY. 623 

buildings on it, came to the mayor and citizens of Lo ldon ; 
and they, by the sheriffs, have continued to render them into 
the Exchequer annually to this day. 

The spot where the stone cross once stood had afterwards 
a Maypole erected on it, which many now living: can well 
remember. 

Origin of the Order of the Garter. —This is vari¬ 
ously related by historians. The common and not improbable 
account is, that the Countess of Salisbury, happening at a ball 
to drop her garter, the King took it up, and presented it to her 
in these words, “ Honi soit qui mal y pense i. e. Evil to him 
that evil thinks. This accident gave rise to the order and the 
motto ; it being the spirit of the times to mix love and war 
together. In the original statutes, however, there is not the 
least hint of allusion to such a circumstance, farther than is 
conveyed in the motto.—Camden, Fern, Sec. take the order 
to have been instituted on occasion of the victory obtained by 
Edward over the French, at the battle of Cressy. That prince, 
says some historians, ordered his garter to be displayed as a 
signal of battle ; in commemoration whereof, he made a garter 
the principal ornament of the order erected in memory of this 
signal victory, and the symbol of this indissoluble union of 
the knights. And they account for the motto, that king Ed 
ward having laid claim to the kingdom of France, denounced 
shame and defiance upon him that should dare to think amiss 
of the just enterprise he had undertaken for recovering his 
lawful rights to that crown ; and that the bravery of those 
knights whom he had elected into this order was such as would 
enable him to maintain the quarrel against those that thought 
ill of it. This interpretation, however, appears to be rather 
forced.—A still more ancient origin of this order is given in 
Rostel’s Chronicle, lib. vi. quoted by Granger, in the Supple¬ 
ment to his Biographical History ; viz. that it was devised by 
Richard I. at the siege of Acre, when he caused twenty-six 
knights, who firmly stood by him, to wear thongs of blue 
leather about their iegs ; and that it was revived and perfected 
in the nineteenth year of Edward III. 

Origin and History of the Claim and Allowance 
of thf * Benefit of Clergy’ in Criminal Convic¬ 
tions. 

The following learned dissertation is extracted from ‘ Chit- 
ty’s Practical Treatise on the Criminal Law.’ 

“ By far the mostimportantcircumstanceinterveningbetween 
conviction and judgment, is the claim and allowance of the 
Benefit of Clergy , in those cases where it is by law to be 
granted. It is of course claimed immediately before judgment 


624 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 

at the assizes. This is one of the most singular relics of old 
superstition, and certainly the most important. I hat, by a 
mere form, without the shadow of existing reason to support 
it, the severity of the common law should be tempered, may 
seem strange to those who have been accustomed to regard 
our criminal law as a regular fabric, not only attaining great 
practical benefit, but built upon solid and consistent princi¬ 
ples. The Benefit of Clergy is, no doubt, of great practical 
advantage, compared to the dreadful list of offences which 
would otherwise be punished as capital; but it would be well 
worthy of an enlightened age to forsake such a subterfuge, 
and at once, without resorting to it, to apportion the degree 
of suffering to the atrocity and the danger of the crimes. 

" The history of this singular mode of pardon, if so it can 
be termed, is both curious and instructive. In the early pe¬ 
riods of European civilization, after the final destruction of 
the Roman empire, the church obtained an influence in the 
political affairs of nations, which threw a peculiar colouring 
over their original institutions. Monarchs who were desirous 
of atoning for atrocious offences, or of obtaining the sanction 
of heaven to their projects of ambition, were easily persuaded 
.o confer immunities on the clergy, whom they regarded as 
the vicegerents of God. Presuming on these favours, that 
aspiring body soon began to claim as a right what had been 
originally conferred as a boon, and to found their demand to 
civil exemptions on a divine and indefeasible charter, derived 
from the text of scripture, “ Touch not mine anointed, and do 
my prophets no harm.” It need exceed no surprise that they 
were anxious to take advantage of their dominion over the 
conscience, to exempt themselves from the usual consequences 
of crime. To the priests, impunity was a privilege of no in¬ 
considerable value. And so successful was the pious zeal to 
shield those who were dedicated to religion from the conse¬ 
quences of any breach of temporal enactments, that in several 
countries they obtained complete exemption from all civil 
liabilities, and declared themselves responsible only to the 
pope and his ecclesiastical ministers. They erected them¬ 
selves into an independent community, and even laid the 
temporal authorities under subjection. Nobles were intimi¬ 
dated into vast pecuniary benefactions, and princes trembled 
at the terrors of spiritual denunciation. In England, however, 
this authority was always comparatively feeble. The complete 
exemption of the clergy from secular punishments, though 
often claimed, was never universally admitted : for repeated 
objections were made to the demand of the bishop and ordi¬ 
nary to have the clerks remitted to them as soon as they were 
indicted. At length, however, it was finally settled in the 
reign of Henrv VI. that the prisoner should first be arraigned. 


BENEFIT OF CLERGY. 


625 


and might then claim the Beneju of the Clergy as an excuse 
for pleading, or might demand it after conviction: and the 
latter of these courses has been almost invariably adopted, to 
allow the prisoner the chance of a verdict of acquittal. 

“ But if the privileges of the church were less dangerous in 
England than on the continent, thev soon became more exten- 
sive. They not only embraced every order of clergymen, but 
were claimed for every subordinate officer of religious houses, 
with the numerous classes of their retainers. And so liberal 
was the application of these dangerous benefits, that, at length, 
every one who in those days of ignorance was able to read, 
though not even initiated in holy orders, began to demand them, 
such reading being deemed evidence of his clerical profession. 
The privileges of the clergy were recognized and confirmed by 
statute in the reign of Edward the Third. It was then enacted, 
that all manner of clerks, secular as well as religious, should 
enjoy the privileges of holy church for all treasons or felonies ex¬ 
cept those immediately affecting his majesty. To the advantage 
of this provision, all who could read were admitted. But as 
learning became more common, this extensive interpretation 
was found so injurious to the security of social life, that the 
legislature, notwithstanding the opposition of the church, 
were compelled to afford a partial remedy. 

“ In the reign of Henry the Seventh, a distinction was drawn 
between persons actually in holy orders, and those who, in 
other respects secular, were able to read ; by which the latter 
were only allowed the benefit of their learning once, and, on 
receiving it, to be branded in the left thumb with a hot iron, 
in order to afford evidence against them on any future occa¬ 
sion. The church seems to have lost ground in the succeed¬ 
ing reign, probably in consequence of the separation of 
England from the sway of the Homan pontiff'; for all persons, 
though actually in orders, were rendered liable to be branded, 
in the same way as the learned class of laymen. But, in the 
time of Edward the Sixth, the clergy were restored to all the 
rights of which they were deprived by his predecessor, except 
as to certain atrocious crimes, which it became necessary more 
uniformly to punish. At the same time, some of the more 
enormous evils attendant on this general impunity were done 
away. Murder, poisoning, burglary, highway-robbery, and 
sacrilege, were excepted from all that privilege which was 
confirmed as to inferior offences. But peers of the realm, for 
the first offence were to be discharged, in every case, except 
murder and poisoning, even though unable to read. 

“ But here we must pause, before we proceed to follow the 
gradual improvement of this privilege, to inquire what was 
originally done with an offender to whom it was allowed b} 
thase ecclesiastical authorities who claimed the right oi 

4 K 


G‘2G CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 

judging him, and in what manner the power of the church ia 
this respect was ultimately destroyed. It appears, that after 
a layman was burnt in the hand, a clerk discharged on 
reading, or a peer without either burning or penalty, he was 
delivered to the ordinary, to be dealt with according to the 
ecclesiastical canons. Upon this, the clerical authorities in¬ 
stituted a kind of purgation, the real object of which was to 
make him appear innocent, who had already been shewn to 
be guilty, and to restore him to all those capacities of which 
his conviction had deprived him. To effect this, the party him¬ 
self was required to make oath of his innocence, though before 
he might have confessed himself guilty. Then twelve com¬ 
purgators were called to testify their belief in the falsehood of 
the charges. Afterwards he brought forward witnesses com¬ 
pletely to establish that innocence, of which he had induced so 
weighty a presumption. Finally, it was the office of the jury to 
acquit him; and they seldom failed in their duty. If, however, 
from any singular circumstance, they agreed in the justice ot 
the conviction, the culprit was degraded, and compelled to do 
penance. As this seldom occurred, and the most daring per¬ 
juries were thus perpetually committed, the courts of common 
law were soon aroused to abridge the power of these clerical 
tribunals. They, therefore, sometimes delivered ever the 
privileged of felony, when his guilt was very atrocious, with¬ 
out allowing him to make purgation; the effect of which 
proceedings was, his perpetual imprisonment, and incapacity 
to acquire personal or to enjoy real estate, unless released by 
his majesty's pardon. But the severity of this proceeding 
almost rendered it useless; and it became absolutely neces¬ 
sary for the legislature to interfere, in order to prevent the 
contemptible perjuries which this absurd ceremony produced 
under the sanction and pretence of religion. This desirable 
object was effected in the reign of Elizabeth ; and the party, 
after being allowed his clergy, and burnt in the hand, was to 
be discharged without any interference of the church to annul 
his conviction. 

“ The clerical process being thus abolished, it was thought 
proper, at the same time, to empower the temporal judges to 
inflict a further punishment where they should regard it as 
proper. The eighteenth Elizabeth, c. vii. empowered them, 
therefore, to direct the convict to be imprisoned for a year or 
any shorter period. But the law on this subject was still in 
many respects imperfect. Females were still liable to the 
punishment of death, without any exemption, in all cases of 
simple felony; because, being never eligible to the clerical 
office, they were not included in any of the extensions of the 
Benejit oj Clergy . No other proof need be adduced to shew 
the absurdity of the very foundations of the system. At length 


BENEFIT OF CLERGY, 


627 

it was enaoted that women convicted of simple larcenies 
under the value 10s. should be punished with burning in the 
hand and whipping, exposure in the stocks, or imprisonment 
for any period less than a year. And in the reign of William 
and Mary they were admitted to all the privileges of men, in 
clergiable felonies, on praying the benefit of the statute; 
though they can only once be allowed this means of escaping. 
In the same reign, the punishment of burning in the hand was 
changed for a more visible stigma on the cheek, but was soon 
afterwards brought back to the original practice. 

“ Hitherto all laymen except peers, who, on their convic¬ 
tion, were found unable to read, were liable to suffer death 
for every clergiable felony. But it was at length discovered, 
that ignorance, instead of an aggravation, was an excuse for 
guilt, and that the ability to read was no extenuation of crime; 
and, therefore, by fifth Ann, c. vi. the idle ceremony of read¬ 
ing was abolished, and all those who were before entitled to 
clergy on reading, were now to be admitted without any such 
form to its benefits. At the same time it was sensibly felt 
that the branding, which had dwindled into a mere form, and 
the year’s imprisonment which the judges were empowered to 
inflict, were very inadequate punishments for many clergiable 
offences ; and, therefore, the court were authorized to commit 
the offenders to the house of correction for any time not less 
than six months nor exceeding two years, and to double it in 
Gase of escaping. 

“ Further alterations have since been made in the penalties 
consequent upon clergy. The fourth Geo. I. c. xi. and sixth 
Geo. I. c. xxiii. provide, that the court, on the allowance of 
this benefit for any larceny whether grand or petty, or other 
felonious theft not excluded from the statutable indulgence, 
may, instead of judgment of burning in case of men, and 
whipping in that of females, direct the offender to be trans¬ 
ported for seven years to America, which has been since 
altered to any part of his majesty’s colonies. To return within 
the period, was, at the same time, made felony without Benefit 
of Clergy. And by several subsequent provisions, many wise 
alterations have been made respecting transportation, and the 
mode of treating offenders while under its sentence. 

At length the burning in the hand was entirely done away, 
inc the judges were empowered to sentence the criminal, in its 
roo n, and in addition to the former penalties, to a pecuniary 
tiuCj or, except in the case of manslaughter, to private whip¬ 
ping, not more than thrice to be inflicted, in the presence of 
hree witnesses. Provisions were at the same time made for 
he employment of this description of convicts in penitentiary 
mouses, where a system of reformation might be adopted, 
tvJ an experiment made how far punishment might become 


628 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 

conducive to its noblest and most legitimate use—the reform¬ 
ation and benefit of the offender. But this regulation, though 
applauded by Blackstone and other humane writers, after 
having been continued by several subsequent acts, was re¬ 
cently suffered to expire. It appears from these several 
modern regulations, that, as observed by Mr. Justice Foster, 
we now consider Benefit of Clergy, or rather the benefit of the 
statutes, as a relaxation of the rigour of the law, a condescen¬ 
sion to the infirmities of the human frame, exempting offend¬ 
ing individuals in some cases from the punishment of death, 
and subjecting them to milder punishment; and therefore, in 
the case of clergiable felonies, we now profess to measure the 
degree of punishment by the real enormity of the offence, and 
not, as the ignorance and superstition of former times sug¬ 
gested, by a blind respect for sacred persons or sacred func¬ 
tions, nor by an absurd distinction between subject and 
subject, originally owing to impudent pretension on one hand, 
and to mere fanaticism on the other.” 

Curious Tenures. —A farm at Broadhouse, in Langsett, 
in the parish of Peniston, and county of York, pays yearly to 
Godfrey Bosville, Esq. "a snow-ball at Midsummer, and a red 
rose at Christmas.’ 

William de Albermarle holds the manor of Loston, ‘ by the 
service of finding, for our lord the king, two arrows, and one 
loaf of oat bread, when he should hunt in the forest of Eart- 
moor.’ 

Solomon Attefield held land at Repland and Atterton, in 
the county of Kent, upon condition ‘ that as often as our lord 
the king would cross the sea, the said Solomon and his heirs 
ought to go along with him, to hold his head on the sea, if it 
w^as needful/ 

John Compes had the manor of Finchfield given him by 
Edward III. for the service of* turning the spit at his corona¬ 
tion ’ 

Geoffrey Frumbrand held sixty acres of land in Wingfield, 
in the county of Suffolk, by the service of paying yearly to 
our lord the king two white doves. John de Roches holds 
the manor of Winterslew, in Wiltshire, by the service that 
when the king should abide at Clarendon, he should go into 
the butlery of the king’s palace there, and draw, out of what¬ 
ever vessel be chose, as much wine as should be needful for 
making a pitcher of claret, which he should make at tie 
king s expense, and that he should serve the king with a cup, 
and should have the vessel whence he took the wine, with all 
the wine then in it, together with the cup whence the king 
should drink the claret. 

The town of Yarmouth is, by charter, bound to send tl:c 


ORIGIN OF MAY-POLES AND GARLANDS. 629 

sheriffs of Norwich a hundred herrings, which are to be 
baked in twenty-four pies or patties, and delivered to the 
lord ot the manor o f East Carlton, who is to convey them to 
the kino;. 

At the coronation of James II. the lord of the manor of 
Heyden, in Essex, claimed to hold the basin and ewer to the 
king by virtue of one moiety, and "he towel by virtue of the 
other moiety of the manor, whenever the king washed before 
dinner; but the claim was allowed only as to the towel 

The privileges of the great officers of the ancient British 
court, were particularly striking. Each was annually pre¬ 
sented by the king and queen with a piece of linen and 
woollen cloth, besides some old clothes from the royal ward¬ 
robe. The king’s riding-coat was three times a year given to 
the master of the mews ; his caps, saddles, bits, and spurs, 
became the perquisite of the master of the horse; and the 
chamberlain appropriated to himself his old clothes and 
bed-quilts. 

The third in rank, in the court of the Anglo-Saxon kings, 
was, the steward, who had a variety of perquisites, of which 
the following were the most remarkable :— 4 As much of every 
cask of plain ale, and as much of every cask of ale with 
spiceries, as he could reach with the second joint of the 
middle finger; and as much of every cask of mead, as he could 
reach with the first joint of the same finger/ 

Our next article is on The Origin of May Poles and 
Garlands. —It was a custom among the ancient Britons, 
before they were converted to Christianity, to erect May- 
poles, adorned with flowers, in honour of the goddess Flora; 
and the dancing of milkmaids on the first of May before 
garlands, ornamented with flowers, is only a corruption of 
the ancient custom, in compliance with other rustic amuse¬ 
ments. 

The leisure days after seed-time had been chosen by our 
Saxon ancestors for folk-motes, or conventions of the people. 
It was not till after the Norman conquest that the Pagan festival 
of Whitsuntide fullymelted into the Christian holiday of Pente¬ 
cost. Its original name is Whittentide, the time of choosing 
the wits or wisemen to the wittenagemotte. It was conse¬ 
crated to Hertha, the goddess of peace and fertility; and no 
quarrels might be maintained, no blood shed, during this truce 
of the goddess. Each village, in the absence of the baron at 
the assembly of the nations, enjoyed a kind of saturnalia. 
The vassals met upon the common green around the May- 
poles, where they erected a village lord, or king, as he was 
called, who chose his queen. He wore an oaken, and she 
a hawthorn wreath; and together they gave laws to the rustic 


630 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 

sports during these sweet days of freedom. The May-pole* 
then, was the English tree of liberty. How are these times- 
of village simplicity and merriment vanished ! 

Curious Custom at Oakiiam. —Oakham is remarkable 
for the following curious custom. Every peer of the realm, 
the first time he comes within the precincts, forfeits a shoe 
from his horse to the lord of the manor and castle, unless he 
agree* to redeem it with money; in which case a shoe is 
made according to his direction, ornamented in proportion to 
the sum given by way of fine, and nailed on the castle hall 
door. Some shoes are of curious workmanship, and stamped 
with the names of the donors : some are made very large, and 
some gilt. An ancient poet says of this county, 

“Small shire that can produce to thy proportion good, 

One vale of special name, one forest, and one flood.” 

A Curious Practice in North Holland. —To every 
house, of whatever quality, there is an artificial door, elevated 
near three feet above the level of the ground, and never 
opened but upon two occasions. When any part of the 
family marries, the bride and bridegroom enter the house by 
this door; and when either of the parties die, the corpse is 
carried out by the same door. Immediately after the due 
ceremonies are performed in either of these cases, this door 
is fastened up, never to turn on its hinges again, till some 
new event of a similar nature demands its services. 


CHAP. LXIII 

curiosities respecting the customs of mankind.- 

( Continued.) 

Shrovetide—Candlemas Day—Origin of Valentine's Day— 
Origin of Plough Monday—New Year's Gifts—Origin Oj 
Christmas Boxes—Chiltern Hundreds—Origin of the Tern 
“John Bull"—Origin of the Old Adage , “ If it rains on SL 
Swithin’s Day, it will rain Forty Days afterwards"—Curfew 
Bell. 

Shrovetide,— in its original meaning, signifies the time 
of confessing sins to a priest. Tide refers to time; and 
throve , s/brwe , or shrift, are derived from the Saxon, and 
signify confession. In the earlier constitution of the church, 
it is ordered, “ That on the week next before Lent, every 


SHROVETIDE. 


631 

man should go to his shrift, and his shrift should shrive 
him in such a manner as the deeds which he had done re¬ 
quired. 

This custom of confessing to the priest at this season, was 
laid aside at the Reformation. 

Fitzstephen informs us, that anciently, on Shrove-Tuesday, 
schoolboys used to bring “ cocks of the game” to their 
masters, and entertain themselves with cock-fighting. The 
masters presided at the battle, and claimed the runaway 
cocks as their perquisite. 

The custom of throwing at cocks on this day is not of very 
ancient institution: it is gradually growing out of use; to 
which amendment of our manners, the ingenious pencil of 
Hogarth probably contributed. 

Shrove-Tuesday is, in the north, called Fastern’s E’en, 
because the following day is the commencement of Lent. 

Shrove-Monday is also termed Collop-Monday; in the 
north, collops and eggs being on that day a constant dish, as 
on the next day the Papists take leave of flesh. 

Our custom of eating pancakes on Shrove-Tuesday, was 
probably borrowed from t'he Greek church. The Russians 
begin their Lent always eight weeks before Easter; the first 
week they eat eggs, milk, cheese, and butter, and make great 
cheer with pancakes, and such other things. 

In the Oxford almanacks, the Saturday preceding this day 
is termed Festum Overum , Egg feast. 

On Shrove-Tuesday, the people in every parish throughout 
England were obliged, one by one, to confess their sins to 
their own parish priests, in their own parish churches. And 
that this might be done more regularly, the great bell in every 
parish was rung at ten o’clock, or perhaps sooner, that it 
might be heard by all, and that they might attend according 
to the custom then in use. And though we are now Protest¬ 
ants, yet the custom of ringing the great bell in an ancient 
parish church still continues, and has the name of the pan- 
cake hell, probably, because after the confession it was cus¬ 
tomary to dine on pancakes or fritters; and many people 
even now have these articles as part of their dinner on this 
day. 

This used to be a great holiday amonst apprentices ; but 
a contempt of old customs seems gaining ground in this 
country, and those, or many of them above-mentioned, will 
probably soon be forgotten. 

Another account of the origin of frying pancakes on Shrove- 
Tuesday, has been given. It is said that one Simon Eyre, 
a shoemaker, being chosen lord-mayor of London, made a 
pancake feast on Shrove-Tuesday for all the apprentices in 
London ; and from that it became a custom. 


632 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 


He ordered, that upon ringing of a bell in every parish, the 
apprentices should leave work, and shut up their shops for 
that day; which being ever since yearly observed, is called 
the pancake bell : he made them a large feast of puddings, 
pies, and pancakes, and what remained, when all had dined, 
was given to the poor : afterwards in that year (1446,) he built 
Leadenhall. 

Candlemas Day. —This is the feast of the purification, 
which was formerly celebrated with many lights in churches. 
The custom of going in procession on Candlemas-day with 
lighted candles in the hand, is said to have been derived from 
the Romans, who went about Rome with torches, and candles 
brenning (burning) in worship of Februa, the mother of Mars. 
This was afterwards, by Pope Fergius, converted into the 
worship of our Lady, and her Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Wheatley says, “ The practice of using abundance of lights, 
both in churches and processions, continued in England till 
the second year of Edward VI. when Bishop Cranmer forbade 
it, by order of the Privy Council.” 

Valentine's Day. —Valentine was a pope, or bishop of 
Rome, that lived in the ninth century; who, on this day, 
established an annual custom of the poorer'clergy drawing 
patrons by lots for the commenced year; and these patrons, 
or benefactors, were called Valentines. After his death he 
was canonized for a saint, and his feast-day kept on the four¬ 
teenth day of February, which was thought to be his birth-day. 
Mr. John Gordon, in his memoirs and account of the popes, 
says, “ that Valentine was too good a man to be a good pope, 
and died forty days after his consecration, or instalment; 
being choked with a fish-bone.” 

This custom, in Britain, evidently appears to have been co¬ 
pied by the laity from the clergy, in the days of popery, and 
is a very ancient custom, being almost of a thousand years 
standing. The birds too are supposed to choose their mates, 
and pair, on this day ; which, no doubt, is an additional reason 
to our youth of both sexes who are approaching to maturity, 
to write their verses, and with much ingenuity ply scissars, pen, 
and pencil, in honour of their selected or allotted lovers. 

Plough-Monday.— This day is held on the ninth of Janu 
ary, the Monday after Twelfth-day. The ploughmen, in the 
north country, draw a plough from door to door, and beg 
money for drink; from whence this took its name. Plough- 
day had its origin when the feudal system prevailed in this 
country, when the lords and barons had their lands tilled by 
their vassals, or tenants. The Christmas holidays terminated 


633 


NEW YEAR’S GIFTS-PASSION WEEK. 

on Twelfth-day, and the ploughing season for the new year 
commenced the first Monday after; on which day, the sock- 
men (as this sort of ploughmen were then called) were obliged 
to appear with their ploughs, Sic. at a place appointed there, 
to have them examined, whether they were in a proper condi¬ 
tion to perform their lord’s work; for ploughs were then scarce, 
and it was a mark of some consequence to possess one in 
good order. Hence the appellation of Plough-Monday has 
ever since being applied to the first Monday after Twelfth-day. 
It is conjectured, that the system of begging money arose at 
a time when they could not plough the land on account of its 
being frozen, as watermen drag about a boat in severe frosts, 
and beg money, because they are then unable to ply on the 
river. * 

New Year’s Gifts. —Nonius Marcellus refers the origin 
of New Year’s Gifts among the Romans to Titus Tatius, king 
of the Sabines, who reigned at Rome conjointly with Romu¬ 
lus, and who, having considered as a good omen a present of 
some branches cut in a wood consecrated to Strenua, the god¬ 
dess of strength, which he received on the first day of the 
new year, authorized this custom afterwards, and gave to 
these persons the name of Strerue. The Romans on that day 
celebrated a festival in honour of Janus, and paid their re¬ 
spects at the same time to Juno ; but they did not pass it in 
idleness, lest they should become indolent during the rest of 
the year. They sent presents to one another of figs, dates, 
honey, &c. to shew their friends that they wished them a 
happy and agreeable life. Clients, or those who were under 
the protection of the great, carried presents of this kind to 
their patrons, adding to them a small piece of silver. Under 
Augustus, the senate, the knights, and the people, presented 
such gifts to him, and in his absence deposited them in the 
capitol. Of the succeeding princes, some adopted this custom, 
and others abolished it; but it always continued among the 
people. The early Christians condemned it, because it ap¬ 
peared to be a relic of paganism, and a species of supersti¬ 
tion ; but when it began to have no other object than that of 
being a mark of esteem, the church ceased to disapprove 
of it. 

Passion, ok Holy Week, the name given by several sects 
to the week preceding Easter. Holy Week is the name gen¬ 
erally used by Catholics, who make a distinction between it 
and Passion Week, a title they apply to the week preceding— 
Passion Week beginning on Passion Sunday, the fifth Sunday 
of Lent. The Roman calendar designates the entire last fort¬ 
night of Lent as Passion-tide, all of whose services differ in 

4 L 


634 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 

many respects from the services of the year, and even from 
those of the remainder of Lent. The verse, “ Gloria Patri,” 
is omitted both in the mass and breviary, and all pictures, effi¬ 
gies, crucifixes, and other theologic symbols are covered 
during the time. Holy Week, also known as Great Week, 
Lent Week, Week of the Holy Passion, and Penitential Week, 
is asserted to be of very early origin, and is usually observed 
with extraordinary solemnity by Catholics, who exhibit at this 
period many signs of melancholy, mourning, and repentance. 
If any ordinary Church festival fall within the week, it is post¬ 
poned until after Easter. All ceremonies are conducted with 
rigorous simplicity, without the music, pomp, or parade so char¬ 
acteristic, commonly, of Poman rites. Although manual labor 
is no longer forbidden, it is often voluntarily relinquished; 
fasting is more rigorously practiced, as well as alms-giving and 
other acts of charity. 

Chiltern Hundreds.- -Frequent mention is made ol 
members of parliament accepting the Chiltern Hundreds 
The following is the explanation :— 

The Chiltern Hundreds are hundreds, or divisions of counties 
parcelled out by the wise Alfred, and now annexed to the 
crown; they still retain their peculiar courts. 

The stewards of these courts are appointed by the Chan¬ 
cellor of the Exchequer; their salary is 20s. a year. As the 
law enacts that a member of parliament who receives a place 
under the Crown, may not sit, unless re-elected,—accepting the 
stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds is merely a formal 
manner of resigning a seat, when the member wishes to be 
rechosen. 

Origin of the term “John BuLL. ,, —Dr. John Bull was 
the first Gresham professor of music, and organist and com¬ 
poser to Queen Elizabeth. John, like a true Englishman, 
travelled for improvement; and having heard of a famous mu¬ 
sician at St. Omer’s, he placed himself under him as a novice ; 
but a circumstance very soon convinced the master, that he 
was inferior to the scholar. The musician shewed John a 
song, which he had composed in forty parts! telling him at 
the same time, that he defied all the world to produce a person 
capable of adding another part to his composition. Bull 
desired to be left alone, and to be indulged for a short time 
with pen and ink. In less than three hours, he added forty 
parts more to the song. Upon which the Frenchman was so 
much surprised, that he swore in great ecstasy, he must be either 
the Devil, or John Dull; which has ever since been proverbial 
in England. 


ST. SWITHIN’S DAY. - CURFEW BSLL. 535 

Origin of the Old Adage, “ If it rains on Saint 
Swithin’s Day, it will rain for Forty Days after¬ 
wards.” 

In the year 805, St. Svvithin, bishop of Winchester, dying, 
was canonized by the then pope. He was singular in his 
desire to be buried in the open church-yard, and not in the 
chancel of the minister, as was customary with the bishops; 
which request was complied with : but the monks, on his 
being canonized, taking it into their heads that it was dis¬ 
agreeable for the saint to lie in the open church-yard, resolved 
to move his body into the choir, which was to have been done 
in solemn procession on the 15th of July. It rained, how'ever, 
so violently on that day, and for forty days succeeding, as 
had hardly ever been known, which made them set aside their 
design, as contrary to the will of Heaven; and instead of 
removing the body, they shewed their veneration by erecting 
a chapel over his grave. 

Origin of the Saying, wnen people speak improperly, 
“That’s a Bull.” —This became a proverb from the re¬ 
peated blunders of one Obadiah Bull, a lawyer of London 
who lived in the reign of king Henry VII. 

Curfew 7 Bell. —The curfew bell (called, in the low Latin 
of the middle ages, ignitegium, or peritegium, and in French, 
couvrefew) w T as a signal for all persons to extinguish their fires 
at a certain hour. In those ages, people made fires in their 
houses in a hole or pit in the centre of the floor, under an 
opening formed in the roof; and when the fire w r as burnt out. 
or the family w r ent to bed, the hole was shut by a cover of 
wood or earth. This practice still prevails among the cot¬ 
tagers in some parts of Scotland, and perhaps in other parts 
of the kingdom. In the dark ages, when all ranks of people 
w 7 ere turbulent, a law was almost every where established, 
that the fire should be extinguished at a certain time in the 
evening ; that the cover should be put over the fire-place, and 
that all the family should retire to rest, or at least keep within 
doors. The time when this ought to be done, was signified 
by the ringing of a bell, called therefore the curfew 7 bell, or 
ignitegium. This w as the law of William the Conqueror, who 
first introduced the practice into England, and which was 
abolished by Henry the First, in 1100. 

The ringing of the curfew bell gave rise to the Prayer Bell, 
as it is called, which is still retained in some Protestant 
countries. Pope John the Twenty-third, with a view to avert 
certain apprehended misfortunes which rendered his life 
uncomfortable, gave orders, that every person, on hearing 
the ignitegium, should repeat the Ave Marin three times. 


G36 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 

When the appearance of a comet, and the dread of Turks, 
alarmed all Christendom, Pope Calixtus the Third increased 
these periodical times of prayer, by ordering the prayer bell to 
be rung also at noon. 


CHAP. LXIY. 

ANCIENT RELIGIONS.-MYSTERIES AND ORACLES.-ORIGIN OF THE 

HEATHEN RELIGION. 

It is manifest that the first fostering of the religious spark is 
derived from the phenomena of the sensible world. The attention 
of man and the sense of his weakness is early awakened—yet at 
first, more by such phenomena as interrupt the common course 
of nature, and in particular by the experience of terrifying or 
destroying powers. He searches for the causes of such phe¬ 
nomena, and his imagination, outstripping his later-maturing 
understanding, ascribes them to the arbitrary activity of more 
powerful beings. Fear , so we are taught by most kinds of di 
vine worship which are yet in a rude state, and even by a vari 
ety of those that have attained a high degree of perfection, feai 
has at first agitated the soul of man and produced his religious 
disposition, which, progressing on the way once opened, was 
soon directed also to the beneficent powers of nature, and to these 
with love and gratitude, as to the threatening with terror and 
timid prayer; but at last combining with these awful impres¬ 
sions that which echoes to them softly and sacredly from the in¬ 
nermost recesses of the heart, discerned in those unknown pow¬ 
ers the moral rulers, as well as the sovereigns of nature, and upon 
their mysterious potency built the bold hope of immortality. 

This adoration of objects, powers, and appearances of nature 
(it is called by the general appellation feticism, which, however, 
does not designate it definitely enough) is discernible in all an¬ 
cient religions as the basis, and often still later, in their more 
refined state as the predominant form; but the objects them¬ 
selves must vary according to the diversity of country and cli¬ 
mate, of wants and customs. The storm and the thunder ; the 
power of water and fire, in general the elements and meteors, 
or the fostering soil, the river that sometimes fertilizes by inun¬ 
dation, and sometimes produces desolation; in the smaller circle, 
even a running fountain, or a tree which afforded a hospitable 
shade cr delightful fruits; and even the inferior plants ; friendly 
and hostile animals and inanimate objects, but more than all 
others the sun, the source of light, fertility, and life; the moon, 
whose gentle majesty speaks to all hearts, and all the high lumi¬ 
naries of the heavens. 

This veneration of the celestial bodies may be considered as 
the most elevated form of the pagan religion, because it is nobler 
in itself than the common Feticism, and raises the soul much 



ANCIENT RELIGIOUS MYSTERIES. 037 

higher; and also because it has become mediately by the inves¬ 
tigations of astronomy, which it occasioned, or with which it 
was connected, the source of far more ingenious systems, and 
has chiefly determined the dogmas and usages of nations, which 
are of historical importance. 

For after a commencement was made—which was probably 
first done in Egypt—in investigating the courses of the celestial 
bodies according to the rules of art, and in seeking for a certain 
measure of the year and the seasons in the changing constella¬ 
tions, it was necessary to distinguish the various stars and groups 
of stars, especially those through which the apparent course of 
the sun and the planets passed, by particular names and fancied 
images, which were derived in the most natural manner from 
the affairs of agriculture, the phenomena of the seasons, or other 
terrestrial objects, that might be connected by an easy associa¬ 
tion of ideas with the constellations; according to their time or 
region. Figurative expressions were also selected to represent 
the various appearances of the heavens, as the varying remote¬ 
ness and proximity of the stars among themselves and towards 
the sun, such as, union and separation, love and hatred, domin¬ 
ion and subjection, &g. By the frequent use of such expres¬ 
sions, their original signification, which was merely figurative, 
was almost inevitably forgotten, and the sign was exchanged for 
what was designated the earthly for the celestial. 

Then those figurative expressions, taken mostly from human 
qualities and relations, occasioned, as was indeed already done in 
the common Fetieism, the application of ideas which represent 
the active and passive state of man to the gods, and caused a suc¬ 
cession of symbolical positions to be regarded as a series of actual 
events, and the histories of the gods to be formed like those of 
men, and by this means a third class of religious systems was 
created. 

This is the deification of departed men. For when once the 
gods were brought down to men, and considered subject to hu¬ 
man inclinations, infirmities, and destinies, when they were ha¬ 
bitually imagined to be men who had formerly been upon earth ; 
nothing was more natural than that real men also, who had dis¬ 
tinguished themselves, perhaps by wisdom and virtue, by power 
and beneficence, and consequently elevated themselves above 
common nature, were regarded as gods or children of gods, and 
. after their death translated to heaven, from voluntary gratitude, 
servile flattery, or by the mandate of rulers. 

The number of deified men, however (the Grecian, and later 
the Boman religion excepted), has never been very great. The 
sound understanding of man rose against this apotheosis, and it 
could by no means enter into those systems of religion which 
were based upon philosophy and speculation. 

The worship of images, or idolatry , in the stricter sense, pre¬ 
vailed more generally. We find this worship of idols associated 
as well with Fetieism as with the veneration of deified men, 


633 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 

here and there almost alone predominant, and even introduced 
into those religions which rest upon an intellectual foundation. 

If we except, however, those natural bodies, or rude products 
of art (as serpents, stones, and hewn pieces of wood, &c.), which 
are venerated by the most simple nations as fetischs, and indeed 
merely as religious objects rather than divine—perhaps as talis¬ 
mans, amulets, &c.—we find that idols, according to the princi¬ 
ples of a prevailing national religion, were nowhere actually 
venerated as gods, but only as images of the deity. A distin¬ 
guished man has justly remarked, that the name idolater is one 
introduced only by those who enjoy a purer religion, but an 
'unjust stigma upon the heathen nations, and that never one of 
them would have acknowledged the validity of such an appella¬ 
tion in that full sense of the word. The proper dogmas—which 
e.g. admitted only one Jupiter, who was enthroned in Olympus 
—were manifestly contradictory to the divine veneration of the 
thousand statues of his name which adorned so many temples. 

And, accordingly, it is evident that the idols were not gods, 
but were designed only as representations of the deity. Wise 
and deserving men also venerated these images, since a sacred 
meaning and a sacred object rested upon them. Soon the devo¬ 
tion of the multitude felt inclined to confide to them higher and 
miraculous powers; the priests favored this belief, because it 
brought authority and wealth to them—the guardians of the 
images—and by a natural increase of devotion, and an artfully 
enhanced illusion—the conversion of the sign into that which 
was designated, of the image into the deity, was gradually intro¬ 
duced among the low populace, as well as that which was found 
in all classes, upon which the philosopher will forbear to pro¬ 
nounce a too severe or partial sentence of condemnation. 

NATIONAL RELIGION.-PRIESTS.—FABLES. 

All the religions of the ancient paganism may be reduced to 
one or the other of these classes; yet their characters are no¬ 
where to be found unmixed , and the distinction can be made 
only according to that which is predominant. But before any 
system whatever could have been constructed with determinate 
and durable forms, religion must have ceased to be a private 
affair; it must have been national property, and a priesthood 
must have existed for its preservation. Uniform notions, uni¬ 
form ways of wmrship amongst numerous masses of men arose, 
and this communion became the most precious possession, the 
most important tie of nations. The similar experience of the 
inhabitants of one region concerning the influence of the same 
natural objects, the transmission of ancient tradition through all 
the members of a spreading family, the persuasion and instruc¬ 
tion of individuals of superior minds, particularly of foreigners 
from civilized regions, but chiefly the labors of wise legislators 
and of the priesthood often established, and generally favored 


# ANCIENT RELIGIOUS MYSTERIES. 639 

by such, legislators, and frequently arising without their assist¬ 
ance, effected this revolution, so remarkable in the history of 
man. 

The appearance of these priests makes a principal epoch in the 
religion, and in the whole condition of men. They appear in 
the early twilight of history. They did not, however, make re¬ 
ligion, they themselves arose rather through religion. But they 
cherished and brought the slumbering germ to perfection, and 
gave it its direction and form. By them, what was before wa¬ 
vering and inconstant, became determinate and durable, and 
presentiment was made doctrine—dream, positive truth; they 
preserved faith by formulas, devotion by usages, substituted 
coercion of conscience for freedom, and subjected the most 
secret thoughts to their dominion. Since now, what to the laity 
was merely a fugitive impression, a transient emotion, formed 
the principal business of their lives, they were able, easily guided 
or seduced by speculation and fancy, to spin out the thread of 
sacred tradition further, to convert the simple creeds of nature 
into ingenious systems, and, according to the measure of their 
illumination and their good will, ennoble or corrupt the sacred 
endowment of man. How, learned religions first originated, as 
well as a great number of symbols and fables, whereby the relig¬ 
ious ideas of the confessors were confined, as it were, in an en¬ 
chanted circle, the natural subordinated to the positive—often 
stifled by it—minute distinctions between the various systems of 
religion effected, and their number greatly multiplied. 

But it is a perception of the highest importance, and one 
which throws a surprising, radiant light upon the most sacred 
concern of man, that in all this variety, and amidst all changes, 
many principal traits, however, are found to be uniform , and the 
fundamental ideas C 07 istant. Hence results for the philosophical 
observer, the clearest distinction of the chaff from the grain, of 
the veil from the substance, and, at the same time, the interesting 
discernment of the most secret nature of man. 

First, we see everywhere, man, although limited to the world 
of sense in his active and passive state, look beyond its confines 
with foreboding and desire, acknowledge higher, living, moral 
powers over the blind forces of nature, in the triumph of pre¬ 
dominant wickedness, hope for a time of retribution, and, sur¬ 
rounded with the images of corruption, believe in a continuation 
beyond the grave. 

But this divine spark in the human soul, an evidence of its 
higher origin, how miserably, for the most part, we see it cher¬ 
ished ! Its excitation is the work of accident, its nourishment 
is unrefined, folly and deceit stifle its splendor. The sublime 
ideas, the lively sentiments of natural religion, the most precious 
boon of our race, are converted into dead formulas. 

The harmony of nature proclaims one supreme, ruling Spirit 
But the common understanding is unable to soar up to the maj¬ 
esty of a God, who lives in all the powers of nature, and fills 


040 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS 

heaven and earth with his presence. Hence it is glad to admit 
as many gods as it knows natural powers, consequently good 
and bad^, and also particular gods for every country, and even for 
every community and every house. Even if, by the instruction 
of solitary sages or enlightened priests, a supreme God is an¬ 
nounced to it, still it retains the belief in subordinate gods, and 
directs confidently to these its supplication. 

And under what image does man conceive his God? At first 
under none , or at least under no definite one, as long as he is 
not much engaged with him, and only on particular occasions 
perceives his dependence on higher powers. Yet he soon feels 
the want of forming clearer ideas and more definite images of 
the beings which he adores. He takes them from the world of 
sense, because beyond this the stroke of his spirit’s wings be¬ 
comes feeble; therefore he gives them mostly a corporeal veil; 
and since, in the whole province of his experience, no nobler 
form than that of man appears, and at the same time no worthier 
emblem of the divine Spirit can be found than the human, we 
see the idea of God in no national religion carried higher f han 
to an enhancement of human perfection. But soon not only the 
superior qualities of human nature, but its restrictions and wants 
were also embraced in the idea of gods; even passions and vices 
were ascribed to them, and now they were made throughout 
similar to men. This anthropomorphism is observable in all re¬ 
ligions. Even the ideas of the relation of the gods among them¬ 
selves are borrowed from human relations, and in the conceptions 
of their order of rank, and of the gradations of their power, we 
meet mostly with an image of the civil constitution of that nation 
in which such conceptions prevail. 

For the service of these gods, and for the extension and pres¬ 
ervation of religious ideas, we see everywhere a priesthood insti¬ 
tuted or forming itself, which, by this destination, exercises a 
power over minds, according to its principles beneficial, but in 
its abuse extremely dangerous. We see this class mostly enlarge 
and establish their power by all the expedients of an ambitious 
policy, aspire to a permanent guardianship over nations, not only 
in sacred, but also in worldly affairs; for this end surcharge re¬ 
ligion with heterogeneous additions, veil the understanding of 
the people by superstition, substitute authority for free investi¬ 
gation, the terror of penal power for conviction, usurp the mo- 
nopoly of the sciences, and with this the administration of the 
State, and even the vocation of magic, plunder the debased peo¬ 
ple at pleasure, and in a selfish manner appropriate to them¬ 
selves all the advantages of civil union, without participation in 
its burdens. Yet priests have also produced a very beneficial 
effect particularly in primitive times; since without them na¬ 
tions would not have escaped barbarism at all, or not until a late 
period, civil societies would have been established with much 
more difficulty, commerce would have been less extended, the 


ANCIENT RELIGIOUS MYSTERIES. 641 

arts and sciences less fostered, and nations would have inevitably 
become here the victims of anarchy, there of wild despotism. 

MYSTERIES AND ORACLES. 

Besides the prevailing national religion and the general wor¬ 
ship of the ancients, there existed almost everywhere a secret 
doctrine , which was either communicated by priest^, likewise to 
a small circle of selected individuals, or taught by particular in¬ 
quirers as the fruit of profane philosophy. Of the first, especially, 
remarkable proofs appear among many small nations. We speak 
here of mysteries , which we see originate in remote antiquity, 
and, at that time, produce the greatest effect. 

There were several kinds of mysteries, which differed widely 
in object and effect. Some consisted only of religious ceremo¬ 
nies, the mystical solemnity of which seemed adapted to pro¬ 
claim a higher majesty of the god, or to fill the mind with re¬ 
ligious awe. Other mysteries were associations of devout peo¬ 
ple, who, by particular devotional practices, or by pursuing pe¬ 
culiar rules of life, endeavoured to attain a higher moral perfec¬ 
tion than that of the rest. The third and noblest kind of mys¬ 
teries were those where a secret doctrine was imparted to the 
initiated concerning subjects to the investigation of which we are 
urged by a high and eternal interest, but the unveiled contem¬ 
plation of which is dangerous for the common intellect. There 
were, however, several grades of initiation. To the inferior— 
where those admitted were prepared, examined, or entertained 
by vain delusion, as in the great Elusinian mysteries—many, 
even women and children, were able to attain; into the inner 
sanctuary but few were introduced. They sufficed to prevent 
the extinction of the beneficial flame, and always let as much 
light emanate from their centre into external circles, and into 
the whole nation, as relations and the general state of cultivation 
permitted. 

We meet with oracles in the ancient religions still more gen¬ 
erally than with mysteries, by which here not merely those sa¬ 
cred places are understood, where a certain god replied by some 
organ to the questions put to him, but in general all the means 
and ways which superstition has invented to arrive at the knowl¬ 
edge of the divine will and the future. Man is incessantly tor¬ 
tured with the inquiet desire to raise the impenetrable veil, which 
lies over his future; and inexplicable feelings are often in his 
mind, which he calls forebodings, because he supposes a secret 
connexion between these and a coming event. For his little 
person is the centre from which he considers the world. Every¬ 
thing exists in reference to him; he imagines that on account of 
his private affairs, the gods stop the machinery of nature, and 
that even the celestial bodies direct their courses according to 
his destiny. This disposition was early abused by cunning men, 
and, to the question, who invented soothsaying, we may without 
hesitation answer with Voltaire: “ it was the first rogue that 


642 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING CUSTOMS. 

met with the first blockhead.” What advantage they were able 
to derive from this superstition did not escape the priests. Even 
legislators, who discerned in it an efficacious means for the direc¬ 
tion of the multitude, favored the same, and it became a peculiar, 
sacred art, pursued according to fixed rules, and generally re¬ 
spected, to interpret the future from the constellations, the 
entrails of animals, the flight of birds, dreams, lots, &c. 

A Curious Baptism, which took place at Dublin, in the 
year 1807.—A Moor, a native of Mogadore, in Africa, a strict 
observer of the religion of Mahomet, wearing always, of 
course, the costume of his country, resided a few months in 
the above city. A family, where he occasionally visited, being 
about to baptize their infant, solicited the stranger to stand 
godfather, which was immediately consented to ; and on the 
appointed day, he appeared splendidly arrayed in his turban 
and robes, at the sacred font, where, with due solemnity, he 
answered to the accustomed interrogatives,—‘‘All this I sted- 
fastly believe.” To add still further to the oddity of the cir¬ 
cumstance, the father was a member of the Roman Catholic 
church, and the mother of the Established one. 

Some account of Kalmuck Praying Machines: from 
Travels in the Caucasus and Georgia.—“ Among the most 
remarkable of the sacred utensils of the temples, is the Kurda , 
a cylindrical vessel of wood or metal, either very small, or of 
immense size. In its centre is fixed an iron axle ; but the in¬ 
terior of the cylinder, which is quite hollow, is filled with 
sacred wiitings, the leaves of which are all stuck one to 
another at the edge, throughout the whole length. This paper 
is rolled tightly round the axis of the cylinder till the whole 
space is filled up. A close cover is fixed on at each end, and 
the whole kurd'a is very neatly finished, painted on the outside 
with allegorical representations, or Indian prayers, and var¬ 
nished. This cylinder is fastened upright in a frame by the 
axis ; so that the latter, by means of a wheel attached to it 
below, may be set a-going with a string, and with a slight 
pull kept in a constant rotatory motion. When this cylinder 
is large, another, twice as small, and filled with writing, is 
fixed for ornament at the top of it. The inscription on such 
prayer-wheels commonly consists of masses for souls, psalms, 
and the six great general litanies, in which the most moving 
petitions are preferred for the welfare of all creatures. The text 
they sometimes repeat a hundred, or even a thousand times, 
attributing, from superstition, a proportionably augmented 
effect to this repetition, and believing that by these frequent 
copies, combined with their thousands of revolutions, they 
will prove so much the more efficacious. You frequently see, 
as well on the habitations of the priests, as on the whole roof 


FRAYING MACHINES.-—PENANCE AT CALCUTTA. 643 

of the temple, small kiird’a placed close to each other, in rows, 
by way of ornament; and not only over the gates, but like¬ 
wise in the fields, frames set up expressly for these praying- 
machines, which, instead of being moved by a string, are 
turned by the wind, by means of four sails, shaped and hol¬ 
lowed out like spoons. 

“ Other similar kiird'a are fastened to sticks of moderate 
thickness ; a leaden weight is then fastened to the cylinder by 
a string, which, when it is once set a-going, keeps it, with the 
help of the stick, in constant motion. Such like prayer-wheels, 
neatly wrought, are fastened upon short sticks to a small 
wooden pedestal, and stand upon the altars, for the use of 
pious persons. While the prayer-wheel is thus turned round 
with one hand, the devotee takes the rosary in the other, and 
at the same time repeats penitential psalms. 

“ A fourth kind of these kiird'a is constructed on the same 
principle as those which are turned by wind, only it is some¬ 
what smaller, and the frame is adapted to be hung up by a 
cord, in the chimneys of the habitations or huts of the Mon- 
guls. When there is a good fire, they are likewise set in 
motion by the smoke and the current of air, and continue to 
turn round as long as the fire is kept up. 

“ A fifth kind of kiird'a is erected on a small stream of water, 
upon a foundation like that of a mill, over which a small house 
is built to protect it from the weather. By means of the w heel 
attached to it, and the current, the cylinder is in like manner 
kept in a constant circular motion. These water kiird'a are 
commonly constructed on a large scale, and maintained at 
the joint expense of the inhabitants of a whole district. They 
have a reference to all aquatic animals, whether alive or dead, 
whose temporal and eternal happiness is the aim of the writ¬ 
ings contained in them, in like manner as the object of the 
fire. Kiird'a is the salvation of the souls of all animals suffer¬ 
ing by fire.” 

Curious Account of an expiatory Penance at 
Calcutta. —About a mile from the town is a plain, where 
the natives annually undergo a very strange kind of penance 
on the 9th of April; some for the sins they have committed, 
others for those they may commit, and others in consequence 
of a vow made by their parents. This ceremony is per¬ 
formed in the following manner. Thirty bamboos, each 
about the height of twenty feet, are erected in the plain above- 
mentioned. On the top of these they contrive to fix a swivel, 
and another bamboo of thirty feet or more crosses it, at both 
ends of which hangs a rope. The people pull down one end 
of this rope, and the devotee, placing himself under it, the 
brahmin pinches up a large piece of skin under both the 


644 


CURIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA 


shoulder blades, sometimes in the breasts, and thrusts a st ong 
iron hook through each. These hooks have lines of Indian 
grass hanging to them, which the priest makes fast to the 
rope at the end of the cross bamboo, and at the same time puts «* 
sash round the body of the devotee, laying it loosely in the 
hollow of the hooks, lest, by the skin giving way, he should 
fall to the ground. The people then haul down the other end 
of the bamboo : by which the devotee is immediately lifted 
up thirty feet or more from the ground, and they run round 
as fast as their legs can carry them. Thus the devotee is 
thrown out the whole length of the rope, where, as he swings, 
he plays a thousand antic tricks; being painted and dressed 
in a very particular manner, on purpose to make him look 
more ridiculous. Some of them continue swinging half an 
hour, others less. The devotees undergo a preparation of four 
days for this ceremony. On the first and third, they abstain 
from all kinds of food ; but eat fruit on the other two. Dur¬ 
ing this time of preparation they walk about the streets in 
their fantastical dresses, dancing to the sound of drums and 
horns ; and some, to express the greater ardour of devotion, 
run a wire of iron quite through their tongues, and sometimes 
through their cheeks. 

Happy are Christians in being delivered from the darkness, 
absurdities, and horrors of superstition, by the bright efful¬ 
gence of the Sun of righteousness! 


CHAP. LXV. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECT I EG VARIOUS PHENOMENA OR 

APPEARANCES IN NATURE. 

ON THE IGNIS FATUUS. 

-A wand’ring fire 

Compact of unctuous vapour, which the night 
Condenses, and the cold environs round. 

Kindled through agitation to a flame, 

(Which oft, they say, some evil spirit attends,) 

Hovering, and blazing with delusive light. 

Misleads th* amaz’d night-wanderer from his way 
Through bogs and mire. Milton. 

The Ignis Fatuus is a luminous appearance, which is most 
frequently observed in boggy districts and near rivers, though 
sometimes also in dry places. By its appearance, benighted 
travellers are fc-vid to have been sometimes led into imminent 
danger, taking it for a candle at a distance ; from which 





THE IGNIS FATUUS 


64fi 

seemingly mischievous property it has been thought by the 
vulgar to be a spirit of a malignant nature, and been named 
accordingly. Will-wit h-a-Wisp, or Jack-with-a-L.autern ; for 
the same reason that it had its Latin name Ignis Fatuus. This 
light is frequently seen about burying-places and dunghills. 
Some countries are also remarkable for it, as about Bologna 
in Italy, and some parts of Spain and Ethiopia. Its forms 
are so uncertain and variable, that they can scarcely be de¬ 
scribed, especially as philosophical observers seldom meet 
with it. Dr. Derham, however, one night perceived one of 
them, and got so near that he had a very advantageous view 
of it. This is very difficult to be obtained ; for, among other 
singularities of the ignis fatuus, it avoids the approach of any 
person, and flies from place to place as if it were animated. 
That which Dr. Derham observed, was in some boggy ground 
betwixt two rocky hills ; and the night was dark and calm, by 
which means he was enabled to advance within two or three 
yards of it. It appeared like a complete body of light with¬ 
out any division, so that he was sure it could not be occa¬ 
sioned by insects. It kept dancing about a dead thistle, till 
a very slight motion of the air, occasioned, as he supposed, 
by his near approach to it, made it jump to another place ; 
after which it kept flying before him as he advanced. 

Beccari obtained information, that two of these lights 
appeared in the plains about Bologna, the one north, the 
other south of that city, and were to be seen almost every 
dark night, especially that to the eastward, giving a light 
equal to an^ordinary faggot. The latter appeared to a gen¬ 
tleman of his acquaintance, as he was travelling; moved con¬ 
stantly before him for about a mile, and gave a better light 
than a torch which was carried before him. Both these 
appearances gave a very strong light, and were constantly in 
motion. Sometimes they would rise, sometimes sink; but 
commonly they would hover about six feet from the ground; 
they would also frequently disappear on a sudden, and appear 
again in some other place. They differed also in size and 
figure, sometimes spreading pretty wide, and then contracting 
themselves; sometimes breaking into two, and then joining 
again. Sometimes they would appear like waves, at others 
they would seem to drop sparks of fire : they were but little 
affected by the wind ; and in wet or rainy weather, were fre¬ 
quently observed to cast a stronger light than in dry weather: 
they were also observed more frequently when snow lay upon 
the ground, than in the hottest summer; but he was assured, 
that there was not a dark night throughout the whole year, in 
which they were not to be seen. The ground east of Bologna, 
where the largest of these was observed, is a hard chalky 
soil mixed with clay, which retains moisture long, but breaks 


» 


646 CURIOUS NATURAL PH LN OMEN A. 

and cracks in hot weather. On the mountains, where the 
soil is looser, the ignes fatui were less. From the best 
information, M. Beccari found that these lights were very 
frequent about rivers and brooks. He concludes his narrative 
with the following singular account.— 

“ An intelligent gentleman travelling in the evening, be¬ 
tween eight and nine o’clock, in a hilly road about ten miles 
south of Bologna, perceived a light which shone very strongly 
upon some stones which lav on the banks of the Rio Verde. 
It seemed to be about two feet above the stones, and near the 
water. In size and figure it had the appearance of a parallelo- 
piped, above a foot in length, and half a foot high, the largest 
side being parallel to the horizon. Its light was so strong, 
that he could plainly see by it part of a neighbouring hedge 
and the water of the river; only in the east corner of it the 
light was rather faint, and the square figure less perfect, as if 
it were cut off or darkened by the segment of a circle. On 
examining it a little nearer, he was surprised to find that it 
changed gradually from a bright red to a yellowish, and then 
to a pale colour, in proportion as he drew nearer; and when 
he came to the place itself it quite vanished. Upon this, he 
stepped back, and not only saw it again, but found that the- 
farther he went from it, the stronger and brighter it grew. 
When he examined the place of this luminous appearance, he 
could perceive no smell, nor any other mark of fife.” Another 
gentleman informed M. Beccari, that he had seen the same 
light five or six different times in spring and autumn ; and 
that it always appeared of the same shape, and in the very 
same spot. One night in particular, he observed it come out 
of a neighbouring field to settle in the usual place. 

A very remarkable account of an ignis fatuus is given by 
Dr. Shaw, in his Travels to the Holy Land. It appeared in 
the valleys of mount Ephraim, and attended him and his 
company for above an hour. Sometimes it appeared globular, 
or like the flame of a candle, at others it spread to such 
a degree as to involve the whole country in a pale inoffensive 
light, then contracted itself, and suddenly disappeared, but 
in less than a minute it would appear again ; sometimes, run¬ 
ning swiftly along, it would expand itself at certain intervals 
over more than two or three acres of the adjacent mountains. 
The atmosphere from the beginning of the evening had been* 
remarkably thick and hazy; and the dew, as they felt it on 
the bridles of their horses, was very clammy and unctuous 
Lights resembling the ignis fatuus are sometimes observed at 
at sea, skipping about the masts and rigging of ships ; and 
Dr. Shaw informs us, that he has seen these in such weather 
as that just mentioned, when he saw the ignis fatuus in 
Palestine. Similar appearances have been observed in various. 


IGNIS V A T U US. 


64 ? 


other situations ; and we are told of one which appeared about 
the bed of a woman in Milan, surrounding it, as well as her 
body, entirely. This light fled from the hand w-hich ap¬ 
proached ; but was at length entirely dispersed by the motion 
of the air. 

Of the same kind also, most probably, are those small lu¬ 
minous appearances which sometimes appear in houses, or 
near them, called, in Scotland, Elf-candles, and which are 
supposed to portend the death of some person about the house. 
In general these lights are harmless, though not always ; for 
some of them have encompassed stacks of hay and corn, and 
set them on fire ; so that they became objects of great terror 
to the country people. Of these, it was observed, that they 
w r ould avoid a drawn sword, or sharp-pointed iron instrument; 
and that they would be driven away by a great noise. 

Several philosophers have endeavoured to account for these 
appearances, but hitherto with no great success; nor indeed 
does there seem to be sufficient data for solving all their phe¬ 
nomena. Sir Isaac Newton calls it a vapour shining without 
heat; and supposes that there is the same difference between 
a vapour of the ignis fatuus and flame, that there is between 
the shining of rotten wood and burning coals. But though 
this seems generally to be the case, there are exceptions, as 
has been instanced in the vapours which set fire to the stacks 
of corn. Dr. Priestley supposes that the light is of the same 
nature with that produced by putrescent substances; others, 
that the electrical fluid is principally concerned; but none 
have attempted to give any particular solution of the phe¬ 
nomena. 

From the frequent appearance of the ignis fatuus in marshes, 
moist ground, burying-places, and dunghills, putrefaction 
seems to be concerned in the production of it. This process 
is attended with the emission of an aqueous steam, together 
with a quantity of fixed inflammable and alkaline air, blended 
together in one common vapour. It is likewise attended with 
some degree of heat, and there are some vapours, that of 
sulphur particularly, which becomes luminous with a degree 
of heat much less than that sufficient to set fire to combusti¬ 
bles. The putrid vapour, therefore, may be capable of shining 
with a still smaller degree of heat than that of sulphur, and 
consequently may become luminous by that which putrefac¬ 
tion alone affords. This would account for the ignis fatuus, 
were it only a steady luminous vapour arising from places where 
putrid matters are contained ; but its extreme mobility, and 
ffyin g from one place to another on the approach of any person, 
cannot be accounted for on this principle. If one quantity of 
the putrid vapour becomes luminous by means of heat, all 
the rest ought to do so likewise ; so that though we may allow 


CURIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. 


J48 

heat and putrefaction to be concerned, yet of necessity we 
must have recourse to some other agent, which can be no 
other than electricity. Without this, it is impossible to con¬ 
ceive how anybody of moveable vapour should not be carried 
away by the wind ; but so far is this from being the case, that 
the ignes fatui described by M. Beccari, were but little 
affected by the wind. It is, besides, proved by undoubted 
experiment, that electricity is always attended with some 
degree of heat; and this, however small, maybe sufficient 
to give a luminous property to any vapour on which it acts 
strongly : not to add, that the electric fluid itself is no other 
than light, and may therefore by its action easily produce a 
luminous appearance independent of any vapour. We have a 
strong proof that electricity is concerned, or indeed the prin¬ 
cipal agent, in producing the ignis fatuus, from an experiment 
related by Dr. Priestley, of a flame of this kind being artifi¬ 
cially produced. 

A gentleman, who had been making many electrical experi¬ 
ments fora whole afternoon in a small room, on goingout of it, 
observed aflame following him at some little distance. This 
was doubtless a true ignis fatuus, and the circumstances neces¬ 
sary to produce it were then present, viz. an atmosphere 
impregnated with animal vapour, and likewise strongly elec¬ 
trified, for the quantity of perspiration emitted by a human 
body is by no means inconsiderable; and it, as well as the 
electricity, would be collected by reason of the smallness of 
the room. In this case, however, there seems to have been a 
considerable difference between the artificial ignis fatuus, and 
those commonly met with ; for this flame followed the gentle¬ 
man as he went out of the room, but the natural ones com¬ 
monly fly from those who approach them. This mav be 
accounted for, from a difference between the electricitv of the 
atmosphere in the one room and the other; in which case the 
flame would naturally be attracted towards that place where 
the electricity was either different in quality or in quantity; 
but in the natural way, where all bodies may be supposed 
equally electrified for a great way round, a repulsion will as 
naturally take place. Still, however, this does not seem to 
be always the case. In those instances where travellers have 
been attended by an ignis fatuus, we cannot suppose it to 
have been influenced by any other power than what we call 
attraction, and which electricity is very capable of producing. 
Its keeping at some distance, is likewise easily accounted for; 
as we know that bodies possessed of different quantities of 
electricity may be made to attract one another for a certain 
space, and then repel without having ever come into contact. 
On this principle we may account for the light which sur¬ 
rounded the wo nan at Milan, but fled from the hand of any 


IGNIS FATUUS. 


649 


othei person. On the same principle may we account foi 
those mischievous vapours which set fire to the hay and corn 
stacks, but were driven away by presenting to them a pointed 
iron instrument, or by making a noise. Both these are known 
to have a great effect upon the electric matter; and by means 
of either, lightning may occasionally be made to fall upon, 
or to avoid, particular places, according to ti e circumstances 
by which the general mass happens to be effected. On the 
whole, therefore, it seems most probable, that the ignis fatuus 
is a collection of vapours of the putrescent kind, very much 
affected by electricity ; according to the degree of which, it 
will either give a weak or strong light, or even set fire to cer¬ 
tain substances. This opinion seems to be confirmed from 
some luminous appearances observed in privies, where the 
putrid vapours have been collected into balls, and exploded 
violently on the approach of a candle. This last effect, how¬ 
ever, we cannot so well ascribe to the electricity, as to the 
ascension of the inflammable air which abounds in such 
places. 

In the Appendix to Dr. Priestley’s third volume of Experi¬ 
ments and Observations on Air, Mr. Warltire gives an account 
of some very remarkable ignes fatui, which he observed on the 
road to Bromsgrove, about five miles from Birmingham. The 
time of observation was the 12th of December, 1776, before 
daylight. Many of these lights were playing in an adjacent 
field, in different directions; from some of which suddenly 
sprang up bright branches of light, somewhat resembling the 
explosion of a rocket that contained many brilliant stars, if 
the discharge was upwards, instead of the usual direction; 
and the hedge, and trees on each side of the hedge, were illu¬ 
minated. This appearance continued but a few seconds, and 
then the jack-with-a-lantern played as before. Mr. Warltire 
was not near enough to observe if the apparent explosion was 
attended with any report. 

Cronstedt gives it as his opinion, that ignes fatui, as well 
as falling stars, are owing to collections of inflammable air 
raised to a great height in the atmosphere. But, with regard 
to the latter, the vast height at which they move, evidently 
shews that they cannot be the effect of any gravitating vapour 
whatever; for the lightest inflammable air is one-twelfth of 
that of the common atmosphere : and we have no ieason to 
believe, that at the distance of forty or fifty miles from the 
earth, the latter has near one-twelfth of its weight at the sur¬ 
face. From the account given by Mr. Warltire, we should be 
apt to conclude, that there is a strong affinity betwixt the 
ignes fatui and fireballs, insomuch that the one might be 
very easily converted into the other. Electricity can assume 
ooth these appearances, as is evider t in the case of points 

4 N 


660 . CURIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. 

or even when the atmosphere is violently electrified, as around 
the string of an electrified kite, which always will appear to 
be surrounded with a blue flame in the night, if the electri¬ 
city be very strong. On the whole, it appears that electricity, 
acting upon a small quantity of atmospherical air with a cer¬ 
tain degree of vigour, will produce an appearance resembling 
an ignis fatuus; with a superior force it will produce a fire¬ 
ball ; and a sudden increase of electrical power might produce 
those sparks and apparent explosions observed by Mr. Warl- 
tire. This appearance has produced many superstitious fears 
in the ignorant and uneducated. 

To those who have, unfortunately, been badly educated in 
this respect, a friendly act would be, to endeavour with sound 
reasoning to convince them of their error, and dissuade them 
from giving heed, in future, to idle, superstitious, or inconsist¬ 
ent stories of any kind ; advising them to furnish themselves 
with such knowledge, as may have a tendency to produce true 
pleasure and happiness through life, and which, when dying, 
they can reflect upon without uneasiness. " The natural off¬ 
spring of prevailing superstition is infidelity. Of the truth of 
this, the present times afford us a lamentable example. Where 
ignorance and fear once ruled supreme, there has rash philo¬ 
sophy but too successfully planted presumption and atheism. 
Tis the diffusion of pure and solid knowledge, which alone 
can preserve us from the dominion of these opposite tyrants. 
How should this consideration increase our zeal and stimulate 
our endeavours ! The immediate sphere of our action may be 
circumscribed, but our exertions will not on that account be 
entirely lost. In that circumscribed sphere let us labour to 
root out every superstitious lying vanity, and plant pure reli¬ 
gion and unsophisticated truth in its stead. 

“ How charming, how enlivening to the soul, to gaze upon 
the dawning beams of opening light, to behold them irradiate 
that dismal gloom of intellectual darkness, which long over¬ 
whelmed the millions of mankind : how supremely pleasing, 
to view them wider and wider spreading their invigorating 
influence: how rapturously transporting, to ''^.template the 
resplendent prospect of pure and perfect day! 

“-Power supreme! 

O everlasting King! to thee we kneel, 

To thee we lift our voice ! v — 

“ O spreaa thy benign, thy vivifying light over the dwell¬ 
ings of the sons of men ; dispel the yet impending mists of 
ignorance and superstition : and, O preserve us from the dis¬ 
mal gulf ot infidelity and atheism; let thy truth run and 
prevail gloriously; let pure celestial wisdom overspread the 
earth as the waters cover the sea!—Then shall millions knee 



PROPERTIES AND EFFECTS OF LIGHTNING. 651 

before tliee with grateful and enraptured hearts; then shall 
they rejoice to sing the praises of thee, their Benefactor, their 
Father, and their God : then shall this vale of tears be filled 
with the mansions of joy and gladness, and become a blissful 
foretaste of those regions, where thy saints, crowned with 
unfading glory and felicity, surround thy throne with never- 
ceasing hallelujahs!” 

See Naylor on Vulgar Superstitions . 




CHAP. LXVI. 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VARIOUS PHENOMENA 

appearances in nature.— (Continued.) 


OR 


Extraordinary Properties and Effects of Lighting—Thunder 
Rod—Fire Balls—Terrible Effects of Electrified Clouds — 
Surprising Effects of extreme Cold—Astonishing Expansive 
Force of Freezing. 


-By conflicting winds together dashed, 

The thunder holds his black tremendous throne : 

From cloud to cloud the rending lightnings rage ; 

Till, in the furious elemental war 

Dissolv’d, the whole precipitated mass 

Unbroken floods and solid torrents pours. Thomson. 

Extraordinary Properties and Effects of Light¬ 
ning. —A very surprising property of lightning of the zigzag 
kind, especially when near, is, its seeming omnipresence. If 
two persons are standing in a room looking different ways, 
and a loud clap of thunder, accompanied with zigzag lightning, 
happens, they will both distinctly see the flash, not only by 
that indistinct illumination of the atmosphere which is 
occasioned by fire of any kind, but the very form of the 
lightning itself, and every angle it makes in its course, will 
be as distinctly perceptible as if both had looked directly at 
the cloud from whence it proceeded. If a person happened 
at that time to be looking on a book, or other object which 
he held in his hand, he would distinctly see the form of the 
lightning between him and the object at which he looked. 
This property seems peculiar to lightning, and to belong to no 
other kind of fire whatever. In August 1763, a most violent 
storm of thunder, rain, and hail, happened at London, which 
did damage in the adjacent country to the amount of £50,000. 
Hailstones fell of ar» immense size, from two to ten inches in 
circumference, but the most surprising circumstance attending 



652 


CURIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. 


the hurricane was, the sudden flux and reflux of the tide in 
Plymouth pool, exactly corresponding with the like agitation 
in the same place, at the time of the great earthquake at 
Lisbon. Instances have also occurred where lightning, by its 
own proper force, without any assistance from those less 
common agitations of the atmosphere or electric fluid, has 
thrown stones of immense weight to considerable distances ; 
torn up trees by the roots, and broke them in pieces ; shat¬ 
tered rocks ; beat down houses, and set them on fire, &c, 
The following singular effect of lightning, upon a pied bul¬ 
lock, is recorded in the sixty-sixth volume of the Philosophical 
Transactions.— 

“ In the evening: of Sunday the 28tb of August, 1774, there 
was an appearance of a thunder storm, but we heard no re¬ 
port. A gentleman who was riding near the marshes not far 
from this town, (Lewes) saw two strong flashes of lightning 
running along the ground of the marsh, at about nine o’clock 
p. m. On Monday morning, when the servants of Mr. Roger, 
a farmer at Swanborough, went into the marsh to fetch the 
oxen to their work, they found one of them, a four-year-old 
steer, standing up, to appearance much burnt, and so weak 
as to be scarcely able to walk. The animal seemed to have 
been struck bv lightning in a verv extraordinary manner. 
He was of a white and red colour; the white in large marks, 
beginning at the rump bone, and running in various directions 
along both sides ; the belly was all white, and the whole head 
and horns white likewise. The lightning, with which he must 
have been undoubtedly struck, fell upon the rump bone, 
which was white, and distributed itself along the sides in 
such a manner as to take off all the hair from the white marks 
as low as the bottom of the ribs, but so as to leave a list of 
white hair, about half an inch broad, all round where it joined 
to the red, and not a single hair of the red appears to have 
been touched. The whole belly was unhurt, but the end of 
the sheath of the penis had the hair taken off; it was also 
taken off’from the dewlap: the horns and the curled hair on 
the forehead were uninjured; but the hair was taken off from 
the sides of the face, from the flat part of the jaw-bones, and 
from the front of the face, in stripes. There were a few white 
marks on the side and neck, which were surrounded with 
red; and the hair was taken off from them, leaving half an 
inch of white adjoining to the red. The farmer anointed the 
ox with oil for a fortnight; the animal purged very much at 
first, and was greatly reduced in flesh, but afterwards re¬ 
covered.” In another account of this accident, the author 
supposes that the bullock had been lying down at the time he 
was struck; which shews the reason that the under parts 
were not touched. “The lightning, conducted by the white 


PROPERTIES AND EFFECTS Oh LIGHTNING. 653 

hair, from the top of the back down the sides, came to the 
ground at the place where the white hair was left entire.” 

The author of this account says, that he inquired of 
Mr. Tooth, a farrier, whether he ever knew of a similar ac¬ 
cident ; and that he told him “ the circumstance was not new 
to him; that he had seen many pied bullocks struck by 
lightning in the same manner; that the texture of the skin 
under the white hair was always destroyed, though looking 
fair at first; but after a while it became sore, throwing out 
a putrid matter in pustules, like the small-pox with us, which 
in time falls off, when the hair grows again, and the bullocks 
receive no farther injury;” which was the case with the 
bullock in question. In a subsequent letter, however, the 
very same author informs us, that he had inquired of Mr. 
Tooth, “ whether he ever saw r a stroke of lightning actually 
fall upon a pied bullock, so as to destroy the white hair, and 
shew' evident marks of burning, leaving the red hair unin- 
jured? He said he never did; nor did he recollect any one 
that had. He gave an account, however, of a pied horse, 
belonging to himself, which had been struck dead by light¬ 
ning in the night time.” The explosion was so violent, that 
Mr. Tooth imagined his house had been struck, and therefore 
immediately got up. On going into the stable, he found the 
horse almost dead, though it kept on its legs near half an 
hour before it expired. The horse w r as pied white on the 
shoulder, and greatest part of the head, viz. the forehead and 
nose, where the greatest force of the stroke came. “ The hair 
w r as not burnt nor discoloured, only so loosened at the root, 
that it came off with the least touch. And this is the case, 
according to Mr. Tooth’s observation, w r ith all that he has 
seen or heard of, viz. the hair is never burnt, but the skin 
always affected. In the horse, all the blood in the veins 
under the white parts of the head was quite stagnated, though 
he could perceive it to flow in other parts as usual; and the 
skin, together with one side of the tongue, was parched and 
dried up to a greater degree than he had ever seen before ” 
x4nother instance is mentioned of this extraordinary effect of 
lio-htning upon a bullock, in which even the small red spots 
on the sides w r ere unaffected ; and in this, as well as the 
former, the white hair on the under part of the belly, and on 
the legs, was left untouched. 

One very singular effect of lightning is, that it has been 
observed to kill alternately, that is, supposing a number of 
people standing in a line; if the first person w r as killed, the 
second would be safe; the third would be killed, and the 
fourth safe; the fifth killed, 8cc. Effects of this kind are 
o-enerally produced by the most violent kind of lightning, 
namely, that which appears in the form of balls, which 


(>64 curious natural phenomena. 

frequently divide themselves into several parts before they 
strike. If one of these parts of a fire-ball strike a man, 
another will not strike the person who stands immediately 
close to him ; because there is always a repulsion between 
bodies electrified the same way. Now, as these parts into 
which the balls break have all the same kind of electricity, it 
is evident that they must for that reason repel one another, and 
this repulsion is so strong, that a man may be interposed 
within the stroke of two of them, without being hurt by 
eithei. 

Thunder Rod. —Dr. Franklin has demonstrated the iden¬ 
tity of thunder with the electric explosion. He availed 
himself of many curious discoveries which he had made of 
electrical laws: in particular, having observed that electricity 
was drawn off at a great distance, and without the least 
violence of action, by a sharp metallic point, he proposed to 
philosophers to erect a tall mast or pole on the highest part 
of a building, and to furnish the top of it with a fine metallic 
point, properly insulated, with a wire leading to an insulated 
apparatus for exhibiting the common electrical appearances. 
To the whole of this contrivance he gave the name of Thunder 
Rod , which it still retains. He had not a proper opportunity 
of doing this himself, at the time of his writing his dissertation 
in a letter from Philadelpha to the Royal Society of London ; 
but the contents were so scientific, and so interesting, that in 
a few w'eeks they were known over all Europe. His directions 
were followed in many places. In particular, the French 
academicians, encouraged by the presence of their monarch, 
and the ^reat satisfaction which he expressed at the repetition 
of Dr. Franklin's most instructive experiments, which dis¬ 
covered and made known the theory of positive and negative 
electricity, as it is now received, were eager to execute his 
orders, and make his grand experiment, which promised so 
fairly to bring this tremendous operation of nature, not only 
within the pole of science, but in the management of human 
power. But in the mean time. Dr. Franklin, impatient of 
delay, and perhaps incited by the honourable desire of w r ell- 
deserved fame, put his own scheme in practice. His inventive 
mind suggested to him a method of presenting a point to 
a thunder cloud at a considerable distance. This was, by fixing 
his point on the head of a paper kite, which the wind should 
raise to the clouds, while the wet string that held it should 
serve for a conductor of the electricity. With a palpitating 
heart, Dr. Franklin, unknown to his neighbours, and accom¬ 
panied only by his son, went into the fields, and sent up his 
messenger that was to bring him news from the heavens. 
He obtained only a few sparks from his apparatus that day j 


THUNDER ROD.— FIRE BAITS. 


655 

but returned to his house in a state of perfect satisfaction 
with his success. We may justly consider this as one of the 
greatest of philosophical discoveries, and as doing the highest 
Honour to the inventor; for it was not a suggestion from an 
accidental observation, but arose from a scientific comparison 
of facts, and a sagacious application of the doctrine of posi¬ 
tive and negative electricity; a doctrine wholly Dr. Franklin s, 
and the result of the most acute and discriminating observa¬ 
tion. It w r as this alone, that suggested the whole; and, by 
explaining to his satisfaction the curious property of sharp 
points, gave him the courage to handle the thunderbolt of the 
heavens. It is now a point fully ascertained, that thunder 
and lightning are the electric snap and spark, as much superior 
to our puny imitations as we can conceive from the immense 
extent of the instruments in the hands of Nature. 

If (says Dr. Franklin,) a conductor, one foot thick, and five 
feet long, will produce such snaps as agitate the whole human 
frame, what may we not expect from a surface of ten thousand 
acres of electrified clouds? How loud must be the explosion! 
how terrible the effects ! 

To this wonderful discovery. Dr. Darwin alludes in the fol¬ 
lowing lines :— 


Led by the phosphor light, with daring tread 
Immortal Franklin sought the fiery bed ; 

Where, nurs’d in night, incumbent tempest shrouds 
The seeds of thunder in circumfluent clouds, 

Besieg’d with iron points his airy cell, 

And pierc’d the monster slumb’ring in his shell. 

Fire Balls, —are a kind of luminous bodies, commonly 
appearing at a great height above the earth, with a splendour 
surpassing that of the moon, and sometimes equalling her 
apparent size. They generally proceed in this hemisphere 
from north to south with vast velocity, frequently breaking 
into several smaller ones, sometimes vanishing with a report, 
and sometimes not. These luminous appearances, no doubt, 
constitute one branch of the ancient prodigies, or blazing stars. 
They sometimes resemble comets, in being attended with a 
train ; but frequently they appear with a round well-defined 
disk. The first of these, of which we have any accurate ac¬ 
count, was observed by Dr. Halley and others, at different 
places, in 1719. From the slight observations they could 
take of its course among the stars, its perpendicular height 
was computed at about seventy miles from the surface of the 
earth. The height of others has also been computed, and 
found to be various; though in general it is supposed to be 
beyond the limits assigned to our atmosphere, or where it 
loses its refractive power. The most remarkable of these on 


b'56 


CURIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. 


record appeared oil the 18th of August, 1/83, about nine 
o’clock in the evening. It was seen to the northward of Shet¬ 
land, and took a southerly direction for an immense space, 
being observed as far as the southern provinces of France 
and Rome. During its course, it appears frequently to have 
changed its shape ; sometimes appearing in the form of one 
ball, sometimes two or more ; sometimes with a train, some¬ 
times without one. It passed over Edinburgh nearly in the 
zenith, and had then the appearance of a well-defined round 
body, extremely luminous, and of a greenish colour; the 
light which it diffused on the ground giving likewise a green¬ 
ish cast to objects. After passing the zenith, it was attended 
by a train of considerable length, which, continually augment¬ 
ing, at last obliterated the head entirely ; so that it looked 
like a wedge, flying with the obtuse end foremost. The mo¬ 
tion was not apparently swift, by reason of its great height; 
though in reality it must have moved with great rapidity, on 
account of the vast space it travelled over in a short time. 
In other places its appearance was very different. At Green¬ 
wich, we are told, that “ two bright balls, parallel to each 
other, led the way, the diameter of which appeared to be 
about two feet; these were followed by an expulsion of eight 
others, not elliptical, seeming gradually to fall to pieces, foi 
the last was small. Between each two balls a luminous ser¬ 
rated body extended, and at the last a blaze issued, which 
terminated in a point. Minute particles dilated from the 
whole. The balls were tinted first by a pure bright light, then 
followed a delicate yellow, mixed with azure, red, green, Sec. 
which, with a coalition of bolder tints, and a reflection from 
the other balls, gave the most beautiful rotundity and varia¬ 
tion of colours, that the human eye could be charmed with. 
The sudden illumination of the atmosphere, and the form and 
singular transition of this bright luminary, contributed much 
to render it awful: nevertheless, the amazingly vivid appear¬ 
ance of the different balls, and other rich connecting parts, 
not very easy to delineate, gave an effect equal to the rainbow 
in the zenith of its glory.” 

Terrible Effects of Electrified Clouds.— The most 
extraordinary instance of this kind perhaps on record, hap¬ 
pened in the island of Java, in the East Indies, in August, 
1772. On the 11th of that month, at midnight, a bright cloud 
was observed covering a mountain in the district called Che- 
ribou, and at the same time several reports were heard like 
those of a gun. The people who dwelt on the upper parts of 
the mountain, not being able to fly fast enough, a great part 
of the cloud, almost three leagues in circumference, detached 
itself under them, an 1 was seen at a distance, rising and falling 

7 O 


EFFECTS OF ELECTRIFIED CLOUDS. 


657 


like the waves of the sea, and emitting globes of fire so lumi¬ 
nous, that the night became as clear as day. The effects of 
it were astonishing: every thing was destroyed for seven 
leagues round ; the houses were demolished ; plantations were 
buried in the earth; and two thousand one hundred and forty 
people lost their lives, besides fifteen hundred head of cattle, 
and a vast number of horses, goats, &c. 

Another instance of a very destructive cloud, the electric 
qualities of which at present can scarcely be doubted, is re¬ 
lated by Mr. Brydone, in his Tour through Malta. It appeared 
on the 29th of October, 1757. “ About three-quarters of an 

hour after midnight, there was seen, to the south-west of the 
city of Valetta, a great black cloud, which, as it approached, 
changed its colour, till at last it became like a flame of fire 
mixed with black smoke. A dreadful noise was heard on its 
approach, which alarmed the whole city. It passed over the 
port, and came first on an English ship, which in an instant 
was torn in pieces, and nothing left but the hull; part of the 
masts, sails, and cordage, were carried to a considerable 
distance with the cloud. The small boats and selloques, that 
fell in it's way, were all broken to pieces and sunk. The noise 
increased, and became more frightful. A sentinel, terrified at 
its approach, ran into his box ; but both he and it were lifted 
up and carried into the sea, where he perished. It then tra¬ 
versed a considerable part of the city, and laid in ruins almost 
every thing that stood in its way. Several houses were laid 
level with the ground, and it did not leave one steeple in its 
passage. The bells of some of them, together with the spires, 
were carried to a considerable distance; the roofs of the 
churches demolished and beat down, &c. It went off at the 
north-east point of the city, and, demolishing the lighthouse, 
is said to have mounted up into the air with a frightful noise, 
and passed over the sea to Sicily, where it tore up some trees, 
and did other inconsiderable damage; but nothing material, 
as its fury had been spent at Malta. The number of killed 
and wounded amounted to near two hundred ; and the loss of 
shipping, See. was very considerable.”—The effects of thunder 
storms, and the vast quantity of electric matter formed in the 
clouds which produce these storms, are so well known, that 
it is superfluous to mention them. It appears, however, that 
even these clouds are not so highly electrified as to produce 
their fatal effects on those who are immersed in them. It is 
only the discharge of part of their electricity upon such bodies 
as are either not electrified at all, or not so highly electrified 
as the cloud, that does all the mischief. We have, however, 
only the following instance on record, of any persons’ being 
immersed in the body of a thunder cloud. Professor Saussure, 
and young Mr. Jalabert, when travelling over one of the high 


(55 8 


CURIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. 


Alps, were caught among clouds of this kind; and, to their 
astonishment, found their bodies so full of electrical fire, that 
spontaneous flashes darted from their fingers with a crackling 
noise, and the same kind of sensation as when strongly elec¬ 
trified by art. _ 

Among the awful phenomena of nature, none have excited 
more terror than lightning and thunder. Some of the profligate 
Roman emperors, of whom history records that they procured 
themselves to be deified, confessed, by their trembling and hid¬ 
ing themselves, when they heard the thunder, that there was a 
divine power greater than their own —Cala tonantem Jovem. 
The greatest security against the terrors of a thunder-storm, 
although no certain one against its effects, is that life of piety 
and virtue, which is the best guardian of every earthly bless¬ 
ing. The good man, who knows that every event is under the 
direction of an overruling Providence, and that this life is 
only a part of his existence, introductory to the blissful scenes 
of immortality, will behold the terrors of the storm with un¬ 
shaken resolution : grateful to the Supreme Being, if permitted 
to escape from the danger; and acquiescing in the Divine 
Will, if thus to be conveyed, by an easy and instantaneous 
passage, to that heaven where his conversation had long been, 
and to that God with whom he delighted to walk. 

These sentiments are beautifully expressed in the following 
lines, written in a midnight thunder-storm, by the celebrated 
Mrs. Carter, and addressed to a lady :— 

Let coward guilt with pallid fear 
To shelt’ring caverns fly, 

And justly dread the vengeful fate 
That thunders thro’ the sky: 

Protected by that hand, whose law 
The threat’ning storms obey. 

Intrepid virtue smiles secure. 

As in the blaze of day. 

In the thick cloud’s tremendous gloom, 

The lightning’s lurid glare, 

It views the same All-gracious Pow’r, 

That breathes the vernal air. 

Thro’ nature’s ever-varying scene, 

By diff’rent ways pursu’d, 

The one eternal end of Heav’n 
Is universal good. 

The same unchanging mercy rules 
When flaming ether glows, 

As when it tunes the linnet’s voice. 

Or blushes in the rose. 



ELECTRIFIED CLOUDS.— EXTREME COLD. 


659 


By reason taught to scorn those fears 
That vulgar minds molest, 

Let no fantastic terrors break 
My dear Narcissa’s rest. 

Thy life may all the tend’rest care 
Of Providence defend, 

And delegated angels round 
Their guardian wings extend. 

When thro’ creation’s vast expanse 
The last dread thunders roll, 

Untune the concord of the spheres, 

And shake the rising soul; 

Unmov’d may’st thou the final storm 
Of jarring worlds survey, 

That, ushers in the glad serene 
Of everlasting day. 

The following lines on the same subject were written by 
Mrs. Chapone :— 

In gloomy pomp, whilst awful midnight reigns, 

And wide o’er earth her mournful mantle spreads ; 

Whilst deep-voiced thunders threaten guilty heads, 

And rushing torrents drown the frighted plains ; 

And quick-glanc’d lightnings, to my dazzled sight, 

Betray the double horrors of the night: 

A solemn stillness creeps upon my soul, 

And all its powers in deep attention die ; 

My heart forgets to beat; my stedfast eye 
Catches the Hying gleam ; the distant roll, 

Advancing gradual, swells upon my ear 
With louder peals, more dreadful as more near. 

Awake, my soul, from thy forgetful trance! 

The storm calls loud, and meditation wakes : 

How at the sound pale superstition shakes, 

Whilst all her train of frantic fears advance! 

Children of darkness, hence! fly far from me! 

And dwell with guilt and infidelity! 

But come, with look compos’d and sober pace, 

Calm Contemplation, come! and hither lead 
Devotion, that on earth disdains to tread ; 

Her inward flame illumes her glowing face, 

Her upcast eye, and spreading wings, prepare 
Her flight for heaven, to find her treasure there. 

She sees, enraptur’d through the thickest gloom, 

Celestial beauty beam, and ’midst the howl 
Of w arring winds, sweet music charms her soul; 

She secs, while rifted oaks inflames consume, 

A Father God, that o’er the storm presides, 

Threatens to save,—and loves when most he chide*. 

Surprising Effects of Extreme Cold.— By extreme 
deg rees of cold, trees are burst, rocks rent, and rivers and 
lak'es frozen several feet deep : metallic substances blister the 


560 CURIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. 

skin like red-hot iron : the air, when drawn in by respiration, 
hurts the lungs, and excites a cough : even the effects of fire 
in a great measure seem to cease ; and metals, though kept 
for a considerable time before a strong fire, will still freeze 
water when thrown upon them. When the French mathema¬ 
ticians wintered at Tornea, in Lapland, the external air, when 
suddenly admitted into their rooms, converted the moisture 
of the air into whirls of snow ; their breasts seemed to be rent 
when they breathed it; the contact of it was intolerable to 
their bodies; and the spirit of wine, which had not been 
highly rectified, burst some of their thermometers by the 
congelation of the aqueous parts. 

Extreme cold very often proves fatal to animals, in coun¬ 
tries where the winters are very severe. Thus seven thousand 
Swedes perished at once, in attempting to pass the mountains 
which divide Norway from Sweden. It is not necessary, in¬ 
deed, that the cold, in order to prove fatal to human life, 
should be so very intense as has been just mentioned. There 
is only requisite a degree somewhat below 32° of Fahrenheit, 
accompanied with snow or hail, from which shelter cannot be 
obtained. The snow which falls upon the clothes, or the un¬ 
covered parts of the body, then melts, and, by a continual 
evaporation, carries off’ the animal heat to such a degree, that 
a sufficient quantity is not left for the support of life. In such 
cases, the person first feels himself extremely chill and uneasy; 
he begins to grow listless, unwilling to walk or use exercise 
to keep himself warm ; and at last turns drowsy, sits down to 
refresh himself with sleep, but wakes no more. 

An instance of this was seen not many years ago at Terra 
del Fuego; where Dr. Solander, with some others, having 
taken an excursion up the country, the cold was so intense, 
that one of their number died. The Doctor himself, though 
he had warned his companions of the danger of sleeping in 
that situation, yet could not be prevented from making that 
dangerous experiment himself; and though he was awaked 
with all possible expedition, his body was so much shrunk in 
bulk, that his shoes fell off his feet, and it was with the utmost 
difficulty that he was recovered. 

In those parts of the world where vast masses of ice are 
produced, the accumulation of it, by absorbing the heat of 
the atmosphere, occasions an absolute sterility in the adjacent 
countries, as is particularly the case with the island of Ice¬ 
land ; where the vast collections of ice floating out from the 
Northern Ocean, and stopped on that coast, are sometimes 
several years in thawing. Indeed, where great quantities of 
ice are collected, it would seem to have a power like fire, of 
both augmenting its own intenseness and that of the adjacent 
bodies. 


EXPANSIVE FORCE OF FREEZING WATER. 661 

Astonishingly Exp ansi ve Force ofFreezing Water. 
—Although cold, in general, contracts most bodies, and heat 
expands them, yet there are some instances to the contrary, 
especially in the extreme cases or states of these qualities of 
bodies. Thus, though iron, in common with other bodies, 
expands with heat; yet, when melted, it is always found to 
expand in cooling again. Thus also, though water expands 
gradually as it is heated, and contracts as it cools, yet in the 
act of freezing it suddenly expands again, and that with an 
enormous force, capable of rending rocks, or bursting the 
very thick shells of metal, &c. A computation of the force 
of freezing water, has been made by the Florentine academi¬ 
cians, from the bursting of a very strong brass globe or shell 
by freezing water in it; when, from the known thickness and 
tenacity of the metal, it was found that the expansive power 
of a spherule of w T ater only one inch in diameter, was suffi¬ 
cient to overcome a resistance of more than twenty-seven 
thousand pounds, or thirteen tons and a half. 

Such a prodigious effect of expansion, almost double that 
of the most powerful steam-engines, and exerted in so small 
a mass, seemingly by the force of cold, was thought a very 
material argument in favour of those who supposed that cold, 
like heat, is a positive substance. Dr. Black’s discovery of 
latent heat, however, has afforded a very easy and natural 
explication of this phenomenon. He has shewn, that, in the 
act of congelation, water is not cooled more than it was 
before, but rather grows warmer: that as much heat is dis¬ 
charged and passes from a latent and a sensible state, as, had 
it been applied to water in its fluid state, would have heated 
it to 135°. In this process, the expansion is occasioned by a 
great number of minute bubbles suddenly produced. For¬ 
merly these w T ere supposed to be cold in the abstract, and to 
be so subtile, that, insinuating themselves into the substances 
of the fluid, they augmented its bulk, at the same time that, 
by impeding the motion of its particles upon each other, they 
changed it from a fluid to a solid. But Dr. Black shews, that 
these are only air extricated during the congelation ; and to 
the extrication of this air he ascribes the prodigious expan¬ 
sive force exerted by freezing water. The only question, 
therefore, is, by what means this air comes to be extricated, 
and to take up more room than it naturally does in the fluid? 
T. this it may be answered, that perhaps part of the heat, 
which is discharged from the freezing water, combines with air 
in its unelastic state, and, by restoring its elasticity, gives it 
that extraordinary force ; as is seen in the case of air sud¬ 
denly extricated in the explosion of gunpowder. The degree 
of expansion of water, in the state of ice, is by some authors 
computed at one tenth of its volume. Oil and quicksilver 


662 


CURIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. 


shrink and contract after freezing. Mr. Boyle relates severa 
experiments of vessels made of metals, very thick and strong; 
in which, when filled with water, closely stopped, and ex¬ 
posed to the cold, the water being expanded in freezing, and 
not finding either room or vent, burst the vessels. A strong 
barrel of a gun, with water in it, close stopped and frozen, was 
rent the whole length. Huygens, to try the force with which 
it expands, filled a cannon with it, whose sides were an inch 
thick, and then closed up the mouth and vent, so that none 
could escape; the whole being exposed to a strong freezing 
air, the water froze in about twelve hours, and burst the piece 
in two places. Hence mathematicians have computed the 
force of the ice upon this occasion; and they say, that such 
a force would equal twenty-seven thousand seven hundred 
and twenty pounds. 

Major Edward Williams, of the Royal Artillery, made many 
experiments on the force of freezing water, at Quebec, in 
1784-1785. He filled all sizes of bomb shells with water, then 
plugged the fuze-hole close up, and exposed them to the 
strong freezing air of the winter in that climate; sometimes 
driving in the iron plugs as hard as possible with a sledge 
hammer; and yet they were all thrown out by the sudden 
expansion of the water in the act of freezing, like a ball shot 
by gunpowder, sometimes to the distance of between four 
and five hundred feet, though they weighed near three 
pounds; and when the plugs were screwed in, or fur¬ 
nished with hooks or barbs to lay hold of the inside of the 
shell by, so that they could not possibly be forced out, in this 
case the shell was always split in two, though the thickness 
of the metal of the shell was about an inch and three-quarters. 
Through the circular crack, round about the shells, where they 
burst, there stood out a thin film or sheet of ice, like a fin ; 
and in the cases where the plugs were projected by freezing 
water, there suddenly issued out from the fuze-hole a bolt o,f 
ice of the same diameter, and stood over it to the height 
sometimes of eight inches and a half. 



THE WATER-SPOUT. 


603 


CHAP. LXVII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VARIOUS PHENOMENA, OR 

appearances in nature. — (Continued.) 

Water Spout—Fata Morgana—Fairy Rings—Sheet oj Phos¬ 
phoric Fire—Phosphorus 

-Every object of creation 

Can furnish hints to contemplation. Gay. 

Water S pout. —This extraordinary meteor is most fre¬ 
quently observed at sea. It generally begins by a cloud, 
which appears very small, and which is called, by sailors, 
the Squall. This augments in a little time into an enormous 
cloud of a cylindrical form, or that of a cone on its apex, and 
produces a noise like the roaring of an agitated sea, some¬ 
times accompanied with thunder and lightning, and also large 
quantities of rain or hail, sufficient to inundate large vessels; 
and to carry away in their course, (when they occur by land,) 
trees, houses, and every thing that opposes their impetuosity. 
Sailors, dreading the fatal consequences of water-spouts, 
endeavour to dissipate them by firing a cannon into them just 
before they approach the ship. We shall give an account of 
one, as described by M. Tournefort, in his Voyage to the 
Levant. 

“ The first of these (says this traveller) that we saw, was 
about a musket-shot from our ship. There we perceived the 
water begin to boil, and to rise about a foot above its level. 
The water was agitated, and whitish; and above its surface 
there seemed to stand a smoke, such as might be imagined to 
come from wet straw before it begins to blaze. It made 
a sort of a murmuring sound, like that of a torrent heard at 
a distance, mixed, at the same time, with a hissing noise, like 
that of a serpent: shortly after we perceived a column of this 
smoke rise up to the clouds, at the same time whirling about 
with great rapidity. It appeared to be as thick as one’s 
finger; and the former sound still continued. When this disap¬ 
peared, after lasting for about eight minutes, upon turning to 
the opposite quarter of the sky, we perceived another, which 
began in the manner of the former; presently after, a third 
appeared in the west; and instantly beside it, still another 
arose. The most distant of these three could not be above 
a musket-shot from the ship. They all appeared like so 
many heaps of wet straw set on fire, and continued to 
smoke, and to make the same noise as before. We soon 



6*64 CURIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA 

after perceived each, with its respective canal, mounting up 
in the clouds; and spreading, where it touched the cloud, like 
the mouth of a trumpet; making a figure (to express it in¬ 
telligibly) as if the tail of an animal was pulled at one end by 
a weight. These canals were of a whitish colour, and so 
tinged, as I suppose, by the water which was contained in 
them ; for, previous to this, they were apparently empty, and 
of the colour of transparent glass. These canals were not 
straight, but bent in some parts, and far from being perpen¬ 
dicular, by rising in their clouds with a very inclined ascent. 

“ But what is very remarkable, the spouts crossed each other, 
in the form of a St. Andrew’s cross. In the beginning they 
were all about as thick as one’s finger, except at the top, 
where they were broader, and two of them disappeared ; but 
shortly after, the last of the three increased considerably, and 
its canal, which was at first so small, soon became as thick 
as a man’s arm, then as his leg, and at last thicker than his 
whole body. We saw distinctly, through this transparent 
body, the water, which rose up with a kind of spiral motion ; 
and it sometimes diminished a little of its thickness, and 
again resumed the same, sometimes widening at top, and 
sometimes at the bottom, exactly resembling a gut filled with 
water, pressed with the fingers to make the fluid rise or fall; 
and I am well convinced that this alteration in the spout was 
caused by the wind, which pressed the cloud, and compelled 
it to give up its contents. After some time its bulk was so 
diminished as to be no thicker than a man’s arm again, and 
thus swelling and diminishing, it at last became very small. 
In the end, I observed the sea which was raised about it to 
resume its level by degrees, and the end of the canal that 
touched it to become as small as if it had been tied round 
with a cord ; and this continued till the light, striking through 
the cloud, took away the view. I still, however, continued 
to look, expecting that its parts* would join again, as I had 
before seen in one of the others, in which the spout was more 
than once broken, and yet the parts again came together; but 
I was disappointed, for the spout appeared no more.” 

In the Philosophical Transactions, (volume xxii. and xxiii.) 
we have descriptions of several of these phenomena : their 
effects, in some instances, are probably much exaggerated. 
One at Topsham is said to have cut down an apple-tree, 
several inches in diameter: another, we are told, seemed to 
be produced by a concourse of winds, turning like a screw, 
the clouds dropping into it: it threw trees and branches 
about with a gyratory motion.—One in Deeping Fen, Lin¬ 
colnshire, was first seen moving across the land and water of 
the fen : it raised the dust, broke some gates, and destroyed 
a field of turnips : it vanished with an appearance of fire.— 



THE FATA MORGANA, 
As observed in the harbour of Messina. 



THE FATA MORGANA, 
As observed at Reggia 
























































































































































































WATER-SPOUT.-FATA MORGANA. 665 

Dr. Franklin supposes that a vacuum is made by the rotatory 
motion of the ascending air, as when water is running through 
a funnel, and that the water of the sea is thus raised. But 
Dr. Young says, no such cause could do more than produce 
a slight rarefaction of the air, much less raise the water to the 
height of thirty or forty feet, or more. 

Professor Wolke describes a water-spout, which passed 
immediately over the ship in which he was sailing, in the gulf 
of Finland : it appeared to be twenty-five feet in diameter, 
consisting of drops about the size of cherries. The sea was 
agitated round its base, through a space of about one hundred 
and thirty feet in diameter. One of the latest accounts of the 
phenomenon of a water-spout, is that read to the Royal Society 
in the year 1803, from a letter written to Sir Joseph Banks, 
by Captain Ricketts, of the royal navy. In the month of 
July, 1800, Captain Ricketts was called on deck, on account 
of the rapid approach of a water-spout, among the Lipari 
islands. It had the appearance of a viscid fluid, tapering in 
its descent, proceeding from the cloud to join the sea. It 
moved at the rate of about two miles an hour, with a loud 
sound of rain. It passed the stern of the ship, and wetted 
the afterpart of the main-sail: hence it was inferred, that 
water-spouts are not continuous columns of water; and sub¬ 
sequent observations confirmed the opinion. In November, 
1801, about twenty miles from Trieste, a w’ater-spout was 
seen eight miles to the south ; round its lower extremity w as a 
mist, about twelve feet high, somewhat in the form of an Ionian 
capital, with very large volutes, the spout resting obliquely 
on its crown. At some distance from this spout the sea began 
to be agitated, and a mist rose to the height of about four 
feet; then a projection descended from the black cloud that 
was impending, and met the ascending mist about twenty feet 
above the sea; the last ten yards of the distance were described 
with very great rapidity. A cloud of a light colour appeared 
to ascend in this spout, something like quicksilver in a tube. 
The first spout then snapped at about one-third of its height, 
the inferior part subsiding gradually, and the superior curling 
upwards. Several other projections from the cloud appeared, 
with corresponding agitations of the water below, but not 
alw'ays in spots vertically under them : seven spouts in all 
were formed ; two other projections being re-absorbed. Some 
of the spouts were not only oblique, but curved : the ascending 
cloud moved most rapidly in those which were vertical: they 
lasted from three to five minutes, and their dissipation was 
attended by no fall of rain. 

Fata Morgana. —This is a very remarkable aerial pheno¬ 
menon, which is sometimes observed from the harbour of 

4P 


066 CURIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. 

Messina, and adjacent places, at a certain height in the 
atmosphere. The name, which signifies the Fairy Morgana 
is derived from an opinion of the superstitious Sicilians, that 
the whole spectacle is produced by fairies, or such like vision¬ 
ary invisible beings. The populace are delighted whenever 
it appears; and run about the streets shouting for joy, calling 
every body out to partake of the glorious sight. This singular 
meteor has been described by various authors ; but the first 
who mentioned it with any degree of precision was Father 
Angelucci, whose account is thus quoted by Mr. Swinburne 
in his Tour through Sicily: ‘‘On the 15th of August, 1643, 
as I stood at my window, I was surprised with a most wonder¬ 
ful delectable vision. The sea that washe-s the Sicilian shore 
swelled up, and became, for ten miles in length, like a chain 
of dark mountains ; while the waters near our Calabrian coast 
grew quite smooth, and in an instant appeared as one clear 
polished mirror, reclining against the aforesaid ridge. On 
this glass was depicted, in chairo scuro , a string of several 
thousands of pilasters, all equal in altitude, distance, and 
degree of light and shade. In a moment they lost half their 
height, and bent into arcades, like Roman aqueducts. A 
long cornice was next formed on the top, and above it arose 
castles innumerable, all perfectly alike. These soon split 
into towers, which were shortly after lost in colonnades, then 
windows, and at last ended in pines, cypresses, and other trees, 
even and similar. This is the Fata Morgana, which for twenty- 
six years I had thought a mere fable.” To produce this 
pleasing deception, many circumstances must concur, which 
are not known to exist in any other situation. The spectator 
must stand with his back to the east, in some elevated place 
behind the city, that he may command a view of the whole 
bay ; beyond w hich the mountains of Messina rise like a wall, 
and darken the back ground of the picture. The winds must 
be hushed, the surface quite smoothed, the tide at its height, 
and the waters pressed up by currents to a great elevation in 
the middle of the channel. All these events coinciding, as 
soon as the sun surmounts the eastern hills behind Reggio, 
and rises high enough to form an angle of forty-five degrees 
on the water before the city, every object existing or moving 
at Reggio, will be repeated one thousand-fold upon this ma¬ 
rine looking-glass, which, by its tremulous motion, is as it 
were cut into facets. Each image will pass rapidly off in 
succession, as the day advances, and the stream carries down 
the wave on which it appeared. Thus the parts of this mov¬ 
ing picture will vanish in the twinkling of an eye. Sometimes 
the ai; is at that moment so impregnated with vapours, and 
undisturbed by winds, as to reflect objects in a kind of aerial 
screen, rising about thirty feet above the level of the sea. In 




















































































































































































































































































































































































, 














. 

















' 













































FATA MOR(> \ N A .—FAIRY RINGS. 667 

cloudy heavy weather, they are drawn on the suiface of the 
water, bordered with fine prismatical colours. 

To the above account we shall add the following, given by 
M. Houel, whose judgment and veracity render his authority 
highly respectable. 

“ In fine summer days, when the weather is calm, there 
rises above the great current a vapour, which acquires a cer¬ 
tain density, so as to form in the atmosphere horizontal prisms, 
whose sides are disposed in such a manner, that when they 
come to their proper degree of perfection, they reflect and 
represent successively, for some time, (like a moveable mirror,) 
the objects on the coast, or in the adjacent country. They 
exhibit by turns, the city and suburbs of Messina, trees, animals, 
men, and mountains. They are certainly beautiful aerial mov¬ 
ing pictures. There are sometimes tw 7 o or three prisms, equally 
perfect; and they continue in this state eight or ten minutes. 
After this, some shining inequalities are observed upon the 
surface of the prism, which render confused to the eye, 
the objects which had been before so accurately delineated, 
and the picture vanishes. The vapour forms other combina¬ 
tions, and is dispersed in the air. Different accounts have 
been given of this singular appearance ; which for my part I 
attribute to a bitumen that issues from certain rocks at the 
bottom of the sea, and which is often seen to cover a part of 
its surface in the canal of Messina. The subtile parts of this 
bitumen being attenuated, combined, and exhaled with the 
aqueous globules that are raised by the air, and formed into 
bodies of vapour, give to this condensed vapour more consist¬ 
ence; and contribute, by their smooth and polished particles, 
to the formation of a kind of aerial crystal, which receives the 
light, reflects it to the eye, and transmits to it all the luminous 
points which colour the objects exhibited in this phenomenon, 
and render them visible.” 

Fairy Rings, —are circles of dark green grass frequently 
observed in old pastures ; they have long been knowrn under 
the name of fairy rings, and have generally been supposed to 
be occasioned, in some way or other, by electricity. Dr. Wol¬ 
laston has, in a late volume of the Transactions of the Royal 
Society, given a new and very ingenious theory, of which 
we shall present our readers with a brief account, premising, 
that Mr. Davy, in the course of his lectures at the Royal In¬ 
stitution, had occasion to refer to the subject, and seemed to 
coincide in opinion with Dr. Wollaston. That which first 
attracted his notice was the position of certain fungi, which 
are always foi nd growing upon these circles, if examined in 
a proper season. The position of these fungi led him to ima¬ 
gine that the progressive increase from a central point wa3 


% 


t)68 CURIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. 

the probable mode of formation of the ring: hence he con* 
: ectured that the soil,, which had once contributed to the 
support of the fungi, might be so exhausted of some peculiar 
pabulum necessary for their production, as to be rendered 
incapable of pro-ducing a second crop. The second year’s 
crop would, if this theory be just, appear in a small ring sur¬ 
rounding the original centre of vegetation; and at every 
succeeding year the defect of nutriment on one side, would 
necessarily cause the new roots to extend themselves solely 
in the opposite direction, and would occasion the circle of 
fungi continually to proceed, by an annual enlargement, from 
the centre outwards. An appearance of luxuriance of the 
grass would follow as a natural consequence, as the soil of an 
interior circle would always be enriched, by the decayed roots 
of fungi of the year’s growth. This theory is supported by 
some observations of Dr. Withering ; and Dr. Wollaston says, 
by way of confirmation, that whenever two adjacent circles 
are found to interfere, they not only do not cross each other, 
but both circles are invariably obliterated between the points 
of contact: the exhaustion occasioned bv each obstructs the 

mJ 

progress of the other, and both are starved.—Philosophical 
Transactions, 1807, Part II. 

Though it cannot be doubted that most fairy rings, if not 
all of them, have considerable relation to the running of a 
fungus ; there, nevertheless, seems reason to conclude that 
electricity may likewise be concerned in their production. 
The electrical effect may relate to fairy rings of a different 
kind from those occasioned by the fungus, or it may have 
been antecedent to the production of the vegetable. It is 
a familiar effect in our experiments, that the spark proceeding 
from a positive conductor, breaks or radiates at about one- 
third of its course, and strikes the receiving conductor by 
a central spark surrounded by other smaller ones. The con¬ 
centric rings produced upon polished metallic surfaces by the 
strong explosion of a battery, as first observed by Dr. Priest¬ 
ley, appears to be a fact of the same kind ; and the forked 
radiations of lightning are well known. There is related, in 
the Philosophical Journal, volume I. 4to, some events which 
happened in Kensington Gardens in June, 1781, when a 
powerful thunder-storm passed over the western extremity of 
London. The explosions were very marked and distinct, 
and in many instances forked at the lower end, but never at 
the top ; from which it seems proper to conclude, that the 
general mass of clouds, or, at least, that extremity which 
passed over London, was in the state called positive. 

Five days afterwards, upon visiting Kensington Gardens, it 
was observed, that every part of that extensive piece of grounc 4 
shewed marks of the agency of the lightning, chiefly by dis 


PHOSPHORIC FIRE. 


669 


coloration of the grass in zigzag streaks, some of which were 
fifty or sixty yards in length. Instances of this superficial 
course of the lightning along the ground, before it enters the 
earth, are sufficiently frequent. But the circumstance appli¬ 
cable to our present subject is, that several trees had been struck 
by the lightning. Two of them, which stood on the outside to 
the westward, had holes torn in the ground, close to the trunk ; 
and round one of these trees was a space of six feet in 
diameter, in which the grass was very much scorched. 
Another tree on the west was surrounded by a faint ring of 
burnt or faded grass, which seemed to be occasioned by some 
earlier stroke, as the vegetation had begun to shoot up again. 
Another tree, standing on the out side to the south, was sur¬ 
rounded by a ring of twelve feet diameter, and eighteen 
inches broad. Within the ring the grass was fresh; but on 
the surface of the ri'ng, the grass and the ground were much 
burned. To the eastward of the tree, upon the ring itself, 
were two holes, in which the ground had the appearance of 
ashes. Another tree, on the east side of the grove, had the 
half of a faint ring to the westward. And, lastly, a tree which 
stood in the middle was surrounded by a faint ring of twelve 
feet diameter, within which the grass was unhurt; and to the 
westward, at the distance of about three feet from the inner 
ring, was part of another similar ring, of nearly the same 
appearance ; the verdure being unhurt in the interval between 
the rings. 

A Sheet of Phosphoric Fire. —A curious instance of 
this occurred to Monsieur Peron, in his voyage from Europe 
to the Isle of France. Between three and four degrees north 
latitude, during the obscurity of a night intensely dark, the 
wind blowing a hurricane, and the vessel making a rapid 
progress, he was struck by the sudden appearance of a vast 
sheet of phosphoric fire, floating before the ship, and cover¬ 
ing a considerable space. The vessel presently made its way 
through this inflamed part of the sea, which enabled the 
observant navigator to discover that this prodigious light was 
occasioned entirely by an immense number of small animal¬ 
cules, which swam at different depths, and appeared to assume 
various forms. Those which were most immersed in the 
water, looked like great red-hot cannon balls : whilst those 
on the surface resembled cylinders of red-hot iron. Some of 
them were soon caught, and found to vary in size, from 
three to seven inches. All the outside surface of the ani¬ 
mal was bristled with thick oblong tubercles, shining like 
so many diamonds; and these seemed to be the principal 
seat of its wmnderful phosphorescence. The inside, also, 
appeared furnished with a multitude of little, narrow, oblong 


670 CURIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. 

glands, which possessed the phosphoric virtue in a high 
degree. 

When in a tranquil state, the colour of these brilliant 
inhabitants of the ocean is an opal yellow, mixed with green; 
but, on the slightest movement of those voluntary contrac¬ 
tions exercised by the creature, or those which the observer 
can at pleasure excite by the least irritation, the animal seems 
to inflame, and it becomes instantly like a piece of red-hot 
iron of the most vivid brilliancy. When its phosphorescency 
declines, it assumes a succession of light elegant tints, that 
are very pleasing to the eye, such as red, aurora, orange, 
green, and azure blue; the last is particularly lively and 
pure. The organization of this animal, which is called the 
Pyrosoma Atlanticum, ranks it amongst the most singular 
of the zoophite tribe ; whilst its extraordinary phosphoric 
powers render it the most beautiful that has yet been 
seen. 

It may be not amiss to conclude this chapter with an 
account of that very curious substance, Phosphorus.— This 
singular production was' accidentally discovered, in 1677, by 
an alchymist of Hamburgh, named Brandt, when he was en¬ 
gaged in searching for the philosopher's stone. Kunkel, 
another chemist, who had seen the new product, associated 
himself with one of his friends, named Krafft, to purchase the 
secret of its preparation ; but the latter deceiving his friend, 
made the purchase for himself, and refused to communicate 
it. Kunkel, who at this time knew nothing further of its 
preparation, than that it was obtained by certain processes 
from urine, undertook the task, and succeeded. It is on this 
account that the substance long went under the name of 
Kunkel’s phosphorus. Mr. Boyle is also considered as one 
of the discoverers of phosphorus. He communicated the 
secret of the process for preparing it, to the Royal Society of 
London, in 1680. It is asserted, indeed, by Krafft, that he 
discovered the secret to Mr. Boyle, having, in the year 1678, 
carried a small piece of it to London, to shew it to the royal 
family; but there is little probability that a man of such 
integrity as Mr. Boyle would claim the discovery of the pro¬ 
cess as his own, and communicate it to the Royal Society, if 
this had not been the case. Mr. Boyle communicated the 
process to Godfrey Hankwitz, an apothecary of London, who 
ior many years supplied Europe with phosphorus, and hence 
it went under the name of English Phosphorus. In the year 
1774, the Swedish chemists, Gahn and Scheele, made the 
important discovery, that phosphorus is contained in the 
bones of animals; and they improved the processes for pro¬ 
curing it. 


PHOSPHORUS.-SPOTS IN THE SUN. 


671 


When phosphorus is heated to the temperature of 148°, il 
takes fire, burns with a bright flame, and gives out a great 
quantity of white smoke. Phosphorus enters into combi¬ 
nation with oxygen, azote, hydrogen, and carbon. Phosphorus 
is soluble in oils, and, when thus dissolved, forms what has 
been called liquid phosphorus, which may be rubbed on the 
face and hands without injury. It dissolves too in ether; and 
a very beautiful experiment consists in pouring this phos¬ 
phoric ether in small portions, and in a dark place, on the 
surface of hot water. The phosphoric matche-s consist of 
phosphorus extremely dry, minutely divided, and perhaps 
a little oxygenized. The simplest mode of making them, is to 
put a little phosphorus, dried by blotting paper, into a small 
phial; heat the phial, and when the phosphorus is melted, 
turn it round, so that the phosphorus may adhere to the sides. 
Cork the phial closely, and it is prepared. On putting a 
common sulphur match into the bottle, and stirring it about, 
the phosphorus will adhere to the match, and will take fire 
when brought out into the air. 


CHAP. LXVIII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VARIOUS PHENOMENA, OR 

appearances in nature — (Continued.) 

Spots in the Sun—Diminution of the Sun — Parhelia , or Mock 
Suns — Eclipses — Halo, or Corona ; and similar Appearances — 
Falling or Shooting Star—Volcanoes in the Moon. 

Hail, sacred source of inexhausted light! 

Prodigious instance of creating might! 

His distance man’s imagination foils; 

Numbers will scarce avail to count the miles. 

His globose body how immensely great! 

How fierce his burnings! how intense his heat! 

As swift as thought, he darts his radiance round 
To distant worlds, his system’s utmost bound; 

Of all the planets the directing soul, 

That heightens and invigorates the whole. Brown . 

Spots in the Sun.—The following account of the spots 
4 ii the sun is taken from a French paper. 

“ The spots were seen for the first time in 1611 ; and nearly 
about the same time by J. Fabricius, at Wittenberg, by the 
Jesuit Scheiner, and by Galileo. This great man watched 
their course with so much attention, and so well developed 
their phenomena, that very little has been since added to the 


£72 CURIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. 

descriptions which he gave, except more precise measures 
The spots of the sun are at present viewed with astronomical 
telescopes, in which the great brilliancy of that luminary is 
mitigated, and not effaced, by the coloured glass placed be¬ 
tween the telescope and the eye. There are in the interior of 
the telescope, at the focus of the object, some very fine threads 
stretched crosswise, and moveable parallel to each other, by 
means of which the distance of the spot from the nearest border 
of the sun’s disk may be ascertained, which determines its 
position on the disk at the moment of observation. By fol¬ 
lowing in this manner the same spot for several days, it is 
perceived to change its place. Its size also varies much. The 
spots sometimes grow thinner, and disperse from one day to 
another: and hence it is, that, though in one month rather a 
large number was visible, in the following only two are to be 
seen. But during the whole time of their presence they pur¬ 
sue a regular course, of which the aspects are common to 
all. 

“ When they first come in sight, they appear on the sun’* 
border, like a slender thread. In proportion as they advance 
towards the middle of the disk, they appear, from day to day, 
to enlarge in the direction of their movement. They then de¬ 
crease periodically; and if they last long enough to traverse 
the whole disk, they go off by the opposite side, narrowing to 
a single thread. These appearances are evidently such as a 
small body, adhering to a spherical surface, and revolving 
with or upon that surface, must present. The diminution of 
the spots, in proportion as they approximate the borders of 
the disk, results from this—that they then project more 
obliquely, and are only seen sidewise ; but when in the middle 
of the disk, they are seen in their full extent. In fine, upon 
comparing the direction and rapidity of their course, it soon 
becomes evident, that the supposition of their adhering to the 
body of the sun is the only admissible one. On thus tracing 
the route of all those which appear, it is ascertained that they 
move in courses exactly parallel, describing circles which all 
have their centre on a common axis, passing through the 
centre of the sun. The size of these circles varies on different 
points of the disk, according to the same laws as on a sphere; 
and the rate of movement is modified in such a way, that all 
the circles are run through in equal times. This perfect con¬ 
cordance of revolution in spots so changeable in other respects, 
evidently shews that they must be attached to one and the 
same round body, which makes them revolve altogether with a 
common motion. Hence it has been concluded, that the 
sun revolves upon itself with the general motion of these 
spots, that is, in twenty-five days and a half, in like manner 
as our earth revolves in twenty-four hours. T L e same calcu* 


























































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PARHELIA, OR MOCK SUN. 



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THE IGNIS EATUUS, 
Will-with-a-Wisp, or Jack-with-a-Lantern. 







































































DIMINUTION OF THE SUN.-PARHELIA. 673 

Nation, applied to the spots which have been discovered on the 
other planets, has in like manner made us acquainted with 
their rotation. 

“ As to the nature of these solar spots, it is absolutely un¬ 
known. Herschel is of opinion, that luminous clouds float 
in the inflamed atmosphere of this luminary, as clouds of 
vapour float in ours. He supposes that the body of the sun 
i3 opaque and dark ; and that the black spots observed there 
at intervals, are merely the summits of very elevated moun¬ 
tains, which the solar clouds permit us to see between their 
openings. Other astronomers think that the globe of the sun 
is on fire, and that the spots are merely immense scoria, 
launched on the surface of that mass by some terrible explo¬ 
sions, of which our terrestrial volcanoes afford but a feeble 
picture. But whatever may be thought of these conjectures, 
it seems sufficient for us to know, that the solar spots are 
trifling compared with the immense mass of that body ; and 
that the eruptions, of which they are perhaps the effect, take 
place at too great a distance from our earth to produce the 
least effect upon it. Generally speaking, the physical state 
of our little world is incomparably more stable and steady 
than its moral state.” 

Diminution of the Sun. —Baron Lindeneau, who re¬ 
cently published a work on the diminution of the solar mass 
says, that the sun may have been imperceptibly subject to 
successive diminution since the science of astronomy has been 
cultivated. Baron Lindeneau supposes the sun’s diameter to 
be 800,000 miles, 4,204,000,000 feet, or nearly 2000 seconds. 
We have not, he observes, hitherto possessed any instrument 
for measuring the diameter of the heavenly bodies to a 
second. The sun may therefore diminish 12,000 of its dia¬ 
meter, or 2,102,000 feet, without the possibility of being per¬ 
ceived. Supposing the sun to diminish daily two feet, it 
would require three thousand years to render the diminution 
of a second of its diameter visible. 

Account of those singular Appearances, called, Parhelia 
or Mock Suns.— 

As when two suns appear in th’ azure sky, 

Mounted in Phoebus’ chariot lierie bright: 

Both darting forth fair beams to each man’s eye; 

And both adorn’d with lamps of flaming light, 

All that behold such strange prodigious sight. 

Not knowing nature’s work, nor what to weene, 

Are wrapt with wonder, and with rare affrighte. Spenser. 

A Parhelion is a meteor in form of a bright light, appearing 
on one side of the sun. Phenomena of this kind have been 
mentioned both by the ancients and moderns Aristotle 

4 O 


674 


CURIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. 


observes, that in general they are seen only when the sun is 
near the horizon, though he takes notice of two that were 
seen in Bosphorus from morning till evening; and Pliny has 
related the times when such phenomena were observed at 
Rome. Gassendi says, that in 1635-1636 he often saw one 
mock sun. Two were observed by M. de la Hire in 1689 ; 
and the same number by Cassini in 1693; by Mr. Grey in 1700, 
and by Dr. Halley in 1702 ; but the most celebrated phenomena 
of this kind were seen at Rome by Scheiner; by Muschen- 
broek at Utrecht; and by Hevelius at Ledan. By the two 
former, four mock suns were observed ; and by the latter, 
seven. Parhelia are apparently of the same size with the 
sun, though not always of the same brightness, nor even of 
the same shape; and when a number appear at once, there is 
some difference in both respects among them. Externally 
they are tinged with colours like the rainbow ; and many 
have a long fiery tail opposite the sun, but paler towards the 
extremity. Parhelia are generally accompanied with coronas, 
some of which are tinged with rainbow colours, but others 
are white. (See Halo.) They differ in number and size ; but 
all agree in breadth, which is that of the apparent diameter of 
the sun. A very large white circle, parallel to the horizon, 
generally passes through all the parhelia; and, if it were 
entire, it would go through the centre of the sun. Sometimes 
there are arcs of lesser circles concentric to this, touching 
those coloured circles which surround the sun. They are 
also tinged with colours, and contain other parhelia. Other 
circles are said to have been obliquely situated with lespect 
to all these. The order of the colours in these circles is the 
same as in the rainbow; but on the inside, with respect to 
the sun, they are red, as is also observed in many haloes. 
Parhelia have been visible for one, two, three, and four hours 
together; and in North America, they are said to continue 
some days, and to be visible from sunrise to sunset. When 
the parhelia disappear, it sometimes rains, or snow falls in 
the form of oblong spiculae, as Maraldi, Weidler, Krafft, and 
others, have observed; and because the air in North America 
abounds with such frozen spiculae, which are even visible to 
the eye, according to Ellis and Middleton, such particles 
have been thought to be the cause of all coronas and par¬ 
helia. 

Mr. Wales says, that at Churchill, in Hudson’s Bay, the 
rising of the sun is always preceded by two long streams of 
red light, one on each side, and about twenty decrees distant 
from him. These rise as the sun rises; and as they grow 
longer, they begin to bend towards each other, till they meet 
directly over the sun, just as he rises, forming there a par¬ 
helion, or mock sun. These two streams of light, he says, 


t 


PARHELIA, OR MOCK SUNS. 


67o 

seem to have their source in two other parhelia, which rise 
with the true sun; and in winter, when the sun never rises 
above the haze or fog, which he says is constantly seen near 
the horizon, all these accompany him the whole day, and set 
with him. Once or twice he saw a fourth parhelion, directly 
under the sun; but this is not common. These facts being 
constant, are very valuable, and may throw great light on the 
theory of these remarkable phenomena. Sometimes parhelia 
appear in a different manner; as when three suns have been 
seen in the same vertical circle, well defined, and touching 
one another. The true sun was in the middle, and the lowest 
touched the horizon, and they set one after the other. This 
appearance was seen by Maleziew, in 1722. Other appear¬ 
ances similar to this are recited by Mr. Muschenbroek. 
Sometimes the sun has risen or set with a luminous tail pro¬ 
jecting from him, of the same breadth with his diameter, and 
perpendicular to the horizon. Such an appearance was seen 
by Cassini in 1672 and 1692; by De la Hire in 1702; and by Mr. 
Ellis in Hudson’s Bay. As M. Feuilee was walking on the 
banks of the river La Plata, he saw the sun rising over the 
river, with a luminous tail projecting downwards, which con¬ 
tinued till he was six degrees high. Paraselse, or mock 
moons, have also been seen, accompanied with tails and 
coloured circles, like those which accompany the parhelia. 
An account of several, and a particular description of a fine 
appearance of this kind, may be seen in Muschenbroek. 

The following account of this phenomenon is extracted 
from a pamphlet, entitled, ‘ Somewhat written by occasion of 
Three Sunnes’ seene, at Tregorie, in Cornwall, the 22nd of 
December last; with other memorable occurrents in other 
places. Imprinted 1622: 20 pages small 4to.’ 

“ Since this strange apparition, namely, upon the 10th of 
January last, there happened in Devonshire, yet not farre from 
the other place, being on the edge of Cornwalle, another 
wonder, which, did as much affrighte the eares of men, as this 
did their eyes: for in the afternoone of that day, being the 
Thursday after Twelfth-day, there were heard in the aire un- 
usuall cracks or claps of thunder, resembling in all points the 
sound of many drums together, sometimes beating charges, 
sometimes retreats, sometimes marches, and all other points 
of warre: which, after it had continued a good time, it seemed 
that the same thunder did most lively expresse many volleyes 
of small-shot, and afterwards the like volleyes of ordnance, 
with so great and yet so distinct noyse, that many of them 
who dwelt neare the sea, went toward the shore to see what 
it might meane, as verily supposing there had beene seme 
sea fight neere upon that coast. These severall fearfull noyses 
were againe and againe renewed in the same orde-r, till at 


1776 CURIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. 

length with an horrible and extraordinary cracke of thunder, 
there fell in a ground of one Robert Pierce, where there were 
divers workemen planting apple-trees, (which ground lay neere 
the house of one Master George Chidley,) a thunder-bolt, if 
I may so call it, being a stone of three foot and an halfe in 
length, of two foot and an halfe in breadth, and one foot and an 
halfe in thicknesse, the substance whereof was in hardnesse and 
colour not much unlike a flint, as appeares by many pieces 
thereof, which are shewed up and downe by many credible and 
honest gentlemen, who, with their own hands, brake them off 
from the maine stone. After the fall of this stone, which with 
the weight thereof was cleane buried in the ground above a yard 
deepe, the thunder ceased, and people began as much to won- 
at that which they now saw, as they had lately done at that, 
which with so much feare and amazement they had heard.” 

mf 

Observations on Eclipses of the Sun and Moon.— 

Give me the ways of wandTing stars to know, 

The depths of heav’n above and earth below; 

Teach me the various labours of the Moon, 

And whence proceed th’ Eclipses of the Sun. Virg. Georg, ii 

The deprivation of the light of the sun, or some heavenly 
body, by the interposition of another heavenly body between 
our sight and it is, called an Eclipse. Thus, eclipses of the 
sun happen by the moon’s intervening between it and the 
earth ; by which means the shadow of the moon falls upon 
the earth, when the latitude of the moon does not prevent it, 
bv elevating her orb a ^ve, or depressing it below the earth. 
On the other hand, an eclipse of the moon can only happen 
when the earth is interposed between the sun and it; for then, 
if the latitude of the moon does not prevent it, the shadow of 
the earth may fall on the moon, and thereby cause either a 
partial, or total eclipse. A total eclipse of the sun or moon, 
is when their \vhole bodies are obscured ; and a partial one, is 
when part only of their bodies is darkened : again, a central 
eclipse is when it is not only total, but the eclipsed body 
passes through the centre of the shadow. 

As total solar eclipses are by no means common, we shall 
give an interesting description of one, by Dr. Stukeley, sent 
to his friend, the celebrated Dr. Edmund Halley. 

“ According to my promise, I send you what I observed of 
the solar eclipse, though I fear it will not be of any great use 
to you. I was not prepared with any instruments for measur¬ 
ing time or the like, and proposed to myself only to watch all 
the appearances that nature would present to the naked eye 
upon so remarkable an occasion, and which generally are 
overlooked, or but grossly regarded. I chose for my station 
a place called Haradon Hill, two miles eastward from Ams- 


ECLIPSES. 


6 77 

bury, and full east from the opening of Stonehenge avenue, 
to which it is as the point of view. Before me lay the vast 
plain where that celebrated work stands, and I knew that the 
eclipse would appear directly over it; besides, I had the ad¬ 
vantage of a very extensive prospect every way, this being the 
highest hill hereabouts, and nearest the middle of the shadow. 
Full west of me, and beyond Stonehenge, is a pretty copped 
hill, like the top of a cone, lifting itself above the horizon; 
this is Clay-hill, near Warminster, twenty miles distant, and 
near the central line of darkness, which must come from thence, 
so that Icould have notice enough beforehand of its approach. 
Abraham Sturgis and Stephen Ewens, both of this place, and 
sensible men, were with me. Though it was very cloudy, 
yet now and then we had gleams of sunshine, rather more 
than I could perceive at any other place around us. These 
two persons, looking through smoked glasses, while I was 
taking some bearings of the country with a circumferentor, 
both confidently affirmed the eclipse was begun, when, by my 
watch, I found it just half an hour after five; and accordingly 
from thence the progress of it was visible, and very often to 
the naked eye ; the thin clouds doing the office of glasses. 
From the time of the sun’s body being half covered, there 
was a very conspicuous circular iris round the sun, with per¬ 
fect colours. On all sides we beheld the shepherds hurrying 
their flocks into fold, the darkness coming on; for they ex¬ 
pected nothing less than a total eclipse for an hour and a 
quarter. 

‘"When the sun looked very sharp like anew moon, the 
sky was pretty clear in that spot; but soon after a thicker 
cloud covered it, at which time the iris vanished ; the copped 
hill before-mentioned grew very dark, together with the horizon 
on both sides, that is, to the north and south, and looked 
blue, just as it appears at the declension of day. We had 
scarcely time to tell them, when Salisbury steeple, six miles 
off southward,becamevery black; the copped hill was quitelost, 
and a most gloomy night with full career came upon us : at 
this instant we lost sight of the sun, whos^ place among the 
clouds was hitherto sufficiently distinguishable, but now not 
the least trace of it was to be found, any more than if really 
absent: then I saw by my watch, though with difficulty, and 
only by help of some light from the northern quarter, that it 
was six hours thirty-five minutes : just before this, the whole 
compass of the heavens and earth looked of a lurid complex¬ 
ion, properly speaking, for it was black and blue, only on the 
earth upon the horizon the blue prevailed; there was likewise 
in the heavens, among the clouds, much green interspersed, so 
that the whole appearance was really very dreadful, and as 
symptoms of sickening nature. 


67b Cl RIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. 

« Now I perceived we were involved in total and palpable 
darkness, as I may aptly call it; for though it came quickly, 
yet I was so intent, that I could perceive its steps, and feel it 
as it were drop upon us, and fall on the right shoulder (we look- 
ing westward) like a great dark mantle, or coverlet of a bed, 
thrown over us, or like the drawing of a curtain cn that 
side. The horses we held in our hands were very sensible of 
it, and crowded close to us, startling with great surprise ; and 
as much as I could see of the men’s faces that stood by me, 
they had a horrible aspect. At this instant I looked around 
me, not without exclamations of admiration, and could dis¬ 
cern colours in the heavens, but the earth had lost its blue, 
and waswholly black. For some time, among the clouds, there 
were visible streaks of rays, tending to the place of the sun as 
their centre; but immediately after, the whole appearance of 
earth and sky was entirely black : of all things I ever saw in 
my life, or can by imagination fancy, it was a sight the most 
tremendous. 

“ Towards the north-west, whence the eclipse came, I could 
not in the least find any distinction in the horizon between 
heaven and earth, for a good breadth of about sixty degrees, 
or more ; nor the town of Amsbury underneath us, nor scarcely 
the ground we trod on. I turned myself round several times 
during this total darkness, and remarked at a good distance 
from the west on both sides, that is, to the north and south, the 
horizon very perfectly ; the earth being black, the lower parts of 
the heavens light; for the darkness above hung over us like a 
canopy, almost reaching the horizon in those parts, or as if made 
with skirts of a lighter colour; so that the upper edges of all the 
hills were as a black line, and I knew them very distinctly by 
their shape or profile; and northward, I saw perfectly, that 
the interval of light and darkness in the horizon was between 
Martinsal-hill and St. Ann’s-hill; but southward it was more 
indefinite. I do not mean that the verge of the shadow passed 
between those hills, which were but twelve miles distant from 
us ; but, so far I could distinguish the horizon ; beyond it 
not at all. The reason of it was this ; the elevation of ground 
I was upon gave me an opportunity of seeing the light of the 
heavens beyond the shadow; nevertheless, this verge of light 
looked of a dead yellowish, and greenish colour; it was 
broader to the north than south; but the southern was of a 
tawny colour : at this time behind us, or eastward toward 
London, it was dark too, where otherwise I could see the 
hills beyond Andover ; for the foremost end of the shadow 
was past thither; so that the whole horizon w T as now divided 
into four parts of unequal bulk, and degrees of light and dark; 
the part to the north-west broadest and blackest, to the south¬ 
west lightest and longest. All the change I could perceive 


ECLIPSES. 


079 

during the totality, was, that the horizon b} 1 degrees drew 
into two parts, light and dark: the northern hemisphere 
growing still longer, lighter, and broader; and the two oppo¬ 
site dark parts uniting into one, and swallowing up the southern 
enlightened part. 

“ As at the beginning the shade came feelingly upon our 
right shoulders, so now the light from the north, where it 
opened as it were ; though I could discern no defined light or 
shade upon the earth that way, which 1 earnestly watched 
for. yet it was manifestly by degrees, and with oscillation, 
going back a little, and quickly advancing further, till at 
length, upon the first lucid point appearing in the heavens, 
where the sun was, I could distinguish pretty plainly a rim 
of light running alongside of us a good while together, or 
sweeping by at our elbows from west to east. Just then, 
having reason to suppose the totality ended with us, I looked 
on my watch, and found it to be full three minutes and a 
half more. Now the hill-tops changed their black into blue 
again, and I could distinguish an horizon where the centre of 
darkness was before : the men cried out, they saw the copped- 
hill again, which they had eagerly looked for; but still it 
continued dark to the south-east, yet I cannot say that ever 
the horizon that way was undistinguishable. Immediately 
we heard the larks chirping, and singing very briskly, for joy 
of the restored luminary, after all things had been hushed 
into a most profound and universal silence. The heavens and 
earth now appeared exactly like morning before sunrise, of a 
greyish cast, but rather more blue interspersed ; and the earth, 
so far as the verge of the hill reached, was of a dark green, 
or russet colour. 

“ As soon as the sun emerged, the clouds grew thicker, and 
the light was very little amended for a minute or more, like a 
cloudy morning slowly advancing. After about the middle of 
the totality, and so after the emersion of the sun, we saw 
Venus very plainly, but no other star. Salisbury steeple now 
appeared; but the clouds never removing, we could take no 
account of it afterwards ; but in the evening it lightened very 
much. I hastened home to write this letter, and the impres¬ 
sion was so vivid upon my mind, that I am sure, I could for 
some days after have written the same account of it, and very 
precisely. After supper I made a drawing of it from my 
imagination, upon the same paper on which I had taken a 
prospect of the country before. 

“ I must confess to you, that I was (I believe) the only 
person in England, that regretted not the cloudiness of the 
day, which added so much to the solemnity of the sight, and 
which incomparably exceeded, in my apprehension, that of 
1715 which 1 saw very perfectly from the top of Boston 


680 CURIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. 

steeple, in Lincolnshire, where the air was very clear; but 
the night of this was more complete and dreadful: there, 
indeed, I saw both sides of the shadow come from a great 
distance, and pass beyond us to a considerable extent; but 
this eclipse had much more of variety and majestic terror; so 
that I cannot but felicitate myself upon the opportunity of 
seeing these two rare accidents of nature, in so different a 
manner. Yet I should willingly have lost this pleasure, for 
your more valuable advantage of perfecting the noble theory 
of the celestial bodies, which, last time, you gave the world 
so nice a calculation of; and I wish the sky had now as 
much favoured us for an addition to your honour and 
great skill, which I doubt not to be as exact in this as 
before.” 

We now proceed to describe The Halo, or Corona ; and 
similar Appearances. —An Halo is a luminous circle sur¬ 
rounding the sun, moon, planets, or fixed stars. Occasionally 
these circles are white, and sometimes they are coloured like the 
rainbow. Sometimes one only is visible, and at others several 
concentric halos appear at the same time. Mr. Huygens observed 
red next the sun, and a pale blue outwards. Sometimes they 
are red on the inside, and white on the outside. In France, 
one was observed in 1683, the middle of which was white ; 
after which followed a border of red, next to it was blue, then 
green, and the outermost circle was a bright red. In 1728, 
one was seen of a pale red outwardly, then followed yellow, 
and then green, terminated by a white. In Holland, M. Mus- 
chenbroek says, fifty may be seen in the day-time, almost 
every year; but they are difficult to be observed, except the 
eye be so situated, that not the body of the sun, but only the 
neighbouring parts of the heavens, can be seen. Mr. Mid¬ 
dleton says, that this phenomenon is very frequent in North 
America; for that there is generally one or two about the sun 
every week, and as many about the moon every month. 
Halos round the sun are very frequent in Russia. M. iEpinus 
says, that from the 23d of April, 1758, to the 20th of September, 
he himself had observed no less than twenty-six, and that 
he has sometimes seen twice as many in the same space of 
time. 

Similar, in some *espects, to the halo, was the remarkable 
appearance which M. Bouguer describes, as observed on the 
top of Mount Pichinca, in the Cordilleras. When the sun 
was just rising behind them, so as to appear white, each of 
•hem saw his own shadow projected upon it, and no other. 
The distance was such, that all the parts of the shadow were 
easily distinguishable, as the arms, the legs, and the head ; but 
what surprised them most was, that the head was adorned '•’ith 








FALLING OR SHOOTING STARS. 

The engraving represents an extraordinary shower of these remarkable meteors, which took place 
a* the Falls of Niagara. The view comprises the entire falls, with Goat Island in the centre. 



COMMENCEMENT OF THE SOUTH-WEST MONSOON IN INDIA. 










































































































HALO.— FALLING OR SHOOTING STAR. 681 

a kind of glory, consisting of three or four small concentric 
crowns, of a very lively colour, each exhibiting all the varieties 
of the primary rainbow, and having the circle of red on the 
outside. The intervals between these circles continued equal, 
though the diameters of them all were constantly changing. 
The last of them was very faint; and at a considerable dis¬ 
tance was another great white circle, which surounded the 
whole. This phenomenon never appeared but in a cloud con¬ 
sisting of frozen particles, and never in drops of rain like the 
rainbow. When the sun was not in the horizon, only part oi 
the white circle was visible, as M. Bouquer frequently ob¬ 
served afterwards. Similar to this curious appearance, was 
one seen by Dr. M'Fait in Scotland; who observed a rainbow 
round his shadow in the mist, when he was upon an eminence 
above it. In this situation the whole country round seemed 
buried under a vast deluge, and nothing but the tops of dis¬ 
tant hills appeared here and there above the flood. In those 
upper regions, the air, he says, is at that time very pure and 
agreeable. At another time he observed a double range of 
colours round his shadow. The colours of the outermost 
range were broad and very distinct, and every where about 
two feet distant from the shadow. Then there was a darkish 
interval, and after that another narrower range of colours, 
closely surrounding the shadow, which was very much con¬ 
tracted. He thinks that these ranges of colours are caused by 
the inflection of the rays of light, the same that occasions 
the ring of light which surrounds the shadow of all bodies, 
observed bv M. Maraldi, and others. 

We next proceed to the phenomenon generally called 
Falling or Shooting Star. —This is a luminous meteor, 
darting rapidly through the air, and resembling a star falling 
from the heavens. The explication of this phenomenon had 
puzzled all philosophers, till the modern discoveries in elec¬ 
tricity led to the most probable account of it. Signior 
Beccari makes it pretty evident, that it is an electrical 
appearance, and recites the following fact in proof of his 
opinion. About an hour after sunset, he, and some friends 
that were with him, observed a falling star directing its course 
towards them, and apparently growing larger and larger, but 
it disappeared not far from them. When it vanished, it left their 
faces, hands, and clothes, with the earth, and all the neigh¬ 
bouring objects, suddenly illuminated with a diffused and 
lambent light, but not attended with any noise. During their 
surprise at this appearance, a servant informed them, that he 
had seen a light shine suddenly in the garden, and especially 
upon the streams which he was throwing to water it. All 
these appearances were evidently electrical; and Beccari was 

4 R 


(582 CURIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. 

confirmed in his conjecture, that electricity was the cause of 
them, by the quantity of electric matter which he had seen 
gradually advancing towards a kite he had elevated, which 
had very much the appearance of a falling star. Sometimes, 
also, he saw a kind of glory round the kite, which followed 
it when it changed its place, but left some light, for a small 
space of time, in the place it had quitted. 

Captain Bagnold says, whilst passing through the straits of 
Bahama, in the autumn of 1799, he witnessed the following 
singular atmospheric phenomenon. 

“ It was a fine star-light morning, about two o’clock, the 
atmosphere remarkably clear, with a light air from the north¬ 
east; the sky to windward, from north-north-east to south- 
south-east, was illuminated by a profusion of those meteors, 
vulgarly denominated falling stars, but of a description far 
more vivid than those usually seen in the higher latitudes; 
the head of each was an oblong ignited mass, followed by a 
long luminous tail, which, after three or four seconds, gradu¬ 
ally vanished. They were formed, to all appearance, in the 
air, at an elevation of from thirty-five to sixty-four degrees, 
none being observed in the zenith, and few to commence 
nearer the horizon than the first-mentioned angles. At the 
mean of these elevations, the greatest numbers were seen 
darting in different directions, forming portions of a large 
curve, all slightly inclined to the horizon. Multitudes were 
constantly visible at the same moment, and they succeeded 
each other so rapidly, that the eye of the spectator was kept 
in motion between the above points of the compass. In 
about ten minutes they became less frequent, and at length 
ceased altogether. 

_ o 

“ The apparent distance of this phenomenon would, by a 
seaman, be estimated at fifteen or twenty miles; and if it 
really was what I have always considered it, namely, a 
nocturnal shower of meteoric stones, it was perhaps fortunate 
for all on board, that we were not within the sphere of its 
action: whatever it was, never shall I forget the splendour 
of the spectacle.”—See Humboldt's Personal Narrative, volume 
III. page 331, 335. 

We close this chapter with An Account of Three Vol 
canoes in the Moon ; by Dr. Herschel. 

“ It will be necessary to say a few words by way of intro¬ 
duction to the account I have to give of some appearances 
upon the moon. The phenomena of nature, especially those 
that fall under the inspection of the astronomer, are to be 
viewed, not only with the usual attention to facts as they 
occur, but with the eye of reason and experience. In this we 
are however, not allowed to depart from plain appearances 


THREE VOLCANOES IN THE MOON. 


683 


though taeir origin and significatior. should be indicated by 
the rtiost characterizing features. Thus, when we see on the 
surface of the moon a great number of elevations, from half 
a mile tc a mile and a half in height, we are strictly entitled 
to call them mountains ; but when we attend to their parti¬ 
cular shape, in which many of them resemble the craters of 
our volcanoes, and thence argue that they owe their origin 
to the same cause which has modelled many of these, w'e may 
be said to see by analogy, or with the eye of reason. Now, 
in this latter case, though it may be convenient, in speaking 
of phenomena, to use expressions that can only be justified 
by reasoning upon the facts themselves, it will certainly be the 
safest way not to neglect a full description of them, that it 
may appear to others how far we have been authorized to use 
the mental eye. This being premised, I may safely proceed 
to give my observations. 

“ April 19th, 1787, lOh. 36', sidereal time. I perceive three 
volcanoes in different places of the dark part of the new 
moon. Two of them are either already nearly extinct, or 
otherwise in a state of going to break out; which, perhaps, 
may be decided next lunation. The third shews an actual 
eruption of fire, or luminous matter. I measured the dis¬ 
tance of the crater from the northern limb of the moon, and 
found it 3' 57".3. Its light is much brighter than the nucleus 
of the comet which M. Mechain discovered at Paris the 10th 
of this month.—April 20th, 1787, lOh. 2', sidereal time: The 
volcano burns with greater violence than last night. I be¬ 
lieve its diameter cannot be less than 3", by comparing it with 
that of the Georgian planet: as Jupiter was near at hand, 
I turned the telescope to his third satellite, and estimated 
the diameter of the burning part of the volcano to be equal 
to at least twice that of the satellite. Hence we may com¬ 
pute that the shining or burning matter must be above 
three miles in diameter. It is of an irregular round figure, 
and very sharply defined on the edges. The other two vol¬ 
canoes are much farther towards the centre of the moon, and 
resemble large pretty faint nebulae, that are gradually much 
brighter in the middle; but no well-defined luminous spot can 
be discerned in them. These three spots are plainly to be 
distinguished from the rest of the marks upon the moon ; for 
the reflection of the sun’s rays from the earth is, in its pre¬ 
sent situation, sufficiently bright, with a ten-feet reflector, to 
shew the moon’s spots, even the darkest of them; nor did 
I perceive any similar phenomena last lunation, though 1 
then viewed the same places with the same instrument. 

“ The appearance of what I have called the actual fire, or 
eruption of a volcano, exactly resembled a small piece of 
burning charcoal, when it is covered by a very thin coat of 


H84 CURIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. 

white as.ies, which frequently adhere to it after it has been 
some time ignited; and it had a degree of brightness about 
as strong as that with which such a coal would be seen to 
glow in faint daylight. All the adjacent parts of the vol¬ 
canic mountain seemed to be faintly illuminated by the 
eruption, and were gradually more obscure as they lay at 
a greater distance from the crater. 

“ This eruption resembled much that which I saw on the 
fourth of May, in the year 1783; an account of which, with 
many remarkable particulars relating to volcanic mountains 
in the moon, I shall take an early opportunity of communi¬ 
cating to the Royal Society. It differed, however, consider¬ 
ably in magnitude and brightness; for the volcano of the 
year 1783, though much brighter than that which is now 
burning, was not near so large in the dimensions of its 
eruption; the former seen in the telescope resembled a star 
of the fourth magnitude, as it appears to the natural eye: 
this, on the contrary, shews a visible disk of luminous 
matter, very different from the sparkling brightness of star¬ 
light.” 


—*►•©•««*- 
CHAP. LXIX. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING VARIOUS PHENOMENA, OB 

appearances in nature .—( Concluded.) 

The Aurora Borealis. 

-Silent from the north 

A blaze of meteors shoots: ensweeping first 
The lower skies, they all at once converge 
High to the crown of heav’n, and all at once 
Relapsing quick, as quickly reascend, 

And mix and thwart, extinguish and renew, 

All ether coursing in a maze of light Thomson . 

The Aurora Borealis, sometimes called Streamers, is an 
extraordinary meteor, or luminous appearance, shewing itself 
in the night time in the northern part of the heavens; and 
most usually in frosty weather. It is generally of a reddish 
colour, inclining to yellow, and sends out frequent corrus- 
cations of pale light, which seem to rise from the horizon in 
a pyramidical undulating form,and shoot with great velocity up 
to the zenith. The Aurora Borealis appears frequently in form 
of an arch, chiefly in the spring and autumn, after a dry year. 
The arch is partly bright, partly'dark, but generally trans¬ 
parent: and the matter of which it consists, is also found to 
have no effect on rays of light which pass through it 




AURORA BOREALIS. 

This is an extraordinary appearance of the Aurora Borealis, observed by Contain Parry 

in his expedition to the Arctic regions. 


\ 



AURORA BOREALIS. 

This is an aspect of the Aurora Borealis sometimes observed in Scotland. The view embraces 
a portion of Loch Leven, with the island and the #astle in which the unfortunate Mary Queen 
of Scots was imprisoned. 




















































































































































*•> 


* 


AURORA BOREALIS 


685 


Dr. Hamilton observes, that he could plainly discern the 
smallest speck in the Pleiades through the density of those 
clouds which formed the Aurora Borealis in 1763, without the 
least diminution of its splendour, or increase of twinkling 

This kind of meteor, which is more uncommon as we ap¬ 
proach towards the equator, is almost constant during the 
long winter, and appears with the greatest lustre in the polar 
regions. In the Shetland isles, the “ Merry Dancers,” as the 
northern lights are there called, are the constant attendants 
of clear evenings, and afford great relief amidst the gloom of 
the long winter nights. They commonly appear at twilight, 
near the horizon, of a dun colour, approaching to yellow; they 
sometimes continue in that state for several hours, without 
any perceptible motion ; and sometimes they break out into 
streams of stronger light, spreading into columns, and altering 
slowly into ten thousand different shapes, and varying their 
colours from all the tints of yellow, to the most obscure russet. 
They often cover the whole hemisphere, and then exhibit the 
most brilliant appearance. Their motions at this time are 
most amazingly quick ; and they astonish the spectator with 
the rapid changes of their form. They break out in places 
where none were seen before, skimming briskly among the 
heavens, are suddenly extinguished, and are succeeded by a 
uniform dusky tract. This again is brilliantly illuminated in 
the same manner, and as suddenly left a dark space. In some 
nights, they assume the appearance of large columns, on one 
side of the deepest yellow, and on the other, gradually chang¬ 
ing, till it becomes undistinguished from the sky. They have 
generally a strong tremulous motion from one end to the other, 
and this continues till the whole vanishes. 

As for us, who see only the extremities of these northern 
phenomena, we can have but a faint idea of their splendour 
and motions. According to the state of the atmosphere, they 
differ in hue; and sometimes assuming the colour of blood, 
they make a dreadful appearance. The rustic sages who ob 
serve them, become prophetic, and terrify the spectators with 
alarms of war, pestilence, and famine. Nor, indeed, were 
these superstitious presages peculiar to the northern islands : 
appearances of a similar nature are of ancient date ; and they 
were distinguished by the appellations of “ phasmata,”“ trabes,” 
and “ balides,” according to their forms and colours. In old 
times they were either more rare, or less frequently noticed : 
they were supposed to portend great events, and the timid 
imagination formed of them aerial conflicts. 

In the northern latitudes of Sweden and Lapland, the 
Aurorae Boreales are not only singularly beautiful in their 
appearance, but they afford travellers, by their almost constant 
effulgence, a very beautiful light during the whole night. In 


CURIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA. 


686 

Hudson’s Bay tlic Aurora Borealis diffuses a variegated splen¬ 
dour, which is said to equal that of the full moon. In the north¬ 
eastern parts of Siberia, according to the description of Gmelin, 
these northern lights are observed to “ begin with single 
bright pillars, rising in the north, and almost at the same time 
in the north-east, which, gradually increasing, comprehend a 
large space of the heavens, rush about from place to place 
with incredible velocity, and, finally, almost cover the whole 
sky up to the zenith, and produce an appearance as if a vast 
tent were expanded in the heavens, glittering with gold, rubies, 
and sapphire. A more beautiful spectacle cannot be painted ; 
but whoever should see such a northern light for the first 
time, could not behold it without terror. For, however fine 
the illumination may be, it is attended, as I have learned from 
the relation of many persons, with such a hissing, crackling, 
and rushing noise through the air, as if the largest fire-works 
were played off. To describe what they then hear, they make 
use of the expression, ‘ The raging host is passing.’ The hunt¬ 
ers, who pursue the white and blue foxes in the confines of 
the Icy Sea, are often alarmed in their course by these 
northern lights. Their dogs are then so much frighetned, 
that they will not move, but lie obstinately on the ground, till 
the noise has passed. Commonly, clear and calm weather 
follows this kind of northern lights. This account has been 
confirmed by the uniform testimony of many, who have spent 
part of several years in these northern regions, and inhabited 
different countries from the Yenisei to the Lena; so that no 
doubt of its truth can remain. This seems, indeed, to be the 
real birth-place of the Aurora Borealis.” 

A person who resided seven years at Hudson’s Bay, con¬ 
firms M. Gmelin’s relation of the fine appearance and brilliant 
colours of the northern lights, and particularly of their rush¬ 
ing noise, which he affirms he has frequently heard, and he 
compares it to the sound produced by whirling round a stick 
swiftly at the end of a string. A similar noise has likewise 
been noticed in Sweden. Mr. Nairne also, being in North¬ 
ampton at the time when the northern lights were remarkably 
bright, is confident he heard a hissing or whizzing sound. 
Mr. Belknap, of Dover, in New Hampshire, North America, 
testifies to this fact. M. Cavallo says, that the cracking noise 
is distinctly audible, and that he has heard it more than once. 
Similar lights, called Aurorae Australes, have been long since 
observed towards the south pole, and their existence has been 
lately ascertained by Mr. Forster, who assures us, that in his 
voyage round the world with Captain Cook, he observed 
them in high southern latitudes, though attended with 
phenomena somewhat different from those which are seen 
here. 


AURORA BOREALIS 


687 

On Iebruary 17, 1773, in south latitude 58°, “ a beautiful 
phenomenon (lie says) was observed during the preceding 
night, which appeared again this and several following 
nights. It consisted of long columns of a clear white light, 
shooting up from the horizon to the eastward, almost to 
the zenith, and gradually spreading on the whole southern 
part of the sky. The columns were sometimes bent sideways 
at their upper extremities ; and though in most respects simi¬ 
lar to the northern lights (Aurora Borealis) of our hemisphere, 
yet they differed from them in being always of a whitish colour, 
whereas ours assume various tints, especially those of a fiery 
and purple hue. The sky was generally clear when they ap¬ 
peared, and the air sharp and cold, the thermometer standing 
at the freezing point.” 

The periods of the appearance of these northern lights are 
very inconstant. In some years they occur very frequently, 
and in others they are more rare ; and it has been observed, 
that they are more common about the time of the equinoxes 
than at other seasons of the year. Dr. Halley (see Philos. 
Trans. No. 347, p. 406,) has collected together several obser¬ 
vations, which form a kind of history of this phenomenon. 
After having particularly described the various circumstances 
which attended that observed by himself, and many others, in 
March, 1716, and which was singularly brilliant, he proceeds 
with informing us, that the first account of similar phenomena 
recorded in the English annals, is that of the appearance 
noticed January 30, 1560, and called. Burning Spears, bv 
the author of a book entitled, “ A Description of Meteors,” 
by W. F. D.D.; reprinted at London, in 1654 The next 
appearance of a like kind, recorded by Stow, occurred on 
October 7, 1564. In 1574, as Camden and Stow inform us, an 
Aurora Borealis was seen for two successive nights, viz. on the 
14th and 15th of November, with appearances similar to those 
observed in 1716, and which are now commonly noticed. 
The same phenomenon was twice seen in Brabant, in 1575, 
viz. on the 13th of February, and the 28th of September; and 
the circumstances attending it were described by Cornelius 
Gemma, who compares them to “ spears, fortified cities, and 
armies fighting in the air.” In the year 1580, M. Masline 
observed these phasmata, as he calls them, at Baknang, in 
the county of Wirtemberg, in Germany, no less than seven 
times in the space of twelve months; and again at several 
different times, in 1581. On September 2d, 1621, the same 
phenomenon was seen over all France ; and it was particularly 
described by Gassendus, in his “Physics,” who gave it the 
name of Aurora Borealis. Another was seen all over Ger¬ 
many, in November, 1623, and was described by Kepler. 
Since that time, for more than eighty years, we have no account 


688 


curiosities:—aurora borealis. 


of any such phenomenon, either at home or abroad. In 1707, 
Mr. Neve observed one of small continuance in Ireland ; and 
in the same year, a similar appearance was seen by Romer, at 
Copenhagen; and during an interval of eighteen months, in 
the years 1707 and 1708, this sort of light had been seen no 
less than five times. 

Hence it should seem, (says Dr. Halley,) that the air or 
earth, or both, are not at all times disposed to produce this 
phenomenon, though it is possible it may happen in the day¬ 
time, in bright moonshine, or in cloudy weather, and so pass 
unobserved. Dr. Halley further observes, that the Aurora 
Borealis of 1716, which he described, was visible from the 
west of Ireland to the confines of Russia, and to the east of 
Poland; extending at least near thirty degrees of longitude, and 
from about the fiftieth degree of north latitude, over almost 
all the north of Europe; and in all places at the same time, it 
exhibited appearances similar to those which he observed in 
London. He regrets, however, that he was unable to deter¬ 
mine its height, for want of contemporary observations at 
different places. 

Father Boscovich has determined the height of an Aurora 
Borealis, observed on the 16th of December, 1737, by the 
Marquis of Poleni, to have been eight hundred and twenty- 
five miles; and Mr. Bergman, from a mean of thirty compu¬ 
tations, makes the average height of the Aurora Borealis to be 
seventy-two Swedish, or (supposing a Swedish mile to be 
about six and a half English miles) four hundred and sixty- 
eight English miles. Euler supposes the height to be several 
th ousands of miles ; and Mairan also assigns to these pheno¬ 
mena a very elevated region, the far greater number of them 
being, according to him, about two hundred leagues above 
the surface of the earth. Dr. Blagden, speaking of the height 
of some fiery meteors, (Phil. Trans, vol. lxxiv. p. 227,) says, 
“ that the Aurora Borealis appears to occupy as high, if not a 
higher region, above the surface of the earth, as may be 
judged from the very distant countries to which it has been 
visible at the same time he adds, that “ the great accumula¬ 
tion of electric matter seems to lie beyond the verge of our 
atmosphere, as estimated by the cessation of twilight.” But 
as it is difficult to make such observations on this phenome¬ 
non as are sufficient to afford a just estimate of its altitude, 
they must be subject to considerable variation, and to mate¬ 
rial error. 

Dr. B1 agden informs us, that instances are recorded, in 
which the northern lights have been seen to join, and form 
luminous balls, darting about with great velocity, and even 
leaving a train behind them like the common fire-balls. This 
ingenious author, however, conjecturing that distinct regions 


galvanism. 


689 

tire allotted to the electrical phenomena of our atmosphere, 
assigns the appearance of fire-balls to that region which lies 
beyond the limits of our crepuscular atmosphere ; and a greater 
elevation above the earth, to that accumulation of electricity 
in a lighter and less condensed form, which produces the 
wonderfully diversified streams and coruscations of the Aurora 
Borealis. 


CHAP. LXX. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING GALVANISM. 

“Nature, exhaustles still, lias power to warm, 

And every change presents a novel charm.” 

Galvan i, a professor of anatomy in the university of Bo¬ 
logna, was one day making experiments on electricity. In 
his laboratory, near the machine, were some frogs that had 
been flayed ; the limbs of which became convulsed every time 
a spark was drawn from the apparatus. Galvani, surprised at 
this phenomenon, made it a subject of investigation, and dis¬ 
covered that metals, applied to the nerves and muscles of 
these animals, occasioned powerful and sudden contractions, 
when disposed in a certain manner. He gave the name of 
Animal Electricity to this order of new phenomena, from the 
analogy that he considered existing between these effects and 
those produced by electricity. 

The name. Animal Electricity, has been superseded, not¬ 
withstanding the great analogy that exists between the effects 
of electricity and of Galvanism, in favour of the latter term ; 
which is not only applicable to the generality of the pheno¬ 
mena, but likewise serves to perpetuate the memory of the 
discoverer. 

In order to give rise to galvanic effects, it is necessary to 
establish a communication between two points of one series 
of nervous and muscular organs. In this manner a circle is 
formed, one arch of which consists of the animal parts, ren¬ 
dered the subject of experiment, while the other arch is com¬ 
posed of exciting instruments, which generally consists of 
those animal parts called supporters; others, destined to 
establish a communication between the latter, are called con¬ 
ductors. To form a complete galvanic circle, take the thigh 
of a frog, deprived of its skin ; detach the crural nerve, as far 
as the knee; put it on a piece of zinc ; lay the muscles of the 
leg on a piece of silver; then finish the exciting arch, and 
complete the galvanic ciele by establishing a communication 

•is 




CURIOSITIES RESPECTING 


630 

by means of the two supporters, by iron or copper wire, 
pewter, or lead. The instant that the communicators touch 
the two supporters, a part of the animal arch formed by the 
two supporters will be convulsed. Although this disposition 
of the animal parts, and of galvanic instruments, be most 
favourable to the development of the phenomena, yet the 
composition of the animal and excitatory arch may be much 
varied. Thus contractions are obtained, by placing the two 
supporters under the nerve, and leaving the muscle out of the 
circle ; which proves that nerves essentially constitute the 
animal arch. 

It is not necessary for nerves to be entire, in order to pro¬ 
duce contractions. They take place whether the organs be 
tied or cut through, provided there exists a simple contiguity 
between the divided ends. This proves that we cannot strictly 
conclude what happens in muscular action, from that which 
takes place in galvanic phenomena; since, if a nerve be tied 
or divided, the muscles on which the energy is distributed lose 
the power of action. 

The cuticle is an obstacle to galvanic effects ; they are al¬ 
ways feebly manifested in parts covered by it. When it is 
moist, fine, and delicate, the effect is not entirely interrupted. 
Humboldt, after having detached the cuticle from the poste¬ 
rior part of the neck and back, by means of two blisters, 
applied plates of metal to the bare cutis, and, at the moment 
of establishing a communication, he experienced sharp prick¬ 
ings, accompanied with a serosanguinous discharge. 

If a plate of zinc be placed under the tongue, and a flat 
piece of silver on its superior surface, on making them touch 
each other, an acerb taste will be perceived, accomnanied 
with a slight trembling. 

The exciting arch may be constructed with two or three 
metals, or even one metal only; with alloys, amalgams, or 
other metallic or mineral combinations, carbonated substances, 
&c. It is observed, that metals, which are in general the 
most powerful exciters, induce contractions so much the more 
as they have an extent of surface. Metals are all more or less 
excitants; and it has been noticed that zinc, gold, silver, and 
pewter, are of the highest rank ; then copper, lead, nickel, 
antimony, &c. 

Galvanic susceptibility is exnausted by too long-continued 
exercise, and is recruited by repose. Immersion of nerves in 
alkohol and opiate solutions diminishes, and even destroys, 
this susceptibility; in the same manner, doubtless, as the 
immoderate use of these substances in the living man, blunts, 
and induces paralysis in muscular action. Immersion in oxy¬ 
genated muriatic acid, revests the fatigued parts, in being 
acted on by the stimulus. Animals killed by'the repeated 


GALVANISM. 


691 


discharge of an electric battery, acquire an increase of gal¬ 
vanic susceptibility; and this property subsists unchanged in 
animals destroyed by submersions in mercury, pure hydrogen 
gas, azote, and ammoniac; and finally, it is totally annihilated 
in animals suffocated by the vapour of charcoal. 

Galvanic susceptibility is extinct in the muscles of animals 
of warm blood, in proportion as vital heat is dissipated; 
sometimes even when life is terminated in convulsions, con- 
tractibility cannot be put into action, although warmth be net 
completely gone, as though the vital property were consumed 
by the convulsions amidst which the animals had expired. 
In those of cold blood, on the contrary, it is more durable. 
The thighs of frogs, long after being separated from every 
thing, and even to the instant of incipient putrefaction, are 
influenced by galvanic stimuli; doubtless, because irritability, 
in these animals, is less intimately connected with respiration, 
and life more divided among the different organs, which have 
less occasion to act on each other for the execution of its 
phenomena. The galvanic chain does not produce sensible 
actions (that is, contractions) until the moment it is completed, 
by establishing a communication with the parts constituting 
it. During the time it is complete, that is, throughout the 
whole space of time that the communication remains estab¬ 
lished, every thing remains tranquil; nevertheless, galvanic 
influence is not suspended ; in fact, excitability is evidently 
increased or diminished, in muscles that have been long con¬ 
tinued in the galvanic chain, according to the difference of 
the reciprocal situation of the connecting metals. 

If silver has been applied to the nerves, and zinc to the 
muscles, the irritability of the latter increases in proportion 
to the time they have remained in the chain. By this method, 
the thighs of frogs have been revivified in some degree, and 
afterwards became sensible to stimuli that before had ceased 
to act on them. By distributing the metals in an inverse 
manner, applying zinc to the nerves, and silver to the muscles, 
an effect absolutely contrary is observed; and the muscles 
that possessed the most lively irritability when placed in the 
chain, seem to be rendered entirely paralytic if they remain 
long in this situation. 

This difference evidently depends on the direction of the 
galvanic fluid, determined towards the muscles or nerves, 
according to the manner in which these metals are disposed ; 
and this is of some importance to be known for the application 
of galvanic means to the cure of diseases 

M. Volta’s apparatus is as follows:—Raise a pile, by pla¬ 
cing a plate of zinc, a flat piece of wet card, and a plate of 
silver, successively; then a second piece of zinc, See. until 
the elevation is several feet high; for the effects are greater 


692 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING GALVANISM. 

in proportion to its height; then touch both extremities of the 
pile, at the same instant, with one piece of iron wire : at the 
moment of contact, a spark is excited from the extremities of 
the pile, and luminous points are often perceived at different 
heights, where the zinc and silver come into mutual contact. 
The zinc end of this pile appears to be negatively electrified; 
that formed by the silver, on the contrary, indicates marks of 
positive electricity. 

If we touch both extremities of the pile, after having dipped 
our hands into water, or, what is better, a saline solution, a 
commotion, followed by a disagreeable pricking in the fingers 
and elbow, is felt. 

If we place, in a tube filled with water, and hermetically 
closed by two corks, the extremities of two wires of the same 
metal, which are in contact at the other extremity, one with the 
summit, the other with the base of the pile ; these ends, even 
when separated only by the space of a few lines, experience 
evident changes at the instant the extremities of the pile are 
touched : the wire in contact with that part of the pile com¬ 
posed of zinc, becomes covered with bullae of hydrogen gas; 
that which touches the extremity formed by silver, becomes 
oxydated. Fourcroy attributes this phenomenon to the decom¬ 
position of water by the galvanic fluid, which abandons the 
oxygen to the iron that touches the positive extremity of the 
pile; then conducts the other gas invisibly to the end of the 
other wire, there to be disengaged. 

From the numerous experiments of Mr. Davy, many new 
and important facts have been established, and Galvanism has 
been found to be one of the most powerful agents in chemis¬ 
try. By its influence, platina wire has been melted ; gold, 
silver, copper, and most of the metals, have easily been burnt! 
the fixed alkalis, and many of the earths, have been made to 
appear as consisting of a metallic base and oxygen; com¬ 
pound substances, which were before extremely difficult to 
decompose, are now, by the aid of Galvanism, easily resolved 
into their constituent 


* 


MAGNETISM. 


603 


CHAP. LXXI. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING 31 A G NET ISM. 

Almighty Cause! ’tis thy preserving care 
That keeps thy works for ever fresh and fair: 

Hence life acknowledges its glorious Cause, 

And matter owns its great Disposer’s laws; 

Hence flow the forms and properties of things: 

Hence rises harmony, and order springs. 

Thy watchful providence o’er all intends; 

Thy works obey their great Creator’s ends. 

Thee, Infinite! what finite can explore? 

Imagination sinks beneath thy power. 

Yet present to all sense that power remains, 

Reveal’d in nature, Nature’s Author reigns. Boytt • 

The obedient steel with living instinct moves, 

And veers for ever to the pole it loves. 

So turns the faithful needle to the pole, 

Tho’ mountains rise between, and oceans roll. Darunn . 

Ma gnetism is supposed to have been first rendered useful 
about the end of the twelfth, or at least very early in the 
thirteenth, century, by John de Gioja, a handicraft of Naples, 
who noticed the peculiar attraction of metals, and iron in 
particular, towards certain masses of rude ore; the touch of 
which communicated to other substances of a ferruginous 
nature, especially iron or steel bars, the property of attrac¬ 
tion: these touched bars he observed to have a peculiar and 
similar tendency towards one particular point; that when 
suspended in equilibrio, by means of threads around their 
centres, they invariably turned towards the same point; and 
that, when placed in a row, however adversely directed, they 
soon disposed themselves in perfectly parallel order. In this 
instance he improved upon the property long known to, but 
not comprehended or applied to use by, the ancients, who 
considered the loadstone simply as a rude species of iron ore, 
and curious only so far as it might serve to amuse. 

Gioja being possessed of a quick understanding, and of 
a strong mind, was not long in further ascertaining the more 
sensible purposes to which the magnet might be appropriated. 
He accordingly fixed various magnets upon pivots, support¬ 
ing their centres in such a manner as allowed the bars to 
traverse freely. Finding that, however situated within the 
reach of observation and comparison, they all had the same 
tendency, he naturally concluded them to be governed by 
some attraction, which might be ultimately ascertained and 
acted upon. He therefore removed into various parts of 
Italy, to satisfy himself whether or not the extraordinary 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING 


594 

impulse which agitated these bars, that had been magnetized 
by friction, existed only in the vicinity of Naples, or was 
general. The result of his researches appears to be, that the 
influence was general, but that the magnets were rendered 
extremely variable, and fluctuated much, when near large 
masses of iron. The experiments of Gioja gave birth to many 
others, and at length to a trial of the magnetic influence on 
‘he surface of the water. To establish this, a vessel was 
moored out at sea, in a direction corresponding with that of 
the magnet; and a boat, having a magnet equipoised on a 
pivot at its centre, was sent out at night in the exact line* 
indicated thereby; which, being duly followed, carried them 
close to the vessel that was at anchor. Thus the active 
power of attraction appeared to be established on both ele¬ 
ments, and in the course of time the magnet was fixed to a 
card, marked with thirty-two points, whereby the mariner’s 
compass was presented to us. The points to which the mag¬ 
net always turned itself, being generally in correspondence 
with the meridian of the place where it acted, occasioned the 
extremities of the bars to be called poles. Succeeding experi¬ 
ments proved, that the magnetic bar never retained an exactly 
horizontal position; but that one of its poles invariably 
formed an angle with any perfect level, over which it was 
placed : this was not so very measurable in a short bar, but 
in one of a yard in length was formed to give several degrees 
of inclination. This, which is called “ the dip of the needle,” 
(or magnet,) seems to indicate that the attracting power is 
placed within the earth. What that attracting power is, we 
cannot determine; some consider it to be a fluid, while others 
conjecture it to be an immense mass of loadstone, situated 
somewhere about the north pole. The difficulty is, however, 
considerably increased by the known fact of the needles of 
compasses not always pointing due north; but in many 
places varying greatly from the meridional lines respectively; 
and from each other at different times and places. 

The facility with which a meridional line may be drawn by 
solar observation, and especially by taking an azimuth, for¬ 
tunately enables navigators to establish the variation between 
the true northern direction, and that indicated by the magnet 
attached to the card of the compass. Nevertheless, we have 
great reason to believe, that, for want either of accurate 
knowledge of the prevalent variations, or from inattention 
thereto, many vessels, of which no tidings were ever heard, 
have been cast away; it being obvious, that a false indication 
of the northern point, in many places amounting to nearly the 
extent of twenty-five degrees, must produce so important an 
error in a vessel’s course, as to subject her to destruction on 
those very shoals, rocks, &c. of which the navigator unhappily 


MAGNETISM. 


695 


thinks he steers perfectly clear. To obviate such danger, as 
far as possible, all modern sea-charts have the variations of 
the compass in their several parts duly noted down; and in 
reckoning upon the course steered by the compass, an allow¬ 
ance is usually made for the difference between the apparent 
course by the compass, and the real course, as ascertained by 
celestial observation. Under circumstances so completely 
contradictory, the principle of magnetism must remain un¬ 
known: we know not of any hypothesis which strikes con¬ 
viction on our minds, or which seems to convey any adequate 
idea of the origin, or modus operandi, of this wondrous 
influence. All we can treat of is, the effect; also of the appear¬ 
ances which guide our practice, and of the manner in which 
the attractive power may be generated and increased. In 
regard to the latter point, namely, the generation and increase 
of the magnetic attraction, we shall endeavour to give a brief 
but distinct view of what relates thereto: observing, that where 
volcanic eruptions are frequent, and in those latitudes where 
the Aurora Borealis is distinctly seen, the needle or magnet is 
sensibly affected. 

Previously to earthquakes, as well as during their action, 
and while the northern lights are in full display, no reliance 
can be placed on the compass; the card of which will appear 
much agitated. This has given rise to the opinion held by 
some, that the power is a fluid: to this, however, there appear 
so many objections, that we are more disposed to reject 
than to favour it, although under the necessity of confessing, 
that we are not able to offer one that may account satis¬ 
factorily for the various phenomena attendant upon mag¬ 
netism. 

We have already stated, that every magnet has two poles; 
that is, one end is called the north, the other the south pole : 
the former being considered as capable of attraction ; the 
other, as we shall infer from the subjoined explanations, being 
far more inert, if at all possessed of an attractive power. 
When two magnets are brought together with their north 
poles in contact, they will, instead of cohering, be obviously 
repelled to a distance corresponding with their respective 
powers of attraction, when applied individually to unmag¬ 
netized needles. The south poles will, in like manner, repel 
each other; but the north pole of one, and the south pole of 
the other, will, when approximated, be evidently attracted, 
and will cohere so as to sustain considerable weights. Iron 
is the only metal, hitherto knowrn, which is capable of receiv¬ 
ing and communicating the magnetic power; but quiet, and 
the absence of contact, in some respects, are indispensably 
necessary towards its perfect retention. Thus, when a bar 
has been impregnated, however abundantly, with the magnetic 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING 


396 

principle, if it be heated or hammered, the power of attraction 
will be dissipated; or if a tube filled with iron filings have 
their surface magnetized, by shaking the tube the magnetic 
influence will likewise be lost. In some respects the magnetic 
influence resembles caloric; for it very rapidly communicates 
to iron, devoid of magnetism, a certain portion of its own 
powers; which, however, appear to be reproduced instanta¬ 
neously. As various small fires under one large vessel will 
thereby heat it, and cause the water it contains to boil, though 
neither of them individually would produce that effect; so, many 
weak magnets may, by being united, communicate a power 
equal to its own, and be made to create an accumulated 
power, larger than that contained by either of them indivi¬ 
dually. 

There is, however, a seeming contradiction to be found in 
some authors, who recommend that the weakest magnets 
should be first applied,—and those more forcible, in succession, 
according to the power they may possess; the reason assigned 
being, that the weaker magnets would else, in all probability, 
draw off some of the accumulated power from the new magnet. 
But of this there appears no danger, since experience proves 
that magnets rather gain than lose efficiency by contact, not 
only with each other, but even with common iron. In fact, 
the magnetic power may at any time be created by various 
means : the friction of two pieces of flat and polished bars of 
iron, will cause them for a short time to attract and to sus¬ 
pend light weights. Soft iron is more easily influenced, but 
steel will retain the influence longer. Lightning, electricity, 
and galvanism, being all of the same nature, equally render 
iron magnetic. It is also peculiar, that when two or more 
magnets are left for any time with their several north poles in 
contact, the whole will be thereby weakened ; w hereas, by leav¬ 
ing a piece of common iron attached to a magnet, the latter 
will acquire strength. It is also w r ell known that some pieces of 
steel quickly receive the magnetic influence, while others re¬ 
quire considerable Jabour, and after all are scarcely impreg¬ 
nated. The oxide of iron cannot be impregnated, and those 
bars that have been so, when they become partially oxydized, 
lose the.ir power. Hence we see the necessity of preserving 
the needles of compasses from rust. 

Magnets have the pow 7 er to act notwithstanding the inter¬ 
vention of substances in any degree porous between them and 
the body to be acted upon : thus, if a needle be put on a sheet 
of paper, and a magnet be drawn under it, the needle will 
follow the course of the magnet. The peculiar affinity of the 
loadstone for iron, is employed with great success, by those 
who work in precious metals, for the separation of filings, 8cc. 
of iron from the smaller particles of gold, &c A magnet 


MAGNETISM. 


697 


being dipped into the vessel, in which the whole are blended, 
will attract all ferruginous particles. 

To communicate the magnetic power to a needle, let it be 
placed horizontally; and with a magnet in each hand, let the 
north pole of one, and the south pole of the other, be brought 
obliquely in contact over the centre of the needle : draw them 
asunder, taking care to press firmly, and preserving the same 
angle or inclination to the very ends of the needles, which 
should be supported by two magnets, whose ends ought to 
correspond in polarity with those of the needle. Observe to 
carry the magnets you press with clear away from the ends of 
the needle, at least a foot therefrom; repeat the friction in 
the same manner several times, perhaps six, eight, or ten, 
and the needle will be permanently magnetized ; and, as we 
have already stated, by using other magnets in succession, 
the powers of the needle will be proportionably increased. 

But no effect will result from the friction if the bars are 
rusty, or, indeed, not highly polished ; their angles must be 
perfect, and their several sides and ends completely flat. It is, 
perhaps, one of the most curious of the phenomena attendant 
on this occult property, that the centre of every magnet is 
devoid of attraction ; yet, that when a needle is placed in a 
line with a magnet, and within the influence of its pole, that 
needle almost becomes magnetic, or rather, a conductor, 
possessing a certain portion of attractive power: and it is no 
less extraordinary, that the magnet retains its power even in 
the exhausted receiver of an air-pump ; which seems to be a 
formidable objection to its being influenced by any fluid 
Perhaps the opinion entertained by many of our most popu¬ 
lar lecturers on this subject, viz. that the earth itself is the 
great attractor, may be nearest the truth. We are the 
more inclined towards such an hypothesis, knowing that, 
at the true magnetic equator, the needle does not dip ; and 
from the well-ascertained fact, that bars of iron, placed for a 
length of time exactly perpendicular, receive a strong magnetic 
power, their lower ends repelling the south, but attracting the 
north poles of magnets applied to them respectively. The 
direction of the dipping needle was ascertained by one Robert 
Norman, about two hundred and fifty years ago. He sus¬ 
pended a small magnetic needle, by means of a fine thread 
Tound its centre, so as to balance perfectly, over a large 
magnet: the south pole of the former was instantly attracted 
by the north pole of the latter. He found, that so long as the 
needle was held exactly centrical, at about two inches above 
the magnet, it remained horizontal; but so soon as withdrawn 
a little more towards one end than the other of the magnet, 
the equilibrium was destroyed, and that pole of the needle 
which was nearest to either pole of the magnet was instantly 

4 T 


698 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE ARTS. 


attracted, and pointed downwards thereto. By the magnetic 
equator, we mean a circle passing round the earth at right 
angles with the magnetic poles, which do not correspond with 
the geographical poles, as may be fully understood by the 
indications of all compasses to points differing from the latter; 
and as the indications of compasses vary so much both at 
different times and places, we may reasonably conclude, that 
the magnetic poles are not fixed. The variation of the dip¬ 
ping-needle has not, in our latitude at least, varied more than 
half a degree since its depressive tendency was first discovered 
by Norman. 

By means of the mariner’s compass. 

Tall navies hence their doubtful way explore, 

And ev’ry product waft from ev'ry shore ; 

Hence meagre want expell’d, and sanguine, strife. 

For the mild charms of cultivated life. Blacldock. 


CHAP. LXXII. 

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE ARTS , $*c. 

Early Invention of several useful Arts — Automaton — Androides — 
Extraordinary Pieces of Clockwork—Heidelberg Clock — 
Strasburg Clock — Clepsydra—Invention of Watches. 

What cannot art and industry perform, 

When science plans the progress of their toil! 

They smile at penury, disease, and storm; 

And oceans from their mighty mounds recoil. 

When tyrants scourge, or demagogues embroil 
A land, or when the rabble’s headlong rage 
Order transforms to anarchy and spoil; 

Deep vers’d in man, the philosophic sage 
Prepares with lenient hand their frenzy t’ assuage ; 

'Tis he alone, whose comprehensive mind, 

From situation, temper, soil, and clime 
Explor’d, a nation's various pow’rs can bind, 

And various orders, in one form sublime 
Of polity, that 'midst the wrecks of time, 

Secure shall lift its head on high, nor fear 
Th' assault of foreign or domestic crime, 

While public faith, and public love sincere, 

And industry and law maintain their sway severe. Bsattit. 

Early Invention of several useful Arts. — Some 
useful arts must be nearly coeval with the human race; 
for food, clothing, and habitation, even in their original sim- 
plicitv. require some display of ingenuity. Many arts are ol 




KAKLY INVENTIONS. 


699 

such antiquity as to place the inventors beyond the reach of 
tradition; while several have gradually crept into existence 
without an inventor. The busy mind, however, accustomed 
to date the progress of science from some particular era, can¬ 
not rest till it finds or conjectures a beginning to every art. In 
all countries where the people are illiterate, the progress of 
arts is extremely slow. It is vouched by an old French poem, 
that the virtues of the loadstone were known in France before 
the year 1180. The mariner’s compass was exhibited at 
Venice, A. D. 1260, by Paulus Venetus, as his own invention. 
John Goya, of Amalphi, was the first, who, many years after¬ 
wards, used it in navigation, and also passed for being the 
inventor. Though it was used in China for navigation long 
before it was known to the western nations, yet to this day it 
is not so perfect as in Europe. Instead of suspending it in 
order to make it act freely, it is placed upon a bed of sand, 
by which every motion of the ship disturbs its operation. 

Hand-mills, termed querns, were early used for the grinding 
of corn ; and when corn came to be raised in greater quantities, 
horse-mills succeeded. Water-mills for grinding corn are 
described by Vitruvius. Windmills were known in Greece 
and Arabia, so early as the seventh century; and yet no men¬ 
tion is made of them in Italy till the fourteenth. That they 
were not known in England in the reign of Henry VIII. ap¬ 
pears from a household book of an earl of Northumberland, 
contemporary with that king, stating an allowance for three 
mill horses, “ two to draw in the mill, and one to carry stuff 
to the mill.” Water-mills for corn must in England have been 
of a late date. 

The ancients had mirror glasses, and employed glass to 
imitate crystal vases and goblets; yet they never thought of 
using it in windows. In the thirteenth century, the Venetians 
were the only people who had the art of making crystal glass 
for mirrors. A clock that strikes the hours was unknown in 
Europe till the end of the twelfth century. And hence the 
custom of employing men to proclaim the hours during ni s ht ; 
which to this day continues in Germany, Flanders, and Eng¬ 
land. Galileo was the first who conceived an idea that a 
pendulum might be useful for measuring time ; and Huygens 
was the first who put the idea in execution, by making a 
pendulum clock. Hook, in 1660, invented a spiral spring for 
a watch, though a watch was far from being a new invention. 
Paper was made no earlier than the fourteenth century ; and 
the invention of printing was a century later. Silk manufac¬ 
tures were long established in Greece, before silk-worms were 
introduced there. The manufacturers were provided with raw 
silk from Persia; but that commerce being frequently inter¬ 
rupted by w r ar, two monks, in the reign of Justinian, brought 


700 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING 1 HE ARTS. 


eggs of the silk-worm from Hindoostan, and taught theii 
countrymen the method of managing them. 

The art of reading made a very slow progress. To encou¬ 
rage that art in England, the capital punishment for murder 
was remitted, if the criminal could but read, which in law 
language is termed benejit of clergy. One would imagine that 
the art must have made a very rapid progress when so greatly 
favoured : but there is a signal proof of the contrary, for so 
small an edition of the Bible as six hundred copies, translated 
into English in the reign of Henry VIII. was not wholly sold 
off in three years. The people of England must have been 
profoundly ignorant in Queen Elizabeth's time, when a forged 
clause, added to the twentieth article of the English creed, 
passed unnoticed till about sixty years ago. 

The discoveries of the Portuguese on the west coast of 
Africa, afford a remarkable instance of the slow progress of 
the arts. In the beginning of the fifteenth century, they 
were totally ignorant of that coast beyond Cape Non, in 
28 degrees, north latitude. In 1410, the celebrated Prince 
Henrv of Portugal fitted out a fleet for discoveries, which 
proceeded along the coast to Cape Bajadore, in 26 de¬ 
grees, but had not courage to double it: and seventy-six 
years elapsed before this was done by Bartholomew Diaz, in 
1486! 

Description of An Automaton. —This is a machine, so 
constructed by means of weights, levers, springs, wheels, See. 
as to move for a considerable time, as if it were endued with 
animal life. According to this definition, clocks, watches, 
and all machines of that kind, may be ranked as a species of 
automata. But the word is most commonly applied to such 
machines as are made in the form of men and other animals, 
at the same time that their internal machinery is so contrived, 
that they seem voluntarily to act like the animals they repre¬ 
sent. Archytas of Tarentum, who lived A. C. 400, is said ta 
have made a wooden pigeon that could fly. It is also 
recorded, that Archimedes made similar automata; that 
Regiomontanus made a wooden eagle, which flew forth from 
the city of Nuremburg, met the emperor, saluted him, and 
returned; also that he made an iron fly, which flew out of his 
hand at a feast, and returned again after flying about the 
room. Dr. Hook made the model of a flying chariot, capable 
of supporting itself in the air. Many other surprising auto¬ 
mata have been exhibited in the present age. M. Vaucanson 
made a duck, which could eat, drink, and imitate exactly the 
voice of a natural one; and what is still more surprising, the 
food it swallowed was evacuated in a digested state, or at 
least c msiderably altered, on the principles of solution. The 


AUTOMATON.—ANDROIDES. 


701 


wings, viscera, and bones, were so formed, as greatly to 
resemble those of a living duck; and the actions of eating 
and drinking shewed the strongest resemblance, even to mud¬ 
dling the water with its bill. 

M. de Droz, of la Chaux de Fonds, in the province of 
Neuchatel, has also executed some curious pieces of mecha¬ 
nism. One was a clock, presented to the king of Spain, which 
had, among other curiosities, a sheep that imitated the bleat¬ 
ing of a natural one, and a dog that watched a basket of fruit, 
and which barked and snarled if any one attempted to take 
it away; if it was actually taken, it would bark till it was 
restored. A son of this gentleman has also made some extra¬ 
ordinary pieces, particularly an oval gold snuff-box, about 
four inches long, three broad, and one and a half thick. It is 
double, having an horizontal partition, with a lid to each of 
its parts. One contains snuff; but in the other, as soon as 
the lid is opened, there rises up a very small bird, (for it is 
only three-quarters of an inch from the beak to the extremity 
of the tail,) of green-enamelled gold, sitting on a gold stand, 
which immediately wagging its tail and shaking its wings, 
and opening its bill of white-enamelled gold, pours forth 
a clear melodious song, capable of filling a room of twenty or 
thirty feet square with its melody. The same gentleman 
exhibited an automaton in England, of the figure of a man, as 
large as life. It held in its hand a metal style, under which 
was a card of Dutch vellum. A spring was then touched, 
and the internal machinery being thus set a-going, the figure 
began to draw elegant portraits, and likenesses of the king 
and queen facing each other; and it was curious to observe, 
with what precision the figure lifted up its pencil, in the 
transition of it from one point of the picture to another, with¬ 
out making the least blunder whatever; for instance, in passing 
from the forehead to the eye, nose, and chin, or from the 
waving curls of the hair to the ear, Sic. The first card being 
finished, the figure rested, until a second was completed, and 
so on through five separate cards put to it, on all of which 
it delineated different subjects, but five or six was the extent 
of its surprising powers. 

Androides. —This is an automaton, in the figure of a man, 
which, by virtue of certain springs, &c. duly contrived, walks, 
and performs other external functions of a man. Albertus 
Magnus is recorded as having made a famous androides, which 
is said not only to have moved, but to have spoken. Thomas 
Aquinas is said to have been so frightened when he saw this 
head, that he broke it to pieces; upon which Albert ex¬ 
claimed, “ Periit opus triginta annorum!” 

Artificial puppets, which, by internal springs, run upon 


702 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE ARTS. 

a table, and, as they advance, move their heads, eyes, or hands, 
were common among the Greeks, and from thence they were 
brought to the Romans. Figures, or puppets, which appear 
to move of themselves, were formerly employed to work 
miracles; but this use is now superseded, and they serve 
only to display ingenuity, and to answer the purposes of 
amusement. One of the most celebrated figures of this kind, 
was constructed and exhibited at Paris, in 1738; and a parti¬ 
cular account of it was published in the memoirs of the academy 
for that year. This figure represents a flute-player, which was 
capable of performing various pieces of music, by wind issu¬ 
ing from its mouth into a German flute, the holes of which it 
opened and shut with its fingers : it was about five and a half 
feet high, placed upon a square pedestal four and a half feet 
high, and three and a half broad. The air entered the body 
by three separate pipes, into which it was conveyed by nine 
pairs of bellows, that expanded and contracted, in regular 
succession, by means of an axis of steel turned by clock¬ 
work. These bellows performed their functions without any 
noise, which might have discovered the manner by which the 
air was conveyed to the machine. 

The three tubes, which received the air from the bellows, 
passed into three small reservoirs in the trunk of the figure. 
Here they united, and, ascending towards the throat, formed 
the cavity of the mouth, which terminated in two small lips, 
adapted in some measure to perform their proper functions. 
Within this cavity was a small moveable tongue, which by its 
motion, at proper intervals, admitted the air, or intercepted it 
in its passage to the flute. The fingers, lips, and tongue, 
derived their proper movements from a steel cylinder, turned 
by clock-work. This was divided into fifteen equal parts, 
which, by means of pegs, pressing upon the ends of fifteen 
different levers, caused the other extremities to ascend. Seven 
of these levers directed the fingers, having wires and chains 
fixed to their ascending extremities, which, being attached to 
the fingers, made them to ascend in proportion as the other 
extremity was pressed down by the motion of the cylinder, 
and vice versa; then the ascent or descent of one end of a 
lever produced a similar ascent or descent in the correspond¬ 
ing fingers, by which one of the holes of the flute was occa¬ 
sionally opened or stopped, as it might have been by a living 
performer. Three of the levers served to regulate the ingress 
of the air, being so contrived as to open and shut, by means 
of valves, the three reservoirs above-mentioned, so that more 
or less strength might be given, and a higher or lower note 
produced, as occasion required. The lips were, by a similar 
mechanism, directed by four levers, one of which opened them, 
to give the air a freer passage, the other contracted them, 


A NDROIDES. 


7U3 


the third drew them backward, and ike fourth pushed them 
forward. The lips were projected upon that part of the flute 
which receives the air, and, by the different motions already 
mentioned, modified the tune in a proper manner. The remain¬ 
ing lever was employed in the direction of the tongue, which 
it easily moves so as to shut or open the mouth of thje flute. 
The just succession of the several motions, performed by the 
various parts of this machine, was regulated by the following 
simple contrivance. 

Lhe extremity of the axis of the cylinder terminated on the 
right side by an endless screw, consisting of twelve threads, 
each placed at the distance of a line and a half from the 
other. Above this screw was fixed a piece of copper, and in 
it a steel pivot, which, falling in between the threads of the 
screw, obliged the cylinder to follow the threads ; and, in¬ 
stead of turning directly round, it was continually pushed to 
one side. Hence, if a lever was moved, by a peg placed on 
cylinder, in any one revolution, it could not be moved by the 
same peg in the succeeding revolution, because the peg 
would be moved a line and a half beyond it by the lateral 
motion of the cylinder. 

Thus, by an artificial disposition of these pegs in different 
parts of the cylinder, the statue was made, by the successive 
elevation of the proper levers, to exhibit all the different 
motions of a flute-player, to the admiration of every one who 
saw it. Another figure, constructed by the same artist, 
Vaucanson, played on the shepherd’s pipe, held in its left 
hand, and with the right beat upon a drum. 

The performances of Vaucanson were imitated, and even 
exceeded, by M. de Kempelin, of Presburg, in Hungary. 
The androides constructed by this gentleman in 1769, was capa¬ 
ble of playing at chess. It was first brought over to England in 
1783, and has often been exhibited since that period. It is thus 
described : The figure is as large as life, in a Turkish dress, 
seated behind a table, with doors three and a half feet long, 
two deep, and two and a half high. The chair on which it sits 
is fixed to the table, which is made to run on four wheels. 
It leans its right arm on the table, and in its left hand holds 
a pipe; with this hand it plays after the pipe is removed. 
A chess-board of eighteen inches is fixed before it. The 
table, or rather chest, contains wheels, levers, cylinders, and 
other pieces of mechanism, all of which are publicly dis¬ 
played. The vestments of the figure were then lifted over its 
head, and the body was seen full of similar wheels. There is 
a little door in its thigh, which is likewise opened: and with 
this, and the table also open, and the figure uncovered, the 
whole is wheeled about the room. The doors are then shut, 
aid the automaton is ready to play; but it always takes the 


704 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE ARTS. 

first move. At every motion the wheels are heard; the image 
moves its head, and looks over every part of the chess-board. 
When it checks the queen, it shakes its head twice; and thrice 
in giving check to the king. It likewise shakes its head 
when a false move is made, replaces the piece, and makes its 
own move, by which means the adversary loses one. M. de 
Ivempelin exhibited his automaton at Petersburg, Vienna, 
Paris, and London, before thousands, many of whom were 
mathematicians, and chess players, and yet the secret by 
which he governed the motion of its arm was never discovered. 
He valued himself upon the construction of a mechanism, by 
which the arm could perforin ten or twelve moves. It then 
needed to be wound up like a watch, after which it was 
capable of continuing the same number of motions. This 
automaton could not play unless M. de Kempelin, or his 
assistant, was near it to direct its movements. A small 
square box was frequently consulted by the exhibiter during the 
game, and in this consisted the secret, which the inventor 
declared he could communicate in a moment. Any person 
who could beat M. de Kempelin at chess, was sure of con¬ 
quering the automaton. 

Extraordinary Pieces of Clock-Work. —Amongst 
he modern clocks, those at Strasburg and Lyons are very 
eminent for the richness and variety of their furniture, and for 
their motions and figures. In the former, a cock claps his 
wings, and proclaims the hour, and an angel opens a door, 
and salutes the Virgin; while the Holy Spirit descends on 
her, &c. In the latter, two horsemen encounter, and beat the 
hour on each other; a door opens, and there appears on the 
theatre theVirgin, with Jesus Christ in her arms; the Magi, with 
their retinue, marching in order, and presenting their gifts; 
two trumpeters sounding all the while to nroclaim the pro¬ 
cession. 

These, however, are excelled by two which w T ere lately 
made by English artists, and sent as a present from the East 
India Company to the Emperor of China. These clocks are 
in the form of chariots, in which are placed, in a fine attitude, 
a lady, leaning her right hand upon a part of the chariot, 
under which is a clock of curious workmanship, little larger 
than a shilling, that strikes and repeats, and goes eight days. 
Upon her finger sits a bird finely modelled, and set with 
diamonds and rubies, with its wings expanded in a flying 
posture, and it actually flutters for a considerable time on 
touching a diamond button below it; the body of the bird 
(which contains part of the wheels that in a manner give life 
to it) is not the bigness of the 16th part of an inch. The 
lady holds in her left hand a gold tube not much thicker than 


HEIDELBERG CLOCK.-STKaSBURG CLOCK. 705 

a large pin, on the top of which is a small round box, to which a 
circular ornament, set with diamonds not larger than a sixpence, 
is fixed, which goes round nearly three hours in a constant 
regular motion. Over the lady’s head, supported by a small 
fluted pillar not bigger than a quill, are two umbrellas, under 
the largest of which a bell is fixed, at a considerable distance 
from the clock, and seems to have no connection w’ith it; but 
from which a communication is secretly conveyed to a ham¬ 
mer that regularly strikes the hour, and repeats the same to 
the clock below. At the feet of the lady is a golden dog; before 
which, from the point of the chariot, are tw r o birds fixed on 
spiral springs, the wings and feathers of which are set with 
stones of various colours, and appear as if flying away with 
the chariot, which, from another secret motion, is continued 
to run in a straight, circular, or any other direction ; while a 
boy that lays hold of the chariot behind, seems also to push it 
forward. Above the umbrella are flowers and ornaments of 
precious stones ; and it terminates with a flying dragon set in 
the same manner. The whole is of gold, most curiously exe 
cuted, and embellished with rubies and pearls. 

Heidelberg Clock. —At Heidelberg, in Germany, upon 
the town-house, was a clock with divers motions; and when 
the clock struck, the figure of an old man pulled off his hat, 
a cock crowed, and clapped his w ings, soldiers fought wdth 
one another, &c.: but this curious piece of workmanship, with 
the castle and tow r n, were burnt by the French, who committed 
at the same time the most inhuman barbarities upon the peo¬ 
ple, when they took those garrisons, in the year 1693. 

Strasburg Clock. —At Strasburg, there is a clock, of all 
others the most famous, invented by Conradus Dasipodius, 
in the year 1573. Before the clock stands a globe on the 
ground, shewing the motions of the heavenly bodies. The 
heavens are carried about by the first mover, in twenty-four 
hours ; Saturn, by his proper motion, is carried about in thirty 
years; Jupiter in twelve. Mars in two, the Sun, Mercury, and 
Venus, in one year; and the Moon in one month. In the 
clock itself there are two tables on the right and left hand, 
shewing the eclipses of the Sun and Moon from the year 1573, 
to the year 1624. The third table in the middle is divided 
into three parts. In the first part, the statue of Apollo and 
Diana shews the course of the year, and the day thereof, 
being carried about in one year; the second part shews the 
year of our Lord, and the equinoctial days, the hours of each 
day, the minutes of each hour, Easter-day, and all other feasts, 
and the Dominical Letter. The third part has the geographi¬ 
cal description of all Germany, and particularly of Strasburg, 

*4 U 


706 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE ARTS. 

with the names of the inventor, and of all the workmen. In 
the middle frame of the clock is an astrolabe, shewing the 
sign in which each planet is every day, and there are the sta¬ 
tues of the seven planets, upon a round piece of iron, lying 
flat; so that every day the statue of the planet that rules the 
day comes forth, the rest being hid within the frames, till 
they come out by course at their day, as the sun upon Sunday, 
and so for all the week. And there is also a terrestrial globe, 
which shews the quarter, the half hour, and the minutes. 
There is also the skull of a dead man, and statues of two boys, 
one of whom turns the hour-glass when the clock has struck, 
the other puts forth the rod in his hand at each stroke of the 
clock. Moreover, there are the statues of the Spring, 
Summer, Autumn, and Winter, and many observations of the 
moon. 

In the upper part of the clock are four old men’s statues, 
which strike the quarters of the hour; the statue of Death 
comes out at each quarter to strike, but is driven back by the 
statue of Christ, with a spear in his hand, for three-quarters ; 
but in the fourth quarter, that of Christ goes back, and that of 
Death strikes the hour, with a bone in his hand, and then the 
chimes sound. On the top of the clock is an image of a cock, 
which twice in the day cries aloud, and claps his wings. 
Besides, this clock is decked with many rare pictures : and 
being on the inside of the church, carries another frame to 
the outside of the wall, wherein the hours of the sun, the 
courses of the moon, the length of the day, and such other 
things, are set out with great art. 

Clepsydra —is a water-clock, or instrument to measure 
time by the fall of a certain quantity of water, and is con¬ 
structed on the following principles.—Suppose a cylindrical 
vessel, whose charge of water flows out in twelve hours, were 
required to be divided into parts, to be discharged each hour. 
1. As the part of time is to the whole time, Twelve, so is the 
same time Twelve to a fourth proportional Hundred-and-forty- 
four. Divide the altitude of the vessel into one hundred and 
forty-four equal parts: here the last will fall to the last hour; 
the three next above, to the last part but one; the five next, 
to the tenth hour; lastly, the twenty-three last to the first 
hour. For since the times increase in the series of the natural 
numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, &c. and the altitudes, if the numeration 
be in a retrograde order from the twelfth hour, increase in the 
series of the unequal numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, &c. the altitudes 
computed from the twelfth hour will be as the squares cf the 
times 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, &c. Therefore the squares of the w r hole 
time, one hundred and forty-four, comprehend all the parts of 
the altitude of the vessel to be emptied. But a third propor- 


INVENTION OF WATCHES. 


707 

tional to 1 and 12, is the square of twelve, and consequently 
it is the number of equal parts in which the altitude is to be 
distributed, according to the series of the unequal numbers, 
th rough the equal interval of hours. 

There were many kinds of clepsydrae among the ancients; 
but they all had this in common, that the water ran generally 
through a narrow passage, from one vessel to another, and in 
the lower was a piece of cork, or light wood, which, as the 
vessel filled, rose up by degrees, and shewed the hour. 

We shall in the next place make a few remarks on the 
Invention of Watches. —The invention of spring or pocket 
watches belongs to the 17th century. It is true, w r e find men¬ 
tion made of a watch presented to Charles V. in the history of 
that prince : but this, in all probability, was no more than a 
kind of clock to be set on a table, some resemblance whereof 
we have still remaining in the ancient pieces made before the 
year 1670. There was also a story of a watch having been 
discovered in Scotland, belonging to King Robert Bruce ; but 
this we believe has turned out altogether erroneous. The 
glory of this very useful invention lies between Dr. Hooke 
and M. Huygens; but to which of them it properly belongs, 
has been greatly disputed ; the English ascribing it to the 
former, and the French, Dutch, See. to the latter. Mr. Der- 
ham, in his Artificial Clockmaker, says, roundly, that Dr. 
Hooke was the inventor; and adds, that he contrived various 
ways of regulation. One way was, with a loadstone ; another 
with a tender straight spring, one end whereof played back¬ 
wards and forwards with the balance, so that the balance was 
to the spring as the bob to a pendulum, and the spring as the 
rod thereof. A third method was, wdth tw r o balances, of which 
there w r ere divers sorts ; some having a spiral spring to the 
balance for a regulator, and others not. But the way that 
prevailed, and which still continues to prevail, was, with one 
balance, and one spring running round the upper part of the 
verge ; though this has a disadvantage, from which those with 
tw r o springs. See. were free, since a sudden jerk, or confused 
shake, will alter its vibrations, and disturb its motion. 

The time of these inventions was about the year 1658; as 
appears, among other evidences, from an inscription on one of 
the double-balance watches presented to King Charles II. viz. 
“ Rob. Hooke inven. 1658. T. Tompion fecit, 1675.” The 
invention presently got into reputation, both at home and 
abroad : and two of them were sent for by the dauphin of 
France. Soon after this, M. Huygens’ watch with a spiral 
spring got abroad, and made a great noise in England, as if 
the longitude could be found by it. It is certain, however, 
that his invention was later than the year 1673, when his 


/ 


708 UKIOS1TIES RESPECTING THE ARTS. 

cook “ De Horol. Oscillat .” was published ; wherein he has 
not one word of this, though he has of several other contri¬ 
vances in the same way. 

One of these the Lord Brouncker sent for out of France, 
where M. Huygens had got a patent for them. This watch 
agreed with Dr. Hooke’s, in the application of the spring to 
the balance; only M. Huygens’ had a long spiral spring, 
and the pulses and beats were n. ^h sl^er. The balance, 
instead of turning quite round, as a*.. five’s, turns several 
rounds every vibration. 

Mr. Derham suggests, that he has reason to think M. Huy¬ 
gens’ fancy w r as first set to work by some intelligence he 
might have of Dr. Hooke’s invention from Mr. Oldensworth, or 
some other of his correspondents in England ; and this, not¬ 
withstanding Mr. Oldensworth’s attempt to vindicate himself 
in the Philosophical Transactions, appears to be the truth. 
Huygens invented divers other kinds of w r atches, some of 
them without any string or chain at all; which he called 
particularly, pendulum watches. 




CHAP. LXXIII. 

curiosities respecting the arts. — (Continued,) 

Telegraph—Spectacle of a Sea Fight at Rome—Wooden Eagle ; 
and Iron Fly — Whitehead's Ship — Scaliot’s Lock, #c.— Praxi¬ 
teles' Venus—Weaving Engine—Hydraulic Birds—HerschelVs 
Grand Telescope — Boverick's Curiosities—Bunzlau Curiosities 
—Artificial Flying. 

Telegraph. —This is a word derived from the Greek, and 
which is very properly given to an instrument, by means of 
which information may be almost instantaneously conveyed 
to a considerable distance. The telegraph, though it has 
been generally known and used by the moderns only for a few 
years, is by no means a modern invention. There is reason 
to believe, that amongst the Greeks there was some sort of 
telegraph in use. The burning of Troy was certainly known 
in Greece very soon after it happened, and before any person 
had returned from thence. Now that was altogether so tedi¬ 
ous a piece of business, that conjecture never could have 
supplied the place of information. A Greek play begins with 
a scene, in which a watchman descends from the top of a tower 
in Greece, and gives the information that Troy was taken. 
“ I have been looking out these ten years (says he) to see 


* * 


TELEGRAPH. 


709 

when that would happen, and this night it is done.” Of the 
antiquity of a mode of conveying intelligence quickly to a 
great distance, this is certainly a proof. The Chinese, when 
they send couriers on the great canal, or when any great man 
travels there, make signals by fire, from one day’s journey to 
another, to have every thing prepared ; and most of the bar¬ 
barous nations used formerly to give the alarm of war by fires 
lighted on the hills, or rising grounds. 

It does not appear that the moderns had thought or sucn 
a machine as a telegraph, till the year 1663, when the Marquis 
of Worcester, in his “Century of Inventions,” affirmed, that 
he had discovered “ a method by which, at a window, as far as 
eye can discover black from white, a man may hold discourse 
with his correspondent, without noise made, or notice taken, 
being, according to occasion given, or means afforded, ex re 
nata , and no need of provision beforehand; though much 
better if foreseen, and course taken by mutual consent of 
parties.” This could be done only by means of a telegraph, 
which, in the next sentence, is declared to have been rendered 
so perfect, that by means of it the correspondence could be 
carried on “ by night as well as by day, though as dark as 
pitch is black.” 

About forty years afterwards, M. Amontons proposed a new 
telegraph. His method was this :—Let there be people placed 
in several stations, at such a distance from one another, that, 
by the help of a telescope, a man in one station may see a 
signal made in the next before him; he must immediately 
make the same signal, that it may be seen by persons in the 
station next after him, who are to communicate it to those in 
the following station, and so on. These signals may be as 
letters of the alphabet, or as a cipher, understood only by 
the two persons who are in the distant places, and not by 
those who make the signals. The person in the second station 
making the signal to the person in the third, the very moment 
he sees it in the first; the news may be carried to the greatest 
distance in as little time as is necessary to make the signals 
in the first station. The distance of the several stations, which 
must be as few as possible, is measured by the reach of a 
telescope. Amontons tried this method in a small tract of 
land, before several persons of the highest rank at the court 
of France. It was not, however, till the French revolution, 
that the telegraph was applied to useful purposes. 

Whether M. Chappe, who is said to have invented the tele¬ 
graph first used bv the French about the end of 1793, knew any 
thing of Amonton’s invention or not, it is impossible to say; 
but his telegraph was constructed on principles nearly similar. 
The manner of using this telegraph was as follows :—At the 
first station, which was on the roof of the palace of Louvre, at 


no 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE ARTS. 


Paris, M. Chappe, rhe inventor, received in writing from the 
Committee of Public Welfare, the words to be sent to Lisle, 
near which the French army at that time was. An upright 
post was erected on the Louvre, at the top of which were two 
transverse arms, moveable in all directions by a single piece 
of mechanism, and with inconceivable rapidity. He invented 
a number of positions for these arms, which stood as signs 
for the letters of the alphabet; and these, for the greater 
celerity and simplicity, he reduced in number as much as 
possible. The grammarian will easily conceive that sixteen 
signs may amply supply all the letters of the alphabet, since 
some letters may be omitted, not only without detriment, but 
with advantage. These signs, as they were arbitrary, could 
be changed every week; so that the sign of B for one day, 
might be the sign of M the next; and it was only necessary 
that the persons at the extremities should know the key. The 
intermediate operators were only instructed generally in these 
sixteen signals ; which were so distinct, so marked, so different 
the one from the other, that they w r ere remembered with the 
greatest ease. 

The construction of the machine was such, tha 4- each signal 
was uniformly given in precisely the same manner at all times: 
it did not depend on the operator’s manual skill; and the 
position of the arm could never, for any one signal, be a degree 
higher or a degree lower, its movement being regulated me¬ 
chanically. M. Chappe having received, at the Louvre, the 
sentence to be conveyed, gave a known signal to the second 
station (which was Mont Martre) to prepare. At each station 
there was a watch-tower, where telescopes were fixed, and 
the person on watch gave the signal of preparation which he 
had received, and this communicated successively through all 
the line, which brought them all into a state of readiness. 
The person at Mont Martre then received, letter by letter, 
the sentence from the Louvre, which he repeated with his 
own machine; and this was again repeated from the next 
height, with inconceivable rapidity, to the final station at 
Lisle. 

Various experiments w T ere in consequence tried upon tele¬ 
graphs in this country ; and one was soon after set up by 
government, in a chain of stations from the admiralty-office 
to the sea-coast. It consists of six octagon boards, each of 
which is poised upon an axis in a frame, in such a manner 
that it can be either placed vertically, so as to appear with its 
full size to the observer at the nearest station, or it becomes 
invisible to him by being placed horizontally, or with only 
the narrow edge exposed. These six boards make thirty-six 
changes, by the most plain and simple mode of working; and 
they will make many more, if more were necessary. 


SEA-FIGHT AT ROME.- A WOODEN EAGLE, ETC. 711 

We submit to the reader the following account of a Spec¬ 
tacle of a Sea Fight at Rome. —Augustus, to divert his 
mind from fixing on his domestic misfortunes, exhibited the 
most magnificent and expensive shows that had ever been 
seen at Rome. Chariot-races in the circus, representations 
on the stage, combats by gladiators, &c. were now become 
common. Augustus, therefore, the better to divert both him¬ 
self and the people, revived these sports, which had been for 
a considerable time laid aside, on account of the extra¬ 
ordinary charges that attended them. He caused a canal to 
be dug, eighteen hundred paces in length, and two hundred in 
breadth, conveying into it the Flaminian waters, and building 
scaffolds quite round it, capable of holding a prodigious multi¬ 
tude of spectators. And indeed the concourse of people 
was so great, that the emperor was obliged to place guards in 
all quarters of the city, lest the thieves should lay hold of that 
opportunity to plunder the empty and abandoned houses. 
Augustus had frequently entertained the people with fights 
of lions, tigers, elephants, rhinoceroses, 8tc. but now the new 
canal appeared all on a sudden covered with crocodiles, of 
which thirty-six were killed by Egyptians, brought from the 
banks of the Nile for that purpose. The multitude were 
highly delighted by this sight, which was quite new; but the 
sea-fight which ensued, afforded them still greater diversion: 
for, at the opposite ends of the lake, or canal, two fleets 
appeared, the galleys of one being built after the Greek, and 
those of the other after the Persian manner. Both fleets 
engaged; and, as they fought in good earnest, most of the 
combatants being persons sentenced to death, the battle 
proved very bloody. 

A Wooden Eagle, and an Iron Fly. —Petrus Ramus 
tells us of a Wooden Eagle and an Iron Fly, made by Regio¬ 
montanus, a famous mathematician at Nuremberg: whereof 
the first flew forth out of the city, aloft in the air, met the 
Emperor Maximilian a good way off, coming towards it; and, 
having saluted him, returned again, waiting on him at the 
city gates. The second, at a feast, whereto the Emperor had 
invited his familiar friends, flew forth from his hanu, and, 
taking a round, returned thither again, to the great astonish¬ 
ment of the beholders: both which, the excellent pen of the 
noble Du Bartas has expressed in the following lines: 

Why should I not that Wooden Eagle mention, 

A learned German's late admir’d invention, 

Which, mounting from his fist that fram’d her, 

Flew iarto meet the German Emperor? 

And, having met him, with her nimble train 
And pliant wings turning about again*. 


712 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE ARTS, 


Follow’d him close unto the castle gate 
Of Nuremberg; whom all their shows of state, 

Streets hung with arras, arches curious built, 

Grey-headed senate, and youth’s gallantries, 

Grac’d not so much as only this device. 

He goes on, and thus describes the Fly: 

Once, as this artist, more with mirth than meat; 

Feasted some friends whom he esteemed great, 

Forth from his hand an Iron Fly flew out; 

Which having flown a perfect round about, 

With weary wings returned to his master, 

And as judicious on his arm he plac’d her. 

Oh! wit divine, that in the narrow womb 

Of a small Fly could find sufficient room 

For all those springs, wheels, counterpoise, and chains, 

Which stood instead of life, and blood, and veins. 

Whitehead’s Ship. —George Whitehead, an Englishman, 
made a ship, with all her tackling, to move itself on a table, 
with rowers plying the oars, a woman playing on the lute, 
and a little whelp crying on the deck,—says Scottus, in his 
Itinerary. 

Scaliot’s Lock, &c. —In the twentieth year of Queen 
Elizabeth, Mark Scaliot, a blacksmith, made a lock, con¬ 
sisting of eleven pieces of iron, steel, and brass, all which, 
together with a pipe-key to it, weighed but one grain of gold: 
he made also a chain of gold, consisting of forty-three links, 
whereunto having fastened the lock and key before men¬ 
tioned, he put the chain about a flea’s neck, which drew them 
all with ease. All these together, lock and key, chain and 
flea, being weighed, the weight of them was but one grain 
and a half. 

Praxiteles’ Venus. —Praxiteles, who was an ingenious 
worker in imagery, made a statue of Venus for the Cnidians, so 
much resembling life, that a certain young man became 
enamoured of it to such a degree, that the excess of his love 
deprived him of his senses. This piece of art was so eagerly 
coveted by king Nicomedes, that, though the Cnidians owed 
him an immense sum of money, he offered to take the statue 
in full satisfaction for his debt; but was refused. 

The next subject is a curious Weaving Engine. —At 
Dantzic in Poland, there was set up a rare invention for 
weaving four or five webs at a time, without any human 
help. It was an engine that moved of itself, and would work 
night and day. This invention was suppressed, because it 
would have ruined the poor people of the town; and the 
artificer was secretly destroyed, as Lancelotti, the Italian 
abbot, relates from the mouth of M. Muller, a Pole, who had 
seen the device. 


HYDRAULIC BIRDS.—BOVERICK’s CURIOSITIES. 713 

Hydra ulic Birds. —At Tibur, in Tivoli, near Rome, in 
the gardens of Hippolitus d’Este, Cardinal of Ferrara, there 
are the representations of sundry birds sitting- on the tops of 
trees, which, by hydraulic art, and secret conveyances of 
water through the trunks and branches of the trees, are made 
to sing and clap their wings; but at the sudden appearance 
of an owl out of a bush of the same artifice, they immediately 
become all mute and silent. It was the work of Claudius 
Gallus, as Possivenus informs us. 

Hersciikll’s Grand Telescope. —The tube of this tele¬ 
scope is thirty-nine feet four inches in length, and four feet 
ten inches in diameter, every part being made of iron. It 
stands in the open air, appears to be considerably elevated, 
and is encircled with a complicated scaffolding, by which its 
steadiness is secured. The concave face of its speculum is 
forty-eight inches of polished surface in diameter, and it 
weighs nearly tivo thousand one hundred and eighteeen pounds ! 
With proper eye-glasses it magnifies above six thousand times: 
it is the largest instrument, and has the greatest magnifying 
power, of any that has been made. By its aid, Dr. Herschell 
has been able to observe the lightning in the atmosphere of 
the moon, and has found out several celestial bodies, unknown 
to preceding astronomers. The whole was finished on August 
the 28th, 1789, on which day the sixth satellite of Saturn was 
discovered. The observer, suspended at the end of the in¬ 
strument, with his back towards the object he views, looks 
down the tube, and sees the image reflected from the mirror; 
whilst a man below turns gently round the instrument, to 
accord with the apparent rotatory motion of the heavens, 
thus preserving the image of the object on the mirror with 
stability. 

Boverick’s Curiosities. —Mr. Baker, in his Treatise on 
the Microscope, says, “ I myself have seen, near Durham 
Yard, in the Strand, and have examined with my microscope, 
a chaise, (made by one Mr. Boverick, a watch-maker,) having 
four w'heels, with all the proper apparatus belonging to them, 
turning readily on their axles, together with a man sitting in 
the chaise, all formed of ivory, and drawn along by a flea, 
without any seeming difficulty. I weighed it with the greatest 
care I was able; and found the chaise, man, and flea, were 
barely equal to a single grain. I weighed also, at the same 
time and place, a brass chain made by the same hand, about 
two inches long, containing two hundred links, with a hook at 
at one end, and a padlock and key at the other; and found it 
less than the third part of a grain. I have seen (made by the 
same artist) a quadrille table with a drawer in it, an eating- 

4 X 


?I4 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE ARTS. 

table, a sideboard table, a looking-glass, twelve chairs, with 
skeleton backs, two dozen of plates, six dishes, a dozen knives, 
and as many forks, twelve spoons, two salts, a frame and 
castors, together with a gentleman, lady, and footman, all 
contained in a cherry-stone, and not filling much more than 
half of it, 

Bunzlau Curiosities. —Mr. Adams, in his Letters on 
Silesia, gives the following account of two ingenious mecha¬ 
nics he met with at Bunzlau. Their names were Jacob, and 
Huttig; the one was a carpenter, the other a weaver, and they 
were next-door neighbours to each other. “ The first (says 
Mr. Adams) has made a machine, in which, by the means 
of certain clock-work, a number of puppets, about six inches 
high, are made to move upon a kind of stage, so as to repre¬ 
sent in several successive scenes the passion of Jesus Christ. 
The first exhibits him in the garden at prayer, while the three 
apostles are sleeping at a distance. In the last, he is shewn 
dead in the sepulchre, guarded by two Roman soldiers. The 
intervening scenes represent the treachery of Judas, the ex¬ 
amination of Jesus before Caiaphas, the dialogue between 
Pilate and the Jews concerning him, the denial of Peter, the 
scourging, and the crucifixion. It is all accompanied by a 
mournful dirge of music; and the maker, by way of explana¬ 
tion, repeats the passages of Scripture which relate the events 
he has undertaken to shew. I never saw a stronger proof of 
the strength of the impression of objects, which are brought 
immediately home to the senses. I have heard and read more 
than one eloquent sermon upon the passion ; but I confess, 
none of their most laboured efforts at the pathetic ever touched 
my heart with one-half the force of this puppet-show. The 
traitor’s kiss, the blow struck by the high-priest’s servant, the 
scourging, the nailing to the cross, the sponge of vinegar, 
every indignity offered, and every pain inflicted, occasioned 
a sensation, when thus made perceptible to the eye, which I 
had never felt at mere description. 

" Hultig, the weaver, with an equal, or superior mechanical 
genius, has applied it in a different manner, and devoted it to 
geographical, astronomical, and historical pursuits. In the 
intervals of his leisure from the common weaver’s work, which 
affords him subsistence, he has become a very learned man. 
The walls of his rooms are covered with maps and drawings 
of his own, representing, here the course of the Oder, with 
all the towns and villages through which it runs ; there, the 
mountains of Switzerland, and those of Silesia, over both of 
which he has travelled in person. In one room he has two 
very large tables, one raised above the other: on one of them 
he has ranged all the towns and remarkable places of Germany j 


BUNZLAU CURIOSITIES. 


7U 


and on the other, of all Europe : they are placed according 
to their respective geographical bearings. The names of the 
towns are written on a small square piece of paper, and fixed 
in a slit on the top of a peg, which is stuck into the table. 
The remarkable mountains are shewn by some pyramidical 
black stones; and little white pyramids are stationed at all the 
spots which have been distinguished by any great battle, or 
other remarkable incident. The man himself, in explaining 
his work, shews abundance of learning, relative to the ancient 
names of places, and the former inhabitants of the countries 
to which he points ; and amused us with anecdotes of various 
kinds, connected with the lands he has marked out. 

Thus, in shewing us the Alps, he pointed to the very spot 
over which the French army of reserve so lately passed, and 
where Buona.parte so fortunately escaped being taken by an 
Austrian officer; and then he gave us a short comment of his 
own, upon the character and extraordinary good fortune of 
the First Consul. In a second room he has a large machine, 
representing the Copernican system of the universe : it is made 
in such a manner, that the whole firmament of fixed stars 
moves round our solar system once in every twenty-four hours, 
and thus always exhibits the stars, in the exact position, rela¬ 
tive to our earth, in which they really stand. Internally, he 
has stationed all the planets which belong to our system, with 
their several satellites, and all the comets that have been ob¬ 
served during the last three centuries. In a third room he 
has another machine, exhibiting in different parts the various 
phases of the moon, and those of Jupiter’s satellites, the 
apparent motion of the sun round the earth, and the real 
motion of the earth round the sun. 

“ In his garret he has another work, upon which he is yet 
occupied, and which, being his last labour, seems to be that 
in which he takes the most delight. Upon a very large table, 
similar to that in the first room, he has inlaid a number of 
thin plates of wood, formed so as to represent a projection of 
the earth under Mercator’s plan. All the intervals between 
the plates of wood designate that portion of the world which 
is covered with water. He has used a number of very small 
ropes of two colours, drawn over the surface in such a manner 
as to describe the tracks of all the celebrated circumnavigators 
of the globe. The colours of the ropes distinguish the several 
voyages which claim especial pre-eminence above the rest. 
To Columbus, Anson, and Cook, he has shewn a special 
honour by three little models of ships bearing their names, 
which are placed upon the surface of his ocean, in some spot 
of their respective courses. The names of all the other voy¬ 
agers, and the times at which their voyages were performed, are 
marked by papers fixed at the points of their departure. Such 


7it> CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE ARTS. 

is the imperfect description I can give you, from a short view 
of the labours of this really curious man. He must be nearly, 
or quite seventy years old, and has all his lifetime been of an 
infirm constitution. But this taste for the sciences, he told 
us, was hereditary in his family, and had been common to 
them all, from his great-grandfather down to himself. His 
dress and appearance were those of a common weaver: but 
his expressive countenance, at once full of enthusiastic fire 
and of amiable good-nature, was a model, upon which Lava- 
ter might expatiate with exultation. The honest and ingeni¬ 
ous weaver, on our taking leave, made us smile by exclaiming, 
that now, if he could but have a traveller from Africa come 
to see his works, he could boast of having had visitors from 
all the four quarters of the globe.” 

Artificial Flyin g. —The art of flying has be.en attempted 
by several persons in all ages. The Leucadians, out of super¬ 
stition, are reported to have had a custom of precipitating a 
man from a high cliff into the sea, first fixing feathers, vari¬ 
ously expanded, round his body, in order to break his fall. 
Friar Bacon, who lived near five hundred years ago, not only 
affirms the art of flying possible, but assures us, that he him¬ 
self knew how to make an engine, wherein a man, sitting, might 
be able to cenvey himself through the air, like a bird ; and 
further adds, that there was one who had then tried it with 
success: but this method, which consisted of a couple of 
large thin hollow copper globes, exhausted of the air, and 
sustaining a person who sat thereon. Dr. Hooke shews to be 
impracticable. The philosophers of King Charles the Second’s, 
reign were mightily busied about this art. Bishop Wilkins, 
was so confident of success in it, that he says, he does not 
question but, in future ages, it will be as usual to hear a man 
call for his wings, when he is going a journey, as it is now to 
call for his boots. 

The art of flying has in some measure been brought to beal 
in the construction and use of balloons. 











































































































































































































































































































































BURNING GLASSES. 


717 


CHAP. LXXIV. 

curiosities respecting the arts .—( Concluded ) 

Burning Glasses—Ductility of Glass—Remarkable Ductility 
and Extensibility of Gold—Pin Making — Needles — Shoes — 
The Great Bell of Moscow. 

Burning Glasses. —We have some extraordinary instances 
and surprising accounts of prodigious effects of burning- 
glasses. Those made of reflecting mirrors are more powerful 
than those made with lenses, because the rays from a mirror 
are reflected all to one point nearly; whereas by a lens, t. y 
are refracted to different points, and are therefore not 
dense or ardent. The whiter also the metal or substance 
is, of which the mirror is made, the stronger will be the 
effect. 

The most remarkable burning-glasses, or rather mirrors, 
among the ancients, were those of Archimedes and Proclus; 
by the first of which the Roman ships, besieging Syracuse, 
(according to the testimony of several writers,) and by the 
other, the navy of Vitalian besieging Byzantium, were re¬ 
duced to ashes. Among the moderns, the burning mirrors 
of greatest eminence, are those of Vilette, and Tschirnhausen, 
and the new complex one of M. de Buffon. 

That of M. de Vilette was three feet eleven inches in 
diameter, and its focal distance was three feet two inches. 
Its substance is a composition of tin, copper, and tin glass. 
Some of its effects, as found by Dr. Harris and Dr. Desagu- 
liers, are, that a silver sixpence melted in seven seconds and 
a half; a king George’s halfpenny melted in sixteen seconds, 
and ran in thirty-four seconds; tin melted in three seconds; 
and a diamond weighing four grains, lost seven-eighths of it3 
weight. That of M. de Buffon is a polyhedron, six feet 
broad, and as many high, consisting of one hundred and sixty- 
eight small mirrors, or flat pieces of looking-glass, each six 
inches square; by means of which, with the faint rays of the 
sun in the month of March, he set on fire boards of beech- 
wood at one hundred and fifty feet distance. Besides, his 
machine has the conveniency of burning downwards, or hori¬ 
zontally, at pleasure; each speculum being moveable, so 
as, by the means of three screws, to be set to a proper incli¬ 
nation for directing the rays towards any given point; and it 
turns either in its greater focus, or in any nearer interval, 
which our common burning-glasses cannot do, their focus being 
fixed and determined. M. de Buffon, at another time, burnt 


718 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE ARTS. 

wood at the distance of two hundred feet. He also melted 
tin and lead at the distance of above one hundred and twenty 
feet, and silver at fifty. 

Mr. Parker, of Fleet-street, London, was induced, at an 
expense of upwards of £700, to contrive, and at length to com¬ 
plete, a large transparent lens, that would serve the purpose 
of fusing and vitrifying such substances as resist the fires 
of ordinary furnaces, and more especially of applying heat in 
vacuo, and in other circumstances in which it cannot be 
applied by any other means. After directing his attention 
for several years to this object, and performing a great variety 
of experiments in the prosecution of it, he at last succeeded 
in the construction of a lens, of flint-glass, three feet in 
diameter, which, when fixed in its frame, exposes a surface 
two feet eight inches and a half in the clear, without any 
other material imperfection, except a disfigurement of one of 
the edges by a piece of the scoria of the mould, which un¬ 
fortunately found its way into its substance. This lens was 
double-convex, both sides of which were a portion of a sphere 
of eighteen feet radius. It is difficult to form an accurate 
estimate of the burning power of this lens; inasmuch as it is 
next to impossible to discover what should be deducted for 
the loss of power, in consequence of the impediments that 
the glass of which it was made must occasion, as well as the 
four reflections, and two more by way of diminution; but we 
will endeavour to appreciate it, after a full allowance for these 
deductions, which must necessarily result from every means 
of concentrating the solar rays, and must be considered as the 
friction of an engine, of which nature they really partake. 

The solar rays received on a circular surface of two feet 
eight inches and a half, when concentrated within the dia¬ 
meter of an inch, will be 105,626 times its intensity, or 
this number of times greater than the heat of the sun as 
it is experienced on the surface of the earth. We will sup¬ 
pose, that as the heat of the air, in ordinary summer 
weather, is 65 degrees, and in sultry weather is 75 degrees, 
the average of which is 70 degrees, and that we take this 
as the average effect, the accumulated power of the lens, on 
the supposition of an uniform heat over the whole surface of 
the focus, will be equal to 73,938 degrees. It must be recol¬ 
lected, by those who have an opportunity of examining the 
effects of this lens, that the external part of the focal light 
was less intense than that part which was near the centre of 
it; or rather, that the effect was very much accumulated in 
the centre ; but as it is possible that the refraction of the light 
and of the caloric fluid may not take place in the same angles, 
we think, it safest to consider it as of uniform effect, and after 
deducting one fourth part thereof as a compensation, there 


BURNING GLASSES. 


719 

remains 5545 as the expression of its power. As the applica¬ 
tion of the second lens reduced the diameter of the focus to 
half an inch, the effect, without allowing for the reduction of 
its power, would be equal to 221,816 degrees; but deducting 
one-fourth for the second transmission, there remains 166,362 
degrees, as the expression of its power. 

Mr. Parker further informs us, that a diamond, weighing 
ten grains, exposed to this lens for thirty minutes, was reduced 
to six grains; during which operation it opened and foliated 
like the leaves of a flower, which emitted whitish fumes, and 
when closed again, bore a polish, and retained its form. Gold 
remained in its metallic state without apparent diminution, 
notwithstanding an exposure at intervals of many hours : but 
what is remarkable, the rest, or cupel, which was composed 
of bone-ash, was tinctured with a beautiful pink colour. 

The experiments on platina evince that the specimens were 
in different states of approach to a complete metallic form; 
several of them threw off their parts in sparks, which in most 
instances were metallic. Copper, after three minutes’ expo¬ 
sure, was not found to have lost in weight.' 

What is remarkable with regard to experiments on iron, is, 
that the lower part, i. e. that part in contact with the charcoal, 
was first melted, when that part which was exposed to the 
focus remained unfused ; an evidence of the effect of flux on 
this metal. 

Several of the semi-crystalline substances, exposed to the 
focal heat, exhibited symptoms of fusion; such as the agate, 
oriental flint, cornelian, and jasper: but as the probability is, 
that these substances were not capable of complete vitrifica¬ 
tion, it is enough that they were rendered externally of a 
glassy form. Garnet completely fused on black lead in 120 
seconds, lost a quarter of a grain, became darker in colour, 
and was attracted by the magnet. Ten cut garnets taken from 
a bracelet began to run the one into the other in a few seconds, 
and at last formed into one globular garnet. The clay used 
by Mr. Wedgwood to make his pyrometric test, run in a few 
seconds into a white enamel. Seven other kinds of clay, sent 
by Mr. Wedgwood, were all vitrified. Several experiments 
were made on limestone, some of which were vitrified, but all 
of which were agglutinated ; it is, however, suspected that 
some extraneous substance must have been intermixed. A 
globule produced from one of the specimens, on being put 
into the mouth, flew into a thousand pieces, occasioned, it is 
presumed, by the moisture. 

A subscription was proposed for raising the sum of seven 
hundred guineas, towards indemnifying the charges of the 
inventor, and retaining the very curious and useful machine 
above described in our own country; but from the failure or 


720 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE ARTS. 

the subscription, and some other concurring circumstances, 
Mr. Parker was induced to dispose of it to Capt. Mackintosh, 
who accompanied Lord Macartney in the embassy to China: 
and it was left, much to the regret of philosophers in Europe, 
at Pekin ; where it remains in the hands of persons, who most 
probably know neither its value nor use. 

Ductility of Glass. —We all know, that when glass is w'ell 
penetrated with the heat of the fire, the workmen can figure 
and manage it like soft wax; but, what is most remarkable, it 
may be drawn, or spun out, into threads exceedingly long and 
fine. Our ordinary spinners do not form their threads of silk, 
flax, or the like, with half the ease and expedition the glass- 
spinners do threads of this brittle matter. We have some of 
them used in plumes for children’s heads, and divers other 
works, much finer than any hair, and which bend and wave, 
like hair, with every wind. Nothing is more simple and easy 
than the method of making them. There are two workmen 
employed : the first holds one end of a piece of glass over the 
flame of a lamp; and when the heat has softened it, a second 
operator applies a glass hook to the metal thus in fusion, and, 
withdrawing the hook again, it brings with it a thread of glass, 
which still adheres to the mass; then, fitting his hook on the 
circumference of a wheel about two feet and a half in diame¬ 
ter, he turns the wheel as fast as he pleases, which, drawing 
out the thread, winds it on its run, till, after a certain number 
of revolutions, it is covered with a skein of glass-thread. 
The mass in fusion over the lamp diminishes insensibly, being 
wound out like a clue of silk upon the wheel; and the parts 
cooling as they recede from the flame, become more coherent 
to those next to them, and this by many degrees : the parts 
nearest the fire are always the least coherent, and, of conse¬ 
quence, must give way to the effort the rest make to draw 
them towards the wheel. The circumference of these threads 
is usually a flat oval, being three or four times as broad as 
thick: some of them seem scarcely bigger than the thread of 
a silkworm, and are surprisingly flexible. If the two ends of 
such threads are knotted together, they may be drawn and 
bent, till the aperture, or space in the middle of the knot, 
does not exceed one-fourth of a line, or one forty-eighth of 
an inch in diameter. Hence M. Reaumur maintains, that the 
flexibility of glass increases in proportion to the fineness of 
the threads; and that, probably, had we but the art of draw¬ 
ing threads as fine as a spider’s web, we might w r eave stuffs 
and cloths of them for wear. Accordingly, he made some 
experiments this way; and found that he could make threads 
fine enough, viz. as fine, in his judgment, as spider’s thread, 
but not 1 )ng enough for the purposes of any manufacture. 


DUCTILITY OF GOLD.—PIN-MAKING. 72] 

Re MARKABLE DUCTILITY AND EXTENSIBILITY OfGoLD. 
—Gold is the most ductile, as well as the most malleable, of 
all metals. According to Cronstedt, one grain of it may be 
stretched out so as to cover 98 Swedish ells, equal to 63.66 
English yards of silver wire; but Wallerius asserts, that a 
grain may be stretched out in such a manner, as to cover 500 
ells of wire. At any rate, the extension is prodigious; for, 
according to the least of the calculations, the millionth part 
of a grain of gold may be made visible to the naked eye. Nor 
is its malleability inferior to its ductility. Boyle, quoted 
by Apligny, in his treatise on Colours, says, that one grain 
and a half of gold may be beaten into 50 leaves of an inch 
square, which, if intersected by parallel lines drawn at right 
angles to each other, and distant only the hundredth part of 
an inch from each other, will produce twenty-five millions of 
little squares, each very easily discernible by the naked eye. 
Mr. Magellan tells us, that its surface may be extended by 
the hammer 159,092 times. “ I am informed, (says he) by an 
intelligent goldbeater in England, that the finest gold leaf is 
that made in new skins, and must have an alloy of three grains 
of copper to the ounce of pure gold, or else it would be too 
soft to pass over the irregularities of the skins. He affirms, 
that 80 books, or 2000 leaves of gold, each leaf containing 
10.89 square inches, weigh less than 384 grains. Each book, 
therefore, of 25 leaves, or 272.25 inches, weighs less than 4,8 
grains; so that each grain of the metal will produce about 
57 square inches of gold leaf.” From further calculation it 
appears, that the thickness of these leaves is less than the 
282,000th part of an inch; and that 16 ounces of gold would 
be sufficient to gild a silver wire, equal in length to the whole 
circumference of the globe we inhabit! 

Pin - making. —Though pins are apparently simple, their 
manufacture is not a little curious and complex. When the 
brass wire, of which the pins are formed, is first received at 
the manufactory, ft is generally too thick for the purpose of 
being cut into pins. The first operation, therefore, is that of 
winding it off from one wheel to another with great velocity, 
and causing it to pass between the two, through a circle in a 
piece of iron of smaller diameter. The wire being thus re¬ 
duced to its proper dimensions, is straightened by drawing it 
between iron pins, fixed in a board in a zigzag manner, but 
so as to leave a straight line between them : afterwards it is 
cut into lengths of three or tour yards, and then into smaller 
ones, every length being sufficient to make six pins. Each 
end of these is ground to a point, which was performed, (where 
these observations were made,) by boys, who sat each with two 
small grinding-stones before him, turned by awheel. Taking 

*-*• r 


722 CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE ARTS. 

up a handful, he applied the ends to the coarsest of the two 
stones, being careful at the same time to keep each piece 
moving round between his fingers, so that the points may not 
become flat: he then gives them a smoother and sharper point 
by applying them to the other stone, and by that means a lad of 
twelve or fourteen years of age, is able to point about sixteen 
thousand pins in an hour. When the wire is thus pointed, a 
pin is taken off at each end, and this is repeated till it is cut 
into six pieces. The next operation is, that of forming the 
heads, or, as they term it, head-spinning, which is done by 
means of a spinning-wheel, one piece of wire being thus with 
astonishing rapidity wound round another, and the interior 
one being drawn out, leaves a hollow tube between the cir¬ 
cumvolutions : it is then cut with shears, every two circum¬ 
volutions, or turns of the wire, forming one head ; these are 
softened by throwing them into iron pans, and placing them 
in a furnace till they are red hot. As soon as they are cold, 
they are distributed to children, who sit with hammers and 
anvils before them, and catching one at the extremity, they 
apply them immediately to the anvil and hammer, and by a 
motion or two of the foot, the top and the head are fixed to¬ 
gether in much less time than it can be described, and with a 
dexterity only to be acquired by practice. The pin is now 
finished as to its form, but still it is merely brass ; it is there¬ 
fore thrown into a copper containing a solution of tin and the 
lees of wine. Here it remains for some time, and, when taken 
out, assumes a white, though dull appearance : in order there¬ 
fore to give it a polish, it is put into a tub containing a quan¬ 
tity of bran, which is set in motion by turning a shaft that 
runs through its centre, and thus, by means of friction, it 
becomes perfectly bright. The pin being complete, nothing 
remains but to separate it from the bran, which is perfectly 
similar to the winnowing of corn, the bran flying off, and 
leaving the pin behind it for immediate sale. 

We must not forget to present to the reader some curious 
particulars respecting the manufacture of Needles. —Needles 
make a very considerable article in commerce, though there 
is scarcely any commodity cheaper, the consumption of them 
being almost incredible. The sizes are from No. 1, the largest, 
to No. 25, the smallest. In the manufacture of needles, Ger¬ 
man and Hungarian steel are of most repute. 

In the making of them, the first thing is, to pass the steel 
through a coal fire, and under a hammer, to bring it out of 
its square figure into a cylindrical one. This done, it is drawn 
through a large hole of a wire-drawing iron, and returned into 
the fire, and drawn through a second hole of the iron, smaller 
than the first; and thus successively from hole to hole, till it 


NEEDLES. 


723 

has acquired the degree of fineness required for that species 
of needles; observing, every time it is to be drawn, that it 
be greased over with lard, to render it more manageable. 
The steel, thus reduced to a fine wire, is cut in pieces of the 
length of the needles intended. These pieces are flatted at 
one end on the anvil, by force of a puncheon of well-tempered 
steel, and laid on a leaden block to bring out, with another 
puncheon, the little piece of steel remaining in the eye. The 
corners are then filed off the square of the heads, and a little 
cavity filed on each side of the flat of the head ; this done, 
the point is formed with a file, and the whole filed over: they 
are then laid to heat red-hot on a long narrow iron, crooked 
at one end, in a charcoal fire; and when taken out thence, 
are thrown into a bason of cold water to harden. On this 
operation a good deal depends; too much heat burns them, 
and too little leaves them soft; the medium is learned by ex¬ 
perience. When they are thus hardened, they are laid in an 
iron shovel on a fire more or less brisk in proportion to the 
thickness of the needles ; taking care to move them from time 
to time. This serves to temper them, and take off their brit¬ 
tleness ; great care here too must be taken of the degree of 
heat. They are then straightened one after another with the 
hammer, the coldness of the water used in hardening them 
having twisted the greatest part of them. 

The next process is the polishing of them. To do this, 
they take 12,000 or 15,000 needles, and range them in little 
heaps against each other, on apiece of new buckram sprinkled 
with emery-dust. The needles being thus disposed, emery-dust 
is thrown over them, which is again sprinkled with oil of olives ; 
at last the whole is made up into a roll, well bound at both 
ends. This roll is then laid on a polishing table, and over it 
a thick plank loaded with stones, which two men work back¬ 
wards and forwards a day and a half, or two days, successively; 
by which means the roll thus continually agitated by the 
weight and motion of the plank over it, the needles withinside 
being rubbed against each other with oil and emery, are insen¬ 
sibly polished. After polishing, they are taken out, and the 
filth washed off them with hot water and soap : they are then 
wiped in hot bran, a little moistened, placed with the needles 
m a round box suspended in the air by a cord, which is kept 
stirring till the bran and needles are dry. The needles thus 
wiped in two or three different brans, are taken out and put 
in wooden vessels, to have the good separated from those 
whose points or eyes have been broken either in polishing or 
wiping; the points are then all turned the same way, and 
smoothed with an emery-stone turned with a wheel. This 
operation finishes them, and there remains nothing but to 
make them into packets. 


724 


CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE ARTS. 


Needles were first made in England by a native of India, in 
1545, but the art was lost at his death; it was, however, re¬ 
covered by Christopher Greening, in 1560, who was settled, 
with his three children, Elizabeth, John, and Thomas, by 
Dr. Damar, ancestor of the present Lord Milton, at Long 
Crendon, in Bucks, where the manufactory has been carried 
on from that time to the present day. 

Curiosities respecting Shoes. —Among the Jews, shoes 
were made of leather, linen, rush, orw’ood; those of soldiers 
were sometimes of brass or iron. They were tied with thongs, 
which passed under the soles of the feet. To put off their 
shoes, w r as an act of veneration; it was also a sign of mourning 
and humiliation : to bear one’s shoes, or to untie the latchets 
of them, was considered as the meanest service, as appears in 
the Baptist’s declaration of his own inferiority to Christ. 

Among the Greeks, shoes of various kinds wej'e used. 
Sandals were worn by women of distinction. The Lacedemo¬ 
nians wore red shoes. The Grecian shoes generally reached 
to the middle of the leg. The Romans used two kinds of shoes: 
the calceus, which covered the whole foot, somewhat like our 
shoes, and was tied above with latchets or strings; and the solea, 
or slipper, which covered only the sole of the foot, and was 
fastened with leathern thongs. The calceus was always worn 
along with the toga, when a person went abroad : slippers 
were put on during a journey, and at feasts, but it was reckoned 
effeminate to appear in public with them. Black shoes were 
worn by the citizens of ordinary rank, and white ones by the 
women. Red shoes were sometimes worn by the ladies, and 
purple ones by the coxcombs of the other sex. Red shoes were 
put on by the chief magistrates of Rome, on days of ceremony 
and triumphs. The shoes of senators, patricians, and their 
children, had a crescent upon them, which served for a buckle; 
these were called calcei lunati. Slaves wore no shoes; hence 
they were called cretori , from their dusty feet. Phocion also, 
and Cato Uticensis, went without shoes. The toes of the 
Roman shoes were turned up in the point; hence they were 
called calcei rostrati, repandi , &c. 

In the ninth and tenth centuries, the greatest princes of 
Europe wore wooden shoes, or the upper part of leather, and 
the sole of wood. In the reign of William Rufus, a great 
beau, Robert, surnamed The Horned, used shoes with long 
sharp points, stuffed with tow, and twisted like a ram’s horn. 
It is said, the clergy being highly offended, declaimed against 
the long-pointed shoes with great vehemence. The points, 
however, continued to increase, till, in the reign of Richard 
II. they were of so enormous a length, that they were tied to 
knees with chains, sometimes of gold, sometimes of silver 


VARIETY OF FASHIONS IN SHOES. 725 

The upper parts of these shoes, in Chaucer’s time, were cut in 
•.imitation of a church window. The long-pointed shoes ^ere 
called crackowes, and continued in fashion for three centuries, 
in spite of the bulls of popes, the decrees of councils, and the 
declamations of the clergy. At length the parliament of 
England interposed, by an act A. D. 1463, prohibiting the use 
of shoes or boots with pikes exceeding two inches in length, 
and prohibiting all shoemakers from making shoes or boots 
with longer pikes, under severe penalties. But even this was 
not sufficient: it was necessary to denounce the dreadful 
sentence of excommunication against all who wore shoes or 
boots with points longer than two inches. The present 
fashion of shoes was introduced in 1633, but the buckle was 
not used till 1670. 

In Norway, they use shoes of a particular construction, con¬ 
sisting of two pieces, and without heels; in which the upper- 
leather sits close to the foot, the sole being joined to it by 
many plates or folds. 

The shoes or slippers of the Japanese, as we are informed 
by Professor Thunberg, are made of rice-straw, woven ; but 
sometimes, for people of distinction, of fine slips of ratan. 
The shoe consists of a sole, without upper-leather or hind- 
piece : forwards, it is crossed by a strap, of the thickness of 
one’s finger, which is lined with linen ; from the tip of the 
shoe to the strap, a cylindrical string is carried, which passes 
between the great and second toe, and keeps the shoe fast on 
the foot. As these shoes have no hind-piece, they make a 
noise, when people walk in them, like slippers. When the 
Japanese travel, their shoes are furnished with three strings 
made of twisted straw, with which they are tied to the legs 
and feet, to prevent them from falling. Some people carry 
one or more pairs of shoes with them on their journeys, in 
order to put on new when the old ones are worn out. When 
it rains, or the roads are very dirty, these shoes are soon 
wetted through; and a great number of worn-out shoes are 
continually seen lying on the roads, especially near the brooks, 
where travellers have changed their shoes after washing their 
feet. 

Instead of these, in rainy or dirty weather, they wear high 
wooden clogs, which underneath are hollowed out in the 
middle, and at top have a band across, like a stirrup, and 
a string for the great toe; so that they can walk without 
soiling their feet. Some of them have their straw shoes 
fastened to these wooden clogs. The Japanese never enter 
their houses with their shoes on; but leave them in the entry, 
or place them on the bench near the door, and thus are 
always barefooted in their houses, so as not to dirty their 
neat irats. 


726 curiosities respecting the arts. 

Great Bell of Moscow. From Dr. Clarke’s Travels.— 
“The great bell of Moscow, known to be the largest ever 
founded, is in a deep pit in the midst of the Kremlin. The 
history of its fall is a fable ; and as writers are accustomed to 
copy each other, the story continues to be propagated. The 
fact is, the bell remains in the place where it was originally 
cast. It never was suspended ; the Russians might as well 
attempt to suspend a first-rate line-of-battle ship, with all her 
guns and stores. A fire took place in the Kremlin; the 
flames caught the building erected over the pit where the bell 
yet remains ; in consequence of this, the bell became hot, 
and water being thrown to extinguish the fire, fell upon the 
bell, causing the fracture which has taken place. The bell 
reaches from the bottom of the cave to the roof. The en 
trance is by a trap-door, placed even with the surface of the 
earth. We found the steps very dangerous ; some were want¬ 
ing, and others broken. In consequence of this, I had a 
severe fall down the whole extent of the first flight, and a 
narrow escape for my life, in not having my skull fractured 
upon the bell. After this accident, a sentinel was placed at 
the trap-door, to prevent people becoming victims to their 
curiosity. lie might have been as well employed in mending 
the ladders, as in waiting all day to say they were broken. 
The bell is truly a mountain of metal. It is said to contain 
a very large proportion of gold and silver. While it was in 
fusioL?, the nobles and the people cast in, as votive offerings, 
their plate and money: I endeavoured in vain to assay a small 
part: the natives regard it with superstitious veneration, and 
they would not allow even a grain to be filed off. At the 
same time, it may be said, the compound has a white shining 
appearance, unlike bell-metal in general; and, perhaps, its 
silvery aspect has strengthened, if not excited, a conjecture 
respecting the costliness of its constituents. 

“ On festival days, peasants visit the bell as they would 
resort to a church; considering it an act of devotion, and 
crossing themselves as they descend and ascend the steps. 
The bottom of the pit is covered with water, mud, and large 
pieces of timber; these, added to the darkness, render it 
always an unpleasant and unwholesome place; in addition to 
the danger arising from the ladders leading to the bottom. 
1 went frequently there, in order to ascertain the dimensions 
of the bell with exactness. To my great surprise, during one 
of those visits, half a dozen Russian officers, whom I found 
in the pit, agreed to assist me in the admeasurement. It so 
nearly agreed with the account published by Jonas Hanway, 
that the difference is not worth notice This is somewhat 
remarkable, considering the difficulty of exactly measuring 
what is partly buried in tlm earth, and the circumference of 


\ 



THE GREAT BELL OF MOSCOW, 

Tub largest bell in the world, is called in Russia the “Tzar Kolokol,” or king of bells; 
from the metal of which at least thirty-six bells might be cast, each as large as the great 
bell of St. Paul’s, which has been itself called an “enormous mass of metal.” The 
“ King of Bells” weighs 400,000 pounds, or nearly 200 tons; is 20 feet high, and 20£ in dia¬ 
meter. This enormous bell is now lying in a cavity close by Ivan Velikii, or Great Ivan, 
vhich is a tower belonging to the cathedral at Moscow. The tongue, which is 14 feet long, 
and 6 at its greatest circumference, lies exposed at the foot of the tower; it weighs as much 
as some of our largest bells. Russian authors state the bell to weigh 12,000 poods, or 
482,000 pounds. Much metal was brought by persons from all parts of Russia, and thrown 
into furnaces while the bell was preparing; and the nobles vied with each other in casting 
In $olJ and silver plate, rings, trinkets, and ornaments of all kinds during the operation. 




































































































































































































































































































































































































































































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BELL OF MOSCOW.—MAN WITH THE IRON MASK. 72 ? 

which is not entire. No one, I believe, has yet ascertained 
the size of the base; this would afford still greater dimen¬ 
sions than those we obtained; but it is entirely buried. 
About ten persons were present when I measured the part 
exposed to observation. We applied a strong cord close to 
the metal, in all parts of its periphery, and round .he lower 
part, where it touches the ground, taking care at the same 
time not to stretch the cord. From the piece of the bell 
broken off, it was ascertained that we had thus measured 
within two feet of its lower extremity. The circumference 
obtained was sixty-seven feet four inches; allowing a dia¬ 
meter of twenty-two feet five inches, and one-third. We then 
took the perpendicular height from the top, and found it to 
correspond exactly with the statement made by Hanway; 
namely, twenty-one feet four inches and a half. In the 
stoutest part, that in which it should have received the blow 
of the hammer, its thickness equalled twenty-three inches. 
We were able to ascertain this, by placing our hands under 
water, where the fracture has taken place; this is above seven 
feet high from the lip of the bell. The weight of this 
enormous mass of metal has been computed to be 443,772 
cwt. which, if valued at three shillings a pound, amounts to 
£66,565 16s. lying unemployed, and of no use to any one. 

It was founded, according to Augustine, in 1653, during 
the reign of Alexis. (See Voyage de Moscow, page 117.' 
The Russians and people of Moscow maintain, that it was 
cast during the reign of their empress Anne, probably from 
the female figure represented. Augustine proves that it is 
larger than the famous bell of Erford, and even than that of 
Pekin. 


CHAP. LXXV. 

CURIOSITIES IN HISTORY , ^c. 

Man with the Iron Mask. —There was a remarkable 
personage, so denominated, who existed as a state prisoner in 
France during the latter part of the seventeenth century. 
The circumstances of this person form an historical enigma, 
which has occasioned much inquiry, and many conjectures. 
The authenticated particulars concerning the Iron Mask are 
as follows :—A few months after the death of Cardinal Maza- 
rin, there arrived at the isle of Saint Marguerite, in the sea 
of Provence, a young prisoner whose appearance was pecu¬ 
liarly attracting : his person was above the middle size, and 
elegantly formed; his mien and deportment were noble, and 




CURIOSITIES IN HISTORY. 


728 

his manners graceful; and even the sound of his voice had 
in it something uncommonly interesting. On the road he 
cinstantly wore a mask made with iron springs, to enable 
him to eat without taking it off. It was at first believed that 
this mask was made entirely of iron, whence he acquired the 
title of The Man with the Irm Mask. His attendants had re¬ 
ceived orders to dispatch him, if he attempted to take off his 
mask or discover himself. He had been first confined at 
Pignerol, under the care of the governor, M. de St. Mars ; and 
being sent thence to St. Marguerite, he was accompanied 
thither by the same person, who continued to have the charge 
of him. He was always treated with the utmost respect: he 
was served constantly in plate; and the governor himself 
placed his dishes on the table, retiring immediately after, and 
locking the door behind him. He tu~to y yoit (tliee y d and 
thou y d) the governor; who, on the other hand, behaved to 
him in the most respectful manner, and never wore his hat 
before him, nor ever sat down in his presence without being 
desired. The Marquis of Louvoisis, who went to see him at 
St. Marguerite, spoke to him standing, and with those marks 
of attention which denote high respect. 

During his residence ihere, he attempted twice, in an in¬ 
direct manner, to make himself known. One day he wrote 
something with his knife on a plate, and threw it out of his 
window, to a boat that was drawn on shore near the foot of 
the tower. A fisherman picked it up, and carried it to the 
governor. M. de St. Mars was alarmed at the sight; and 
asked the man with great anxiety, whether he could read, and 
whether any one else had seen the plate? The man answered, 
that he could not read, that he had but just found the plate, 
and that no one else had seen it. He was, however, confined 
till the governor was well assured of the truth of his as¬ 
sertions. Another attempt to discover himself proved equally 
unsuccessful. A young man who lived in the isle, one day 
perceived something floating under the prisoner’s window; 
and on picking it up, he discovered it to be a very fine shirt 
written all over. He carried it immediately to the governor; 
who, having looked at some parts of the writing, asked the 
lad, with some appearance of alarm, if he had not had the 
curiosity to read it? He protested repeatedly that he had 
not; but two days afterwards he was found dead in his bed. 
The Masque de Fer remained in that isle till 1698, when 
M. St. Mars, being promoted to the government of the Bas- 
tile, conducted his prisoner to that fortress. In his way 
thither, he stopt with him at his estate near Palteau. The 
Mask arrived there in a litter, surrounded by a numerous 
guard on horseback. M. de St. Mars ate at the same table 
with him all the time they resided at Palteau; but the latter 


MAN WITH THE IRON MASK. 


729 

was always placed with his back towards the windows; and 
the peasants, who came to pay their compliments to their 
master, whom curiosity kept constantly on the watch, observed 
that M. de St. Mars always sat opposite to him, with two 
pistols by the side of his plate. They were waited on by one 
servant only, who brought in and carried out the dishes, al¬ 
ways carefully shutting the door, both in going out and return¬ 
ing. The prisoner was always masked, even when he passed 
through the court; but the people saw his teeth and lips, and 
observed that his hair was grey. The governor slept in the 
same room with him, in a second bed, that was placed in it 
on that occasion. In the course of his journey, the Mask was 
one day heard to ask his keeper, whether the king had any 
design on his life? “ No, Prince/* he replied ; “ provided that 
you quietly allow yourself to be conducted, your life is per¬ 
fectly secure/* 

The stranger was accommodated as well as it was possible 
to be in the Bastile. An apartment had been prepared for 
him by order of the governor before his arrival, fitted up in 
the most convenient style ; and every thing he expressed a 
wish for, was instantly procured him. His table was the best 
that could be provided, and he was supplied with as rich clothes 
as he desired ; but his chief taste in this last particular was 
for lace, and for linen remarkably fine. He was allowed the 
use of such books as he requested, and he spent much of his 
time in reading. He also amused himself with playing on the 
guitar. He had the liberty of going to mass; but was then 
strictly forbid to speak, or uncover his face: orders were even 
given to the soldiers to fire upon him, if he attempted either; 
and their pieces were always pointed towards him as he passed 
through the court. When he had occasion to see a surgeon 
or a physician, he was obliged, under pain of death, constantly 
to wear hi^ mask. An old physician of the Bastile, who had 
often attended him when he was indisposed, said, that he 
never saw his face, though he had frequently examined his 
tongue, and different parts of his body; and that he never 
complained of his confinement, nor let fall any hint, by which 
it might be guessed who he was. He often passed the night 
in walking up and down his room. This unfortunate prince 
died on the 19th of November, 1703, after a short illness ; and 
was interred next day, in the burying-place of the parish of St. 
Paul. The expense of his funerai amounted only to forty livres. 
The name given him was Marchiali; and even his age, as well 
as his real name, it seemed of importance to conceal, for in 
the register made of his funeral, it was mentioned that he was 
about forty years old, though he had told his apothecary, some 
time before his death, that he thought he must be sixty. 
Immediately after his death, his apparel, linen clothes,, mat- 

4 Z 


30 


CURIOSITIES IN HISTORY. 


tresses, and in short, every thing that had been used by him, 
were burnt; the walls of his room were scraped, and the floor 
taken up, evidently from the apprehension that he might have 
found means of writing something that would have discovered 
who he was. Nay, such was the fear of his having left a 
letter, or any mark which might lead to a discovery, that his 
plate was melted down; the glass was taken out of the win¬ 
dow of his room, and pounded to dust; the window-frames 
and doors burnt; and the ceiling of the room, and the plaster 
of the inside of the chimney, demolished. 

Several writers have affirmed, that the body of this unfor¬ 
tunate personage was buried without a head; and M. de St. 
Foix informs us, in his Essais Idistoriques, that “a gentleman 
having bribed the sexton, had the body taken up in the night, 
but found a stone instead of the head.” The natural inference 
from these extraordinary accounts, is, that the Iron Mask 
was not only a person of high birth, but that he must have 
been of great consequence ; and that his being concealed was 
of the utmost importance to the king and ministry. 

Among the various conjectures that have been formed, con¬ 
cerning the real name and condition of this remarkable man, 
none appears to have any probability except the following :— 
That he was a son of Anne of Austria, queen to Louis XIII. 
and consequently that he was a brother of Louis XIV; but 
whether a bastard-brother, a brother-german, or a half-brother, 
is a question that has given rise to three several opinions, 
viz. 1. That the queen proved with child at a time when it 
was evident it could not have been by her husband, who, for 
some months before, had never been with her in private. The 
supposed father of this child is said to have been the duke of 
Buckingham, who came to France, in May, 1625, to conduct 
the princess Henrietta, wife of Charles I. to England. The 
private letters and memoirs of those times speak very suspi¬ 
ciously of the Queen and Buckingham: his behaviour at 
Amiens, whither the queen and queen-mother accompanied 
the princess in her way to Boulogne, occasioned much whis¬ 
pering; and it appears, that the king, on this occasion, was 
extremely offended at her, and that it required all the influence 
and address of the queen-mother to effect a reconciliation. It 
is said, that this child was privately brought up in the country; 
that when Mazarin became a favourite, he was entrusted with 
the care of him; and that Louis XIV. having discovered the 
secret on the death of the cardinal, thought it necessary to 
confine him in the manner above related. 

The second, and the most probable opinion, is, that he was 
the twin-brother of Louis XIV. born some hours after him 
This opinion first appeared in a short anonymous w r ork, pub¬ 
lished without date, or name of place, or printer. It is therein 


C5E8AII LANDING IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



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♦ 

























































MAN WITH THE IRON MASK. 


731 

said, " Louis XIV. was born at St. Germains-en-Laye, on the 
5th of September, 1638, about noon ; and the illustrious pri¬ 
soner, known by the appellation of the Iron Mask, was 
born the same day, while Louis XIII. was at supper. The 
king and the cardinal, fearing that the pretensions of a twin- 
brother might one day be employed to renew those civil wars 
with which France had been so often afflicted, cautiously 
concealed his birth, and sent him away, to be brought up pri¬ 
vately.” This opinion was confirmed, in a work, entitled, 
Memoires de Marechal Due de Richelieu , written by the Abbe 
Soulavie; in which it is asserted, that “ The birth of the 
prisoner happened in the evening of the 5th September, 1638, 
in presence of the chancellor, the bishop of Meaux, the author 
of the MS. a midwife, named Peronete, and a sieur Honorat.” 
This circumstance greatly disturbed the king’s mind ; he ob¬ 
served, that the Salic law had made no provision for such 
a case. By the advice of cardinal Richelieu, it was therefore 
resolved to conceal his birth, but to preserve his life, in case, 
by the death of his brother, it should be necessary to avow 
him. A declaration was drawn up, and signed and sworn to 
by all present; in which every circumstance was mentioned, 
and several marks on his body described. This document 
being sealed by the chancellor with the royal seal, was deli¬ 
vered to the king; and all took an oath never to speak on the 
subject, not even in private and among themselves. The 
child was delivered to the care of Madame Peronete, to be 
under the direction of cardinal Richelieu, at whose death the 
charge devolved to cardinal Mazarin. Mazarin appointed the 
author of the MS. his governor, and entrusted to him the 
care of his education. But as the prisoner was extremely 
attached to Madame Peronete, and she equally so to him, she 
remained with him till her death. His governor carried him 
to his house in Burgundy, where he paid the greatest attention 
to his education. 

As the prisoner grew up, he became impatient to discover 
his birth, and often importuned his governor on that subject. 
His cur-iosity had been roused, by observing that messengers 
from the court frequently arrived at the house; and a box, 
containing letters from the queen and the cardinal, having 
one day been inadvertently left out, he opened it, and saw 
enough to guess at the secret. From that time he became 
thoughtful and melancholy, which, (says the author,) I could 
not then account for. He shortly after asked me to get him 
a portrait of the late and present king; but I put him off, by 
saying, that I could not procure any that were good. He 
then desired me to let him go to Dijon ; which I have known 
since was with an intention of seeing a portrait of the king 
there, and of going secretly to St. John de Las, where the 


CURIOSITIES IN HISTORY. 


732 

court then was, on occasion of the marriage with the Infanta. 
He was beautiful, and love helped him to accomplish his 
wishes. He had captivated the affections of a young house¬ 
keeper, who procured him a portrait of the king. It might 
have served for either of the brothers ; and the discovery put. 
him into so violent a passion, that he immediately came to me 
with the portrait in his hand, saying, Voila mon frere, et voila 
qui je suis , shewing me at the same time a letter of the cardi¬ 
nal de Mazarin that he had taken out of the box!” Upon this 
discovery, his governor immediately sent an express to court, 
to communicate what had happened, and to desire new in¬ 
structions ; the consequence of which was, that the governor, 
and the young prince under his care, were arrested and con¬ 
fined. The author of this memoir concludes, “ I have suffered 
with him in our common prison : I am now summoned to 
appear before my Judge on high; and for the peace of my 
soul, I cannot but make this declaration, which may point 
out to him the means of freeing himself from this present igno¬ 
minious situation, in case the king his brother should die 
without children. Can an extorted oath compel me to observe 
secrecy on a thing so incredible, but which ought to be left 
on record to posterity V* 

The third opinion is, that he was a son of the queen by 
cardinal Mazarin, born about a year after the death of her 
husband, Louis XIII.; that he was brought up secretly; and 
that, soon after the death of the cardinal, on the 9th of March, 
1661, he was sent to Pignerol. To this account Father Grif- 
fet justly objects, “ that it was needless to mask a face that 
was unknown; and therefore this opinion does not merit 
discussion.”—( Traite de la Verite de I’Histoire, p. 318.) 
Indeed, it seems totally unaccountable, that so much care 
should have been taken to conceal a child of the queen by the 
cardinal, who, whether they were privately married or not, 
could never have had the most distant claim to the crown of 
France. The conjectures advanced by other authors, that he 
was the duke of Monmouth’s, the count of Vermandois’, or 
the duke of Beaufort’s, Stc. are still more improbable. 




CHAP. LXXVI. 

curiosities in history, etc .—( Continued.) 

Gipsies. —Mr. Lyons, in his entertaining work of the 
Environs of London, has given the following curious account 
of the Queen of the Gipsies, and the extraordinary people 
under her dominion. 


caisar crossing thk Rubicon. 


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S 









GIPSIES. 


733 

From the register of the parish of Bockenham, in Kent; 
extract: ‘ Margaret Finch, buried October 24, 1740.—“ This 
remarkable person lived to the age of one hundred and nine 
years. She was one of the people called Gipsies; and had 
from them the title of Queen. After travelling over various 
parts of the kingdom, during the greater part of a century, 
she settled at Norwood, whither her age, and the fame of her 
fortune-telling, attracted numerous visitors. From a habit of 
sitting on the ground with her chin resting on her knees, the 
sinews at length became so contracted, that she could not 
rise from that posture. After her death, they were obliged to 
enclose her body in a deep square box. Her funeral was 
attended by two mourning coaches, a sermon was preached on 
the occasion, and a great concourse of people attended the 
ceremony. Her portrait adorns the sign-post of a house of 
entertainment in Norwood, called the Gipsy-House. In an 
adjoining cottage lives an old woman, grand-daughter of 
queen Margaret, who inherits her title. She is niece of queen 
Bridget, who was buried at Dulwich, in 1768. Her rank 
seems to be merely titular: I do not find that the gypsies pay 
her any particular deference ; or that she differs in any other 
respect from the rest of her tribe, than that of being a house¬ 
holder.” To the above he adds some leading facts concerning 
this extraordinary race of people, who are scattered over most 
Darts of Europe, Asia, and America. 

“ The gipsies, (continues he,) in most places on the Continent 
are called Cingari , or Zingari: the Spaniards call them Gitanos. 
It is not certain when they first appeared in Europe; but 
mention is made of them, in Hungary and Germany, so early 
as the year 1417. Within ten years afterwards, they made 
their appearance in France, Switzerland, and Italy. The date 
of their arrival in England is more uncertain : it is most pro¬ 
bable, that it was not till nearly a century afterwards. In the 
year 1530, they are thus spoken of in the penal statutes 
‘ Forasmuch as before this time, divers and many outlandish 
people, calling themselves Egyptians, using no craft nor feat 
of merchandise, have come into this realm, and gone from 
shire to shire, and from place to place, in great companies, and 
used great subtilty and crafty means to deceive the people; 
bearing them in hand, that they, by palmistry, could tel’ 
men’s and women’s fortunes ; and so, many times, by craft and 
subtilty, have deceived the people of their money; and also 
have committed many heinous felonies and robberies, to 
the great hurt and deceit of the people they have come 
among, &c.’ 

“ It was afterwards made death to them to continue in the 
kingdom; and it remains on record, that thirteen were exe¬ 
cuted for a violation of this law, a few years before the Resto- 


CURIOSITIES IN HISTORY. 


734 

ration : nor was this cruel act repealed till about the year 
1783 . 

“The gipsies were expelled from France in 1560, and from 
Spain in 1591; but it does not appear that they have been 
entirely extirpated in any country. Their collective numbers, 
in every quarter of the globe, have been calculated at 
seven or eight hundred thousand. They are most numerous 
in Asia, and in the northern parts of Europe. Various have 
been the opinions relating to their origin. That they came 
from Egypt has been the most prevalent. This opinion 
(which has procured them here the name of Gipsies, and in 
Spain that of Gitanos,) arose, from some of the first who arrived 
in Europe, pretending that they came from that country; 
which assertion they made, perhaps, to heighten their reputa¬ 
tion for skill in palmistry* and the occult sciences. It is 
now, I believe, pretty generally agreed, that they came origi¬ 
nally from Hindostan; since their language so far coincides 
with the Hindostanic, that even now, after a lapse of more 
than three centuries, during which they have been dispersed 
in various foreign countries, nearly one half of their words 
are precisely those of Hindostan; and scarcely any variation 
is to be found in vocabularies procured from the gipsies in 
Turkey, Hungary, Germany, and those in England. 

“Their manners, for the most part, coincide, as well as 
their language, in every quarter of the world where they are 
found; being the same idle, wandering race of beings, and 
seldom professing any ostensible mode of livelihood, except 
that of fortune-telling. Though they are no great frequenters 
either of mosques or churches, they generally conform to rites 
and ceremonies as they find them established. 

“Upon the whole, we may certainly agree with Grellman 
who has written their history, by regarding them as a singular 
phenomenon in Europe. For the space of between three or 
four hundred years, they have gone wandering about like 
pilgrims and strangers, yet neither time nor example has made 
in them any alteration: they remain ever, and every where, 
what their fathers were. Africa makes them no blacker, nor 
does Europe make them whiter.” 

It is not the least singular feature in the history of this 
wandering and vagabond race, that they should have so long 
maintained their credit for foretelling events, when the fallacy 
of their predictions must have been so often experienced, and 
their ignorance and want of principle so well known. What 
reliance can be placed on the oracular decisions of a man, who 
has not sufficient foresight of his own affairs, to escape the 
hands of justice for robbing a hen-roost? 

* Palmistry is the pretended art of telling the future events of men's 
lives by the lines in their hands. 


GIPSIES. 


736 

The desire of prying into futurity seems to be a natural pro¬ 
pensity in the human mind. In the ancient world, the con¬ 
sultation of oracles, soothsayers, and augurs, divining by the 
flight of birds, the entrails of the victims, or the feeding of 
chickens, were so many eflorts of a weak endeavour to with¬ 
draw that veil, which in mercy is appointed to conceal from 
our view the events that are to befal us. 

In modern times, the impudent pretensions of astrologers, 
conjurers, and fortune-tellers, have deluded the credulous, 
even of that rank, in which men should set a more rational 
example. About sixty years ago, a celebrated professor of 
this dark science lived in London, in a place called Frying- 
pan Alley; and crowds of carriages were daily seen waiting in 
the neighbourhood, whilst the artful impostor w'as distributing 
different allotments to their owmers, according to his arbitrary 
caprice, or what he thought would bring most money into 
his purse. 

The following account is taken from a Liverpool weekly 
magazine, entitled ‘ The Freeman,’ published some years 
since:— 

" Of late years som^ attempts have been made to reduce the 
numbers, or at any rate to civilize the habits, of that vagabond 
and useless race, the gipsies. In pursuance of such purpose, 
a society of gentlemen have been making all the preliminary 
inquiries requisite to a proper understanding of the subject. 
A series of questions have been proposed to competent per¬ 
sons in the different counties of England and Scotland ; and 
answers have been received. The following are specimens of 
these replies: 

“ 1. All gipsies believe that Egypt was the residence of their 
most remote ancestors. 

“2. They cannot form any idea of their number in Eng¬ 
land. 

“3. The gipsies of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, some parts of 
Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire, are 
continually making revolutions within the ranges of those 
counties. 

“4. They are either ignorant of the number of gipsies in the 
counties thiough which they travel, or unwilling to disclose 
their knowledge. 

“5. The most common names are Smith, Cooper, Draper, 
Taylor, Boswell, Lee, Lovel, Loversedge, Allen, Mansfield, 
Glover, Williams, Carew, Martin, Stanley, Buckley, Plunkett, 
and Corrie. 

“ 6. and 7. The gangs in different towns have not any regular 
connection or organization ; but those who take up their win¬ 
ter quarters in the same city or town, appear to have some 
knowledge of the different routes each horde will pursue; 


736 


CURIOSITIES IN HISTORY. 


probablv with a desire to prevent interference with each 
other. 

“8. In the county of Herts, it is computed there may be 
sixty families, having many children. Whether they are 
quite so numerous in Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, and 
Northamptonshire, the answers are not sufficiently definite to 
determine. In Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, 
Wiltshire, and Dorsetshire, greater numbers are calculated 
upon. In various counties, the attention has not been com¬ 
petent to the procuring data for any estimate of families or 
individuals. 

“ 9. More than half their number follow no business : some 
are dealers in horses and asses : while others profess them¬ 
selves to be farriers, smiths, tinkers, braziers, grinders of 
cutlery, basket-makers, chair-bottomers, and musicians. 

“ 10. The children are brought up in the habits of their 
parents, particularly to music and dancing, and are of dis¬ 
solute habits. 

‘*11. The women mostly carry baskets with trinkets and 
small wares ; and tell fortunes. 

** 12. They are too ignorant to have acquired accounts of 
genealogy, and perhaps indisposed by the irregularity of their 
habits. 

** 13. In most counties there are particular situations to 
which they are partial. There is a marsh, near Newbury in 
Berkshire, much frequented by them; and Dr. Clark states, 
that in Cambridgeshire, their principal rendezvous is near the 
western villages. 

O 

“ 14. It cannot be ascertained whether this attachment to 
particular places has prevailed from their first coming into 
the nation. 


“ 15, 16, and 17. When among strangers, they elude inquiries 
respecting their peculiar language, calling it Gibberish. They 
know of no person that can write it, or of any written speci¬ 
men of it. 

** 18. Their habits and customs in a., places are peculiar. 

** 19. Those who profess any religion, represent it to be that 
of the country in which they reside: but their description of 
it seldom goes beyond repeating the Lord’s Prayer; and only 
a few of them are capable of that. Instances of their attend¬ 
ing any place for worship are very rare. 

*‘ 20. They marry for the most part by pledging to each 
other, without any ceremony. A few exceptions have occurred, 
when money was plentiful. 

“21. They do not teach their children religion. 

4i 22, and 23. Not one in a thousand can read.” 




FREE MASONS. 


737 


CHAP. LXXVII 

curiosities in history, etc .—( Continued.) 

Fr ee and accepted Masons. —This very ancient society 
is so called, either from some extraordinary knowledge of 
masonry, of which they are supposed to be masters, or because 
the first founders of the society were persons of this pro¬ 
fession. They are now very considerable, both on account 
of their numbers, and the rank they hold in society, being 
found in every country in Europe, as well as North America; 
and they consist principally of persons of merit and con¬ 
sideration. They make no small pretensions to antiquity, for 
they claim a standing of some thousands of years. What the 
design of their institution is, seems still in some measure 
a secret : the members are said to be admitted into the 
fraternity by being put in possession of a great number of 
secrets, called the mason's word, which have been religiously kept 
from age to age. In a treatise on Masonry, published in 
1792, by William Preston, master of the Lodge of Antiquity, 
the origin of masonry is traced from the creation. “ Ever 
since symmetry began, and harmony displayed her charms, 
(says he,) our order has had a being.” By other accounts the 
antiquity of masonry has only been traced as far back as the 
building of Solomon’s temple. 

In Dr. Henry’s history of Great Britain, we find the origin 
of the Free Mason Society attributed to the difficulty found 
in former times to procure workmen to build the vast number 
of churches, monasteries, and other religious edifices, which 
either the pretended piety or the superstition of those ages 
prompted the people to raise. Hence the masons were greatly 
favoured by the popes, and many indulgences were granted, 
to augment their numbers. In those times, it may well be 
supposed, that such encouragement from the supreme pastors 
of the church must have been productive of the most bene¬ 
ficial results to the fraternity ; and hence the society rapidly 
increased. An ancient author, who was well acquainted with 
their history and constitution, says, “The Italians, with some 
Greek refugees,and with them French, Germans, and Flemings, 
joined into a fraternity of architects, procuring papal bulls 
for their encouragement; they styled themselves Free Masons , 
and ranged from one nation to another, as they found 
churches to be built: their government w r as regular; and 
where they fixed near the building in hand, they made a camp 
of huts. A surveyor governed in chief; while every tenth man 
was called a warden, and superintended the other nine 

5 A 


CURIOSITIES IN HISTORY. 


738 

Masonry had a very early introduction into Britain, but 
never attained to any degree of importance, until the year 557 of 
the Christian era; when St Austin, with forty monks, among 
whom the sciences had been preserved, came into England. 
By these Christianity was propagated; all the kings of the 
heptarchy were converted; masonry was patronized by St. 
Austin; and the Gothic style of building was introduced into 
England, by numerous foreigners, who resorted at this time to 
the kingdom. Austin appeared at the head of the fraternity 
in founding the old cathedral of Canterbury, in 600; that of 
Rochester, in 602; St. Paul’s in London, in 604; St. Peter’s in 
Westminster, in 605: to which may be added many others. 
The number of masons w T as thus greatly increased, as well 
as by other buildings, such as castles, &c. throughout the 
kingdom. 

Masonry found a zealous protector in Alfred the Great, the 
liberal patron of all arts and manufactures. He appropriated 
a seventh part of his revenue for maintaining a number of 
masons, whom he employed in rebuilding the cities, castles, 
&c. ruined by the Danes. Under his successor, Edward, the 
masons continued to hold their lodges; they were patronized 
by Ethred, husband to the king’s sister, and Ethelwald his 
brother, to whom the care of this fraternity was entrusted. 
The latter was a great architect, and founded the university 
of Cambridge. The complete re-establishment of masonry in 
England, however, is dated from the reign of king Athelstan*. 
and the grand masons at York trace their existence from this 
period. 

The Grand Lodge of York, the most ancient in England, 
was founded in 926, under the patronage of Edwin the king’s 
brother, who obtained for them a charter from Athelstan, and 
became grand-master himself. By virtue of this charter all 
the masons in the kingdom were convened at a general 
assembly in that city, where they established a grand lodge for 
their government; and for many centuries afterwards, no 
general meetings were held in any other place. Hence the 
appellation of Ancient York Masons is well known both in 
Ireland and Scotland; and the general tradition is, that they 
originated at Auldby near York, which was a seat belonging 
to Edwin. 

It was the glory and boast of the brethren, in almost every 
country where masonry was established, to be accounted 
descendants of the original York masons; and from the 
universality of the idea that masonry was first established at 
York by charter, the masons of England have received tribute 
from the first states in Europe. At present, however, this 
social intercourse is abolished. The duke of Buccleugh, who, 
in 1723, succeeded the duke of Wharton as grand-master, first 


FREE MASONS 


739 


prop osed the scheme of raising a general fund for distressed 
masons. The duke’s motion was supported by Lord Paisley, 
Colonel Houghton, and a few other brethren; and the grand 
lodge appointed a committee to consider of the most effectual 
means of carrying the scheme into execution. The disposal 
of the charity was first vested in seven brethren ; but this 
number being found too small, nine more were added. It 
was afterwards resolved, that twelve masters of contributing 
lodges, in rotation with the grand officers, should form the 
committee; and by another regulation since made, it has been 
determined that all past and present grand officers, with the 
masters of all regular lodges, which shall have contributed 
within tw-elve months to the charity, shall be members of the 
committee. This committee meets four times in the year, by 
virtue of a summons from the grand-master or his deputy. 
The petitions of the distressed brethren are considered at 
these meetings; and if the petitioner be considered as a 
deserving object, he is immediately relieved with five pounds. 
If the circumstances of the case are of a peculiar nature, his 
petition is referred to the next communication, where he is 
relieved with any sum the committee may have specified, not 
exceeding twenty guineas at one time. Thus the distressed 
have always found ready relief from this general charity, 
which is supported by the voluntary contributions of different 
lodges out of their private funds, without being burdensome 
to any member in the society. Thus has the committee of 
charity for free masons been established; and so liberal 
have the contributions been, that though the sums annually 
expended, for the relief of the distressed brethren, have for 
several years past amounted to many thousand pounds, there 
still remains a considerable fund. 

The most remarkable event which of late has taken place in 
the affairs of masonry, is the initiation of Omitul Omrah Baliau- 
der, eldest son of the nabob of the Carnatic, who was received 
by the lodge of Trinchinopoly, in the year 1779. 1 he news being 
officially transmitted to England, the grand lodge determined to 
send a congratulatory letter to his highness on the occasion, 
accompanied with an apron elegantly decorated, and a copy 
©f the book of Constitutions superbly bound. The execution 
of this commission was entrusted to Sir John Duy, advocate- 
general of Bengal; and in the beginning of 1780, an answer 
was received from his highness, acknowledging the receipt of 
the present, and expressing the warmest attachment and 
benevolence to his brethren in England. The letter was 
written in the Persian language, and inclosed in an elegant 
cover of cloth of gold, and addressed to the grand-master 
and grand lodge of England. A proper reply was made ; and 
« translation of his highness’s letter was ordered to be copied 


CURIOSITIES IN 11 STORY. 


740 

on vellum; and, with the original, elegantly framed and 
glazed, and hung up in the hall at every public meeting of the 
society. 

It must be natural to inquire into the uses of the institu¬ 
tion, and for what purpose it has been patronized by so many 
great and illustrious personages. The profound secrecy, 
however, in which every thing relating to masonry is involved, 
prevents us from being very particular on this head. The 
masons themselves say in general, that it promotes philan¬ 
thropy, friendship, and morality; that in proportion as 
masonry has been cultivated, countries have become civi¬ 
lized, &c. How far this can be depended upon, the fraternity 
best know. Another advantage, however, seems less equivo 
cal, viz. that its signs serve as a kind of universal language ; 
so that by means of them, people of the most distant nations 
may become acquainted, and enter into friendship with one 
another. This certainly must be accounted a very important 
circumstance; and considering the great numbers that have 
been, and daily are, admitted to the society, and their invio¬ 
lable attachment to the art, we must certainly conclude, that 
if it contains nothing of great importance to mankind at large, 
it must at least be extremely agreeable, and even fascinating, 
to those who are once initiated. 




CHAP. LXXVIII. 

curiosities in history, etc.— ( Continued .) 

Travelling Faquirs—Long absent Husband returned — Cu¬ 
rious Historical Fact—The most Extraordinary Fact on 
Record . 


THE TRAVELLING FAQUIRS. 

The following curious circumstance in natural history 
is related by a gentleman of veracity, learning, and abilities; 
who filled a considerable post in the Company’s Service in 
India.— 

The Travelling Faquirs in this country are a kind of su¬ 
perstitious devotees, who pretend to great zeal in religion, but 
are, in fact, the most vicious and profligate wretches in the 
world. I hey wander about the country here, as the gipsies 


THE ABSENT HUSBAND. 


741 


do with you; and having some little smattering of physic, 
music, or other arts, they introduce themselves by these 
means wherever they go. One of them called a few days ago 
at my house, who had a beautiful large snake in a basket, 
which he made rise up and dance about to the tune of a pipe 
on which he played. 

It happened that my out-house and farm-yard had for some 
time been infested with snakes, which had killed me several 
turkeys, geese, ducks, fowls, and even a cow and a bullock. 
My servants asked this man whether he could pipe these 
snakes out of their holes, and catch them? He answered them 
in the affirmative, and they carried him instantly to the place 
where one of the snakes had been seen. He began piping, 
and in a short time the snake came dancing to him: the fel¬ 
low caught him by the nape of the neck, and brought him 
to me. As I was incredulous, I did not go to see this first 
operation; but as he took this beast so expeditiously, and I 
still suspected some trick, I desired him to go and catch an¬ 
other, and went with him myself to observe his motions. He 
began by abusing the snake, and ordering him to come out 
of his hole instantly, and not be angry, otherwise he would 
cut his throat and suck his blood. I cannot swear that the 
snake heard and understood this elegant invocation. He 
then began piping with all his might, lest the snake should 
be deaf; he had not piped above five minutes, when an amaz¬ 
ing large cobra capella (the most venomous kind of serpent) 
popped his head out of a hole in the room. When the man 
saw his nose, he approached nearer to him, and piped more 
vehemently, till the snake was more than half out, and ready 
to make a dart at him; he then piped only with one hand, 
and advanced the other under the snake as it was raising 
itself to make the spring. When the snake darted at his 
body, he made a snatch at his tail, which he caught very 
dexterously, and held the creature very fast, without the least 
apprehension of being bit, until my servants dispatched it 
I had often heard this story of snakes being charmed out of 
their holes by music; but never believed it, till I had this 
ocular demonstration of the fact. In the space of an hour 
the Faquir caught five very venomous snakes close about my 
house.* 

The Long Absent Husband returned: (From Dr. 
King’s Anecdotes.)—“About the year 1706, I knew,” said Dr. 
K’n< y , “one Mr. Howe, a sensible well-natured man, possessed 

* That this method of charming the serpentine race was practised at 
a very early period of antiquity, appears from the allusion of the holy 
Psalmist, in ths 4th and 5th verses of the 58th Psalm. 


742 


CURIOUSII'ES IN HISTORY. 


of an estate of £700 or £800 per annum ; he married a young 
lady of good family, in the west of England ; her maiden 
name was Mallet; she was agreeable in her person and manners, 
and proved a very good wife. Seven or eight years after they 
had been married, he arose one morning very early, and told 
his wife he was obliged to go to the Tower to transact some 
particular business: the same day, at noon, his wife received 
a note from him, in which he informed her that he was under 
the necessity of going to Holland, and should probably be 
absent three weeks or a month. He was absent from her se¬ 
venteen years, during which time she never heard from him or 
of him. The evening before he returned, while she was at 
supper, and with some of her friends and relations, particularly 
one Dr. Rose, a physician, who had married her sister, a bil¬ 
let, without any name subscribed, was delivered to her, in 
which the writer requested the favour of her to give him a 
meeting the next evening, in the Birdcage-walk, in St. James’s 
Park. When she had read the billet, she tossed it to Dr. 
Rose, and laughing, said, ‘You see, brother, old as 1 am, I 
have got a gallant.’ Rose, who perused the note with more 
attention, declared it to be Mr. Howe’s hand-writing: this 
surprised ail the company, and so much affected Mrs. Howe, 
that she fainted away; how T ever, she soon recovered, when it 
was agreed that Dr. Rose and his wife, with the other gentle¬ 
men and ladies who were then at supper, should attend Mrs. 
Howe the next evening to the Birdcage-walk : they had not 
been there more than five or six minutes, when Mr. Howe 
came to them, and after saluting his friends, and embracing 
his wife, walked home with her, and they lived together in 
great harmony from that time to the day of his death. But 
the most curious part of my tale remains to be related. 

“ When Howe left his wife, they lived in a house in Jermyn- 
street, near St. James’s church ; he went no farther than a 
little street in Westminster, where he took a room, for which 
he paid five or six shillings a week, and changing his name, 
and disguising himself by wearing a black wig, (for he was a 
fair man,) he remained in this habitation during the whole 
time of his absence! He had two children by his wife when 
he departed from her, who were both living at that time; but 
they both died young, in a few years after. However, during 
their lives, the second or third year after their father disappeared, 
Mrs. Howe was obliged to apply for an act of parliament, to 
procure a proper settlemen 4 of her husband’s estate, and a 
provision for herself out of it, during his absence, as it was 
uncertain whether he was alive or dead ; this act he suffered 
to be solicited and passed, and enjoyed the pleasure of reading 
the progress of it in the votes, in a little coffee-house which 
he frequented, near his lodging 


THE ABSENT HUSBAND 


713 


Upon quitting his house and family in the manner 1 have 
mentioned, Mrs. Howe at first imagined, as she could not 
conceive any other cause for such an abrupt elopement, that 
he had contracted a large debt unknown to her, and by that 
means involved himself in difficulties which he could not 
easily surmount; and for some days she lived in continual 
apprehension of demands from creditors, or seizures, execu¬ 
tions, Sec. But nothing of this kind happened ; on the con¬ 
trary, he did not only leave his estate free and unencumbered, 
but he paid the bills of every tradesman with whom he had 
any dealings; and upon examining his papers, in due time 
after he was gone, proper receipts and discharges were found 
from all persons, whether tradesmen or others, with whom he 
had any manner of transactions or money concerns. Mrs. 
Howe, after the death of her children, thought proper to 
lessen her establishment of servants, and the expenses of her 
housekeeping: and therefore removed from her house in Jer- 
mvn-street, to a little house in Brewer-street, near Golden- 
square. Just over-against her lived one Salt, a corn-chandler. 
About ten years after Howe’s abdication, he contrived to form 
an acquaintance with Salt, and was at length in such a degree 
of intimacy with him, that he usually dined with Salt once 
or twice a week. From the room in which they sat, it was 
not difficult to look into Mrs. Howe’s dining-room, where she 
generally ate, and received her company; and Salt, who 
believed Howe to be a bachelor, frequently recommended Mrs. 
Howe as a suitable match. During the last seven years of 
this gentleman’s absence, he went every Sunday to St. James’s 
church, and used to sit in Mr. Salt’s seat, where he had a 
view of his wife, but could not be easily seen by her. After 
he returned home, he never would confess, even to his most 
intimate friends, what was the real cause of such a singular 
conduct: apparently there was none ; but whatever there was, 
he was certainly ashamed to own it. 

“ Dr. Bose has often said to me, that he believed his brother 
Howe would never* have returned to his wife, if the money 
which he took with him, which was supposed to have been 
£1000 or £2000, had not been all spent: indeed, he must 
have been a good economist, and frugal in his manner of living, 
otherwise his money would scarcely have held out; for I 
imagine he had lm whole fortune by him; I mean what lie 
earned away with him in money and bank-bills : and he daily 
took out of his bag, like the Spaniard in Gil Bias, what was 
sufficient for his expenses.” 

* And yet I have seen him, after his return, addressing his wife in the 
language of a young bridegroom. And I have been assured, by some of 
his most intimate friends, that he treated her, during the rest of their 
lives, with the greatest kindness and affection. 


CURIOSITIES IN HISTORY. 


744 

A Curious Historical Fact. —During the troubles in 
the reign of Charles I. a country girl came to London, in 
search of a place as a servant maid ; but not succeeding, she 
hired herself to carry out beer from a brewhouse, and was one 
of those called tub-women. The brewer, observing a good 
looking girl in this low occupation, took her into his family 
as a servant, and, after a short time, married her; but he died 
while she was yet a young woman, and left her the bulk of 
his fortune. The business of the brewery was dropped, and 
the young widow was recommended to Mr. Hyde, as a skilful 
lawyer to arrange her husband’s affairs. Hyde, (who was after 
wards the great Earl of Clarendon,) finding her fortune con 
siderable, married her. Of this marriage there was no other 
issue than a daughter, who was afterwards the wife of James 
II., and mother of Mary and Anne, queens of England. 

• 

The following is said to be The most Extraordinary 
Fact on record. —In the appendix to the Rev. John Camp¬ 
bell’s Travels in South Africa, is recorded one of the strangest 
occurrences in the moral annals of mankind. It will be 
recollected, that some years ago the Grosvenor, East India- 
man, was wrecked off the coast of Caffraria, (a district divided 
from the country of the Hottentots by the Great Fish River,) 
and that nearly the whole of the passengers and crew perished 
on the occasion. It was, however, discovered, that two 
young ladies had survived the miseries of this dreadful event, 
and were resident in the interior of a country uninhabited by 
Europeans. Mr. Campbell does not relate this occurrence 
from personal evidence, but we cannot doubt the extraordinary 
fact. 

The Landdrost of Graaf Ragrel had been deputed by the 
British government to pay a visit to the king of Caffraria, for 
the purpose of ascertaining whether there were any survivors 
from the wreck of the Grosvenor. Finding there were two 
females, he succeeded in procuring an introduction to them. 
He saw them habited like Caffre women; their bodies were 
painted after the fashion of the native inhabitants ; and then- 
manners and appearance were altogether anti-European. The 
Landdrost, however, sought to obtain their confidence by 
a liberal offer of his best services to restore them to their 
country and friends. But they were unmoved by his solicita¬ 
tions. They stated that they had fallen into the hands of the 
natives after they had been cast ashore from the wreck; that 
their companions had been murdered, and that they had been 
compelled to give themselves in marriage; that having affec¬ 
tionate husbands, children, and grand-children, their attach¬ 
ments were bounded by their actual enjoyments. Upon being 
repeatedly urged to depart with the Landdrost, they replied, 


EXTRAORDINARY FACT. —UNFORTUNATE ARTIFICER. 746 

that probably at their return to England they might find 
themselves without connections or friends, and that their 
acquired habits ill fitted them to mingle with polished society; 
in short, that they would not quit Caffraria. 

Such, then, is the powerful influence of habit! Two young 
ladies, highly educated and in all probability lovely in their 
persons, are taught by habit to forget those scenes of gaiety 
they were so well calculated to ornament, and the anticipated 
enjoyments of high matrimonial connections; to forget their 
parents, their relations, the accomplished companions of thei 
youth, and all the refinements of life! Among a savage peo¬ 
ple, they acquire congenial feelings, and their vitiated nature 
ceases to repine: they love the untutored husbands given to 
them by fate; they rear their children in the stupidity of 
Hottentot faith; they designate their wretched hovel with the 
sacred name of Home; they expel memory from their occu¬ 
pations ; and regret no longer mingles with their routine of 
barbarous pleasures. Is this, in reality, a picture of the 
human mind, with all its boasted attributes, its delicacies, its 
refinements, its civilized superiority? Yes! for custom is a 
second nature. 

This fact is also related by Vaillant, in his Travels in the 
interior parts of Africa. He says, volume i. page 286, “ I was 
told, almost six weeks prior to my visiting that coast, that an 
English vessel had been wrecked on these barbarous shores; 
that being driven on the sands, a part of the crew had fallen 
into the hands of the Caffres, who had put them all to death, 
except a Jew women, whom they had cruelly reserved.” 

Unfortunate Artificer. —There was an artificer in 
Rome, who made vessels of glass of so tenacious a temper, 
that they were as little liable to be broken as those that are 
made of gold and silver: when therefore he had made a vial 
of the purer sort, and such as he thought a present worthy of 
Caesar alone, he was admitted into the presence of their 
then Emperor Tiberius. The gift was praised, the skilful hand 
of the artist applauded, and the donation of the giver accepted. 
The artist, that he might enhance the wonder of the spectators, 
and promote himself yet further in the favour of the Emperor, 
desired the vial out of Caesar’s hand, and threw it with such 
foTce against the floor, that the most solid metal would have 
received some damage or bruise thereby. Caesar was not only 
amazed, but affrighted with the act; but he, taking up the vial 
from the ground, (which was not broken, but only bruised 
together, as if the substance of the glass had put on the tem¬ 
perature of brass,/ he drew out an instrument from his bosom, 
and beat it out to its former figure. This done, he imagined 
that he lnd conquered the world, as believing that he had 

5 B 


CURIOSITIES IN HISTORY. 


746 

merited an acquaintance with Caesar, and raised the admi¬ 
ration of all the beholders; but it fell out otherwise, for the 
Emperor inquired if any other person besides himself was 
privy to the like tempering of glass? When he had told him, 
“No,” he commanded his attendants to strike off his head, 
saying, “That should this artifice come once to be kncwn, 
gold and silver would be of as little value as the dirt of the 
street.” Long after this, viz. in 1610, we read, that amongst 
other rare presents, then sent from the Sophy of Persia to the 
king of Spain, were six mirrors of malleable glass, so ex¬ 
quisitely tempered that they could not be broken. 




CHAP. LXXIX. 

curiosities in history, etc. — (Concluded.) 

Great Events from Little Causes—Dreadful Instances of thi 

Plague, in Europe—Fire of London—Vicar of Bray—Curious 

Account of the Ceremonies at Queen Elizabeth's Dinner — 

A Blacksmith's Wife become a Queen — Swine's Concert . 

Great Events from Little Causes. —The most im¬ 
portant events sometimes take place from little and insignifi¬ 
cant causes. 

1. Sir Isaac Newton’s sublime genius, set a-going by the 
fall of an apple, never stopped till it had explained the laws 
of nature. 

2. Hospinian (who wrote so successfully against the Popish 
ceremonies) was first convinced of the necessity of such 
a work by the talk of an ignorant country landlord, who 
thought that religious fraternities were as old as the creation, 
that Adam was a monk, and that Eve was a nun. 

3. Metius was led to the discovery of optic glasses, by 
observing some schoolboys play upon the ice, who made use 
of their copy-books, rolled up in the shape of tubes, to look 
at each other, to which they s^n-wimes added pieces of ice 
at the end, to view distant objects. 

4. Luther’s quarrelling with Pope Leo. X. and bringing 
himself into difficult and dangerous circumstances, perhaps 
led him to search, think, and judge for himself, and consult 
the scriptures; by which he overthrew errors, which had been 
received as truths for ages. 

5. To this we may add the marriage of Henry VIII. with 
Ann Boleyn, which was the occasion of England’s renouncing 
the supremacy of the Pope, and of bringing about the Reform¬ 
ation. 


THE PLAGUE IN ElKOPE. 


747 

6. “ An apothecary's chariot (says one) very probably pro¬ 
duced No. 45. of the North Briton, and its consequences the 
American war, the French revolution, and the dreadful events 
that have since taken place in Europe.” 

Dreadful Instances of the Plague, in Europe.— 
Thucydides, lib. ii. gives an account of a dreadful plague 
which happened in Athens about B. C. 430, and with which he 
was himself infected, while the Peloponnesians under the 
command of Archidamus wasted all her territory abroad; but 
of these two enemies the plague was by far the most severe 
The most dreadful plague that ever raged at Rome, was in the 
reign of Titus, A. D. 80. The emperor left no remedy un¬ 
attempted to abate the malignity of the distemper, acting 
during its continuance like a father to his people. The same 
fatal disease raged in all the provinces of the Roman empire 
in the reign of M. Aurelius, A. D. 167, and was followed by a 
dreadful famine, earthquakes, inundations, and other calami¬ 
ties. About A. D. 430, the plague visited Britain, just after 
the Piets and Scots had made a formidable invasion of the 
southern part of the island. It raged with uncommon fury, 
and swept away most of those whom the sword and famine 
had spared, so that the living were scarcely sufficient to bury 
the dead. About A. D. 1348, the plague became almost 
general over Europe. Many authors give an account of this 
plague, which is said to have appeared first in the kingdom 
of Kathay, in 1346, and to have proceeded gradually west to 
Constantinople and Egypt. From Constantinople it passed 
into Greece, Italy, France, and Africa, and by degrees along 
the coast of the ocean into Britain and Ireland, and after¬ 
wards into Germany, Hungary, Poland, Denmark, and the 
other northern kingdoms. According to Antonius, arch¬ 
bishop of Florence, the distemper carried of! 60,000 people 
in that city. In 1656, the plague was brought from Sardinia 
to Naples, being introduced into the city by a transport with 
soldiers on board. It raged with excessive violence, carrying 
off, in less than six months, 400,000 of the inhabitants. In 
1720, the city of Marseilles was visited with this destructive 
disease, brought in a ship from the Levant; and in seven 
months, during which time it continued, it carried off not less 
than 60,000 people. The ravages of this disease have been 
dreadful wherever it has made its appearance. On the first 
arrival of the Europeans at the island of Grand Canaria, it 
contained 14,000 fighting men ; soon after which, two-thirds 
of these inhabitants fell a sacrifice to the plague. The destruc¬ 
tion it has made in Turkey in Europe, and particularly in Con¬ 
stantinople, must be known to every reader; and its fatal 
effects have been particularly heightened there by that firm 


CURIOSITIES IN HISTORY. 


748 

belief which prevails among the people of predestination, &<x 
It is generally brought into European Turkey horn Egypt, 
where it is very frequent, especially at Grand Cairo. To give 
even a list of all the plagues which have desolated many 
flourishing countries, would extend this article beyond all 
bounds, and minutely to describe them all is impossible. 
Respecting the plague which raged in Syria in 1760, we refer to 
the Abbe Mariti’s Travels through Cyprus, Syria, and Pales¬ 
tine, volume i. pages 278, 296. This plague was one of the 
most malignant and fatal that Syria ever experienced; for it 
scarcely had made its appearance in any part of the body, 
before it carried off the patient. 

Some particulars respecting The Great Fire of Lon 
don. —The following is part of the inscription on the 
Monument, which records this calamitous event “ The 
second day of September, 1666, at the distance of two hun¬ 
dred and two feet, the height of this column, a terrible fire 
broke out about midnight. It consumed in its progress 
eighty-nine churches, the city gates, Guildhall, many public 
structures, hospitals, schools, libraries, a vast number of 
stately edifices, thirteen thousand two hundred dwelling- 
houses, and four hundred streets. The ruins of the city were 
four hundred and thirty-six acres, from the Tower by the 
Thames side to the Temple church, and from the north-east 
gate along the city wall, to Holborn bridge. Three days 
after, when this fatal fire had baffled all human counsels and 
endeavours, it stopped, as it were by a command from Heaven, 
and was on every side extinguished.” 

Vicar of Bray. —Every one has frequently heard this 
reverend son of the church mentioned; probably his name 
may have outlived the recollection of his pious manoeuvres: 
he was in his principles a Sixtus the Fifth. The vicar of 
Bray, in Berkshire, was a Papist under the reign of Henry the 
Eighth, and a Protestant under Edward the Sixth; he was 
a Papist again under Mary, and once more became a Pro¬ 
testant in the reign of Elizabeth. When this scandal to the 
gown was reproached for his versatility of religious creeds, 
and taxed for being a turn-coat and an inconstant changeling, 
as Fuller expresses it, he replied, “Not so, neither! for if 
I changed my religion, I am sure I kept true to my principle : 
which is, to live and die the Vicar of Bray!” 

This vivacious and reverend hero has given birth to a 
proverb peculiar to his county, “ The Vicar of Bray will be 
Vicar of Bray still.” Fuller tells us, in his facetious chronicle 
of his Worthies, that this vicar had seen some martyrs burnt 
two miles off a* Windsor, and found this fire too hot for his 


749 


queen Elizabeth’s dinner. 

tender temper. He was one of those who, thougn they 
cannot turn the wind, will turn their mills, and set them 
so, that wheresoever it bloweth, their grist shall certainly b? 
ground. 

The following Account of the Ceremonies at Queen 
Eli zabeth’s Dinner, deserves to be recorded.—A German 
traveller, (Hentzner) talking of Queen Elizabeth, thus de¬ 
scribes the solemnity of her dinner. “ While she was at 
prayers, we saw her table set out in the following solemn 
manner: a gentleman entered the room, bearing a rod, and 
along with him another who had a table-cloth, which, after 
they had both kneeled three times with the utmost veneration, 
he spread upon the table ; and, after kneeling again, they both 
retired. Then came two others, one with the rod again, the 
other with a salt-cellar, a plate, and bread: when they had 
kneeled, as the others had done, and placed what was brought 
upon the table, they too retired with the same ceremonies 
performed by the first. At last came an unmarried lady, (we 
were told she was a countess,) and along with her a married 
one, bearing a lasting knife: the former, who was dressed in 
white silk, when she had prostrated herself three times in the 
most graceful manner, approached the table, and rubbed the 
plates with bread and salt, with as much care as if the queen 
had been present: when they had waited there a little while, 
the yeomen of the guard entered, bareheaded, clothed in 
scarlet, with a golden rose upon their backs, bringing in at 
each turn a course of twenty-four dishes, served in plate, 
most of it gilt; these dishes were received by a gentleman in 
the same order they were brought, and placed upon the table, 
while the lady-taster gave to each of the guards a mouthful 
to eat, of the particular dish he had brought, for fear of any 
poison. During the time that this guard, which consists of 
the tallest and stoutest men that could be found in all Eng¬ 
land, were bringing dinner, twelve trumpets and two kettle¬ 
drums made the hall ring for half an hour together. At the 
end of this ceremonial, a number of unmarried ladies appeared, 
who, with particular solemnity, lifted the meat off the table, 
and conveyed it into the queen’s inner and more private 
chamber, where, after she had chosen for herself, the rest 
went to the ladies of the court.” 

A Blacksmith’s Wife become a Queen. —It is a 
curious circumstance, that the present queen of the Sandwich 
islands, was formerly, or rather is at this time, the wife of a 
Russian blacksmith. An English vessel lying off what we 
usually call the Fox Island, several years ago, one of the 
officers became enamoured of the fair spouse of a son of Vulcan 


CURIOSITIES IN HISTORY. 


750 

there; ar.d, his passion being returned, he contrived to smug 
gle her on board the vessel, and keep her there concealed 
without the knowledge of his captain, till they had cleared 
the port 

In the course of the voyage, however, the circumstance 

came known to the captain, who being highly enraged at 

ch a breach of faith and discipline, kept her confined till 
they arrived at the Sandwich Islands, where she was put on 
shore. The forlorn Ariadne, however, found a Bacchus for her 
Theseus,—a royal lover, to replace her lost lieutenant. The 
king of the island became enamoured of the fair Russian 
made her his wife, and raised her to his throne. He was nc 
every-day king. He was a statesman and a hero, though we 
should call him a savage. He progressively created a respect¬ 
able navy of several well-built frigates ; taught his subjects tc 
be excellent sailors; raised armies; subdued the surrounding 
islands; and at the close of a prosperous reign, left his posses¬ 
sions and his sovereignty to his queen, who now reigns as his 
successor. She is well obeyed by her subjects; possesses 
great wealth in flocks, herds, and rice-ground; and sends 
frequent presents to her former deserted husband, who still 
continues to hammer horses’ shoes in a Russian colony, while 
his faithless, but it seeins not quite ungrateful spouse, 
stretches her sceptre over several prosperous isles. 

The Swine’s Concert. —The abbot of Baigne, a man of 
great wit, and who had the art of inventing new musical 
instruments, being in the service of Louis XI. king of France, 
was ordered by that prince to get him a concert of swine’s 
voices, thinking it impossible. The abbot was not surprised, 
but asked money for the performance, which was immediately 
delivered him; and he wrought a thing as singular as ever 
was seen. For out of a great number of hogs, of several ages, 
which he got together, and placed under a tent or pavilion 
covered with velvet, before which he had a table of wood 
painted, with a certain number of keys, he made an organical 
instrument; and as he played upon the said keys, he, by 
means of little spikes, which pricked the hogs, made them 
cry in such order and consonance, as highly delighted the 
king and all his company. 










ORIGIN OF THE MATERIALS OF WRITING. 


751 


CHAP. LXXX. 

CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. 

Origin oj the Materials of Writing—Minute Writing — Titles oj 
hooks—Literary Labour and Perseverance—Curious Account 
of the Scarcity oj Books—Celebrated Libraries — Book oj 
Blunders — Curious Account oj' the Means of Intellectual Im¬ 
provement in London. 

“ Of all the pleasures, noble and refin’d, 

Which form the taste and cultivate the mind ; 

I» ev’ry realm where science darts its beam, 

From Zembla’s ice to Afric’s golden stream ; 

From climes where Phoebus pours his orient ray, 

To the fair regions of declining day : 

The ‘feast of reason’ which from reading springs, 

To reas’ning man the highest solace brings. 

Tis books a lasting pleasure can supply. 

Charm while we live, and teach us how to die.” 

Origin of the Materials of Writing. —The most an. 
cient mode of writing was on bricks, and on tables of stone, 
afterwards on plates of various materials, on ivory, on the bark 
of trees, and on their leaves. 

Specimens of most of these modes of writing may be seen 
in the British Museum. No. 3478, in the Sloanian library, is a 
Nabob’s letter, on a piece of bark about two yards long, and 
richly ornamented with gold. No. 3207, is a book of Mexi¬ 
can hieroglyphics, painted on bark. In the same collection 
are various species, many from the Malabar coast, and other 
parts of the East. The latter writings are chiefly on leaves. 
The prophecies of the Sibyls were on leaves. There are seve 
ral copies of Bibles written on palm-leaves, still preserved ii 
various collections in Europe. The ancients, doubtless, wrote 
on any leaves they found adapted for the purpose. Hence 
the leaf of a book, as well as that of a tree, is derived. 

In the book of Job, mention is made of writing on stone, 
and on sheets of lead. The law of Moses was written on stone. 
Hesiod’s works were written on leaden tables ; lead was used 
for writing, and rolled up like a cylinder, as Pliny states. 
The laws of the Greeks were engraven on bronze tables. In 
the shepherd state, they wrote their songs with thorns and 
awls, on leather. The Icelanders wrote on walls ; and Olaf, 
according to one of the sagas, built a large house, on the 
balks and spars of which he had engraven the history of his 
own and mDre ancient times; while another northern hero 
appears to have had nothing better than his own chair and 


752 


CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. 


bed, on which to perpetuate his own heroic acts. The Arabs 
took the shoulder-bones of sheep, on which they carved re¬ 
markable events with a knife, and after tying them with a 
string, they hung these chronicles up in their cabinets. 

These early inventions led to the discovery of tablets oi 
,vood ; and as cedar is incorruptible, from its bitterness, they 
chose this wood for cases or chests to preserve their most 
important writings. From this custom arises the celebrated 
expression of the ancients, when they meant to give the 
highest eulogium of an excellent work, et cedro digna locuti; 
that it was worthy to be written on cedar. These tablets were 
made of the trunks of trees; the use of them still exists, but 
in general they are made of other materials than wood. The 
same reason which led them to prefer the cedar to other trees, 
induced them to write on wax, which is incorruptible from its 
nature. Men generally used it to write their testaments, in 
order the better to preserve them : thus Juvenal says, Ceras 
implere capaces. This thin paste of wax was also spread on 
tablets of wood, that it might more easily admit of erasure. 

They wrote with an iron bodkin, as they did on thr other 
substances we have noticed. The stylus was made sharp at 
one end to write with, and blunt and broad at the other to 
deface and correct easily; hence the phrase vertere stylum, to 
turn the stylus, was used to express blotting out. But the 
Romans forbade the use of this sharp instrument, from the 
circumstance of many persons having used them as daggers. 
A schoolmaster was killed by the pugillares , or table-book, 
and the styles of his own scholars. They substituted a stylus 
made of the bone of a bird, or other animal, so that tl cir 
writings resembled engravings. When they wrote on softer 
materials, they employed reeds and canes, split like our pens 
at the points, which the Orientalists still use to lay their colour 
or ink neater on the paper. 

By the word pen in the translation of the Bible, we are to 
understand an iron style. Table-books of ivory are still used 
for memoranda, written by black-lead pencils. The Romans 
used ivory to write the edicts of the senate on; and the ex¬ 
pression of libris elephantinis , which, some authors imagine, 
alludes to books which for their size were called elephantine . 
others more rationally conclude, were composed of ivory, the 
tusk of the elephant. 

Pumice was likewise a writing material of the ancients, 
which they used to smooth the roughness of the parchment, 
or to sharpen their reeds. 

In the progress of time, the art of writing consisted in paint- 
ing with different kinds of ink This novel mode of writing 
occasioned them to invent other materials proper to receive 
their writing. They now chose the thin bark of certain trees 


MATERIALS OF WRITING.— MINUTE WRITING. 753 

and plants ; they wrote on linen, and at length, when thin was 
found apt to become mouldy, they prepared the skins of ani¬ 
mals. those of asses are still in use; and on those of serpents, 
&c. were once written the Iliad and Odyssey. The first place 
where they began to dress these skins was Pergamus, in Asia; 
whence the Latin name is derived of Pergamena, or parchment. 
These skins are, however, better known amongst the authors 
of the purest Latin, under the name of membrana, so 'called 
from the membranes of animals of which they were composed. 
The ancients had parchments of three different colours, white, 
yellow, and purple. At Rome, white parchment was disliked, 
because it was more subject to be soiled than the others, and 
dazzled the eye. They generally wrote letters of gold and 
silver on purple or violet parchment. This custom continued 
in the early ages of the church ; and copies of the Evangelists 
-of this kind are preserved in the British Museum. 

When the Egyptians employed for writing the bark of a 
plant or reed, called papyrus , # or paper-rush, it superseded all 
former modes, because this was the most convenient. For¬ 
merly there grew great quantities of it on the sides of the 
Nile. It is this plant which has given the name to our paper, 
although the latter is composed of linen or rags. After the 
eighth century the papyrus was superseded by parchment. 
The Ch inese make their paper with silk. The use of paper is 
of great antiquity; it is what the ancient Latinists call charta , 
or charta. Before the use of parchment and paper passed to 
the Romans, they contrived to use the thin peel which was 
found on trees, between the wood of these trees and their bark. 
This second skin they called liber, whence the Latin word 
liber, a book, and library and librarian, in the European lan¬ 
guages, and the French litre for book ; but we of northern 
origin derive our book from the Danish bog, the beech-tree, 
because that being the most plentiful in Denmark, was used 
to engrave on. Anciently, instead of folding this bark, this 
parchment, or paper, as we fold ours, they rolled it according 
as they wrote on it; and the Latin name which they gave these 
rolls has passed into our language as well as the others. We 
sav a volume or volumes, although our books are composed 
of pages cut and bound together. The books of the ancients 
on the shelves of their libraries, were rolled up on a pin, and 
placed erect, titled on the outside in red letters, or rubrics, 
and appeared like a number of small pillars on the shelves. 

Curious information respecting small, or Minute Writ¬ 
ing. —The Iliad of Homer in a nut-shell, which Pliny says 

* A specimen of the papyrus is to be seen at the British Museum; it 
is the first known in England. It was brought by Mr. Bruce, and given 
to Sil Joseph Banks, who presented it to the British Museum. 

5 C 


754 


CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. 


that Cicero once saw, it is pretended might have been a fact, 
however to some it may appear impossible. iElian notices 
an artist who wrote a distich in letters of gold, which he in¬ 
closed in the rind of a grain of corn. 

Antiquity, and modern times, have recorded many penmen, 
whose glory consisted in writing so small a hand, that it 
could not be legible to the naked eye. One wrote a verse of 
Homer on a grain of millet; and another, more indefatigably 
industrious in this important trifling, is said by Menage to have 
written whole sentences which were not perceptible to the 
eye without the microscrope: pictures and portraits, also, 
appeared at first to be lines and scratches thrown down at 
random ; one of these formed the face of the Dauphiness, with 
the most pleasing delicacy and correct resemblance. He read 
an Italian poem in praise of this princess, containing some 
thousands of verses, written by an officer, in the space of a 
foot and a half. This species of curious idleness has not been 
lost in our own country : about a century ago, this minute 
writing was a fashionable curiosity. A drawing of the head 
of Charles I. is in the library of St. John’s college, at Oxford. 
It is wholly composed of minute written characters, which at 
a small distance resemble the lines of engraving. The lines 
of the head and ruff, are said to contain the book of Psalms, 
the Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer. In the British Museum 
we find a drawing representing the portrait of Queen Anne, 
not much above the size of the hand. . On this drawing 
appear a number of lines and scratches, which, the librarian 
assures the marvelling spectator, includes the entire con¬ 
tents of a thin folio volume, that on this occasion is carried 
in the hand, as if to vouch for the truth of a statement so lia 
ble to be received with hesitation. 

On this subject it may be worth noticing, that the learned 
Huet asserts that he, like the rest of the world, for a long 
time considered as a fiction the story of that industrious wri¬ 
ter, who is said to have inclosed the Iliad in a nut-shell. But 
having examined the matter more closely, he thought it pos¬ 
sible. One day, in company at the Dauphin’s, this learned 
mar. trifled half a hour in proving it. A piece of vellum, 
about ten inches in length and eight in width, pliant and 
firm, can be folded up and enclosed in the shell of a large 
walnut. It can hold in its breadth one line, which can con¬ 
tain 30 verses, and in its length 250 lines. With a crow-quill 
the writing can be perfect. A page of this vellum will then 
contain 7500 verses, and the reverse as much ; the whole 
15,000 verses of the Iliad. And this he proved in their pre 
se.jce, by using a piece of paper, and with a common pen. 
1 he thing is possible to be effected; and if some occasion 
should happen, when paper is excessively rare, it may be 


TITLES OF BOOKS. 766 

useful to know, that a volume of matter may be contained hi 
a very small space. 

We submit the following curious particulars respecting the 
1 itles of Books. — The Jewish, and many Oriental authors, 
were fond of allegorical titles, which always shews the most 
puer .le age of taste. The titles were usually adapted to their 
obscure works. It might exercise an able enigmatist to explain 
their allusions; for we must understand by “The Heart of 
Aaron,”’ a commentary on several of the prophets. “ The 
Bones of Joseph” is an introduction to the Talmud. “The 
Garden of Nuts,” and “The Golden Apples,” are theological 
questions, and “The Pomegranate with its Flower,” is a 
treatise of ceremonies no longer practised. Jortin gives a 
title, which he says, of all the fantastical titles he can recol¬ 
lect, is one of the prettiest. A Rabbin published a catalogue 
of Rabbinical writers, and called it Lahia Dormientium, from 
Cantic. vii. 9. “ Like the best wine of my beloved, that goeth 
down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to 
speak.” It has a double meaning, of which he was not 
aware, for most of his Rabbinical brethren talk very much 
like men in their sleep. 

Almost all their works bear such titles as. Bread, Gold, Silver, 
Roses, Eyes, &c.; in a word, any thing that meant nothing. 

Affected title-pages were not peculiar to the Orientalists; 
but the Greeks and the Romans have shewn a finer taste. 
They had their Cornucopias, or horns of abundance; Limones, 
or meadows ; Pinakidions, or tablets ; Pancarpes, or all sorts 
of fruits: titles not unhappily-adapted for the miscellanists 
The nine books of Herodotus, and the nine epistles of iEschi- 
nes, were respectively honoured by the name of a Muse ; and 
three orations of the latter, by those of the Graces. 

The modern fanatics have had a most barbarous taste for 
titles. We could produce numbers from abroad, and also at 
home. Some works have been called, “ Matches Lighted at 
the Divine Fire,” and one “The Gun of Penitence:” a col¬ 
lection of passages from the Fathers, is called, “ The Shop of 
the Spiritual Apothecary:” we have “The Bank of Faith,” 
and “The Sixpennyworth of Divine Spirit:” one of these 
works bears the following elaborate one ; “ Some fine Baskets 
baked in the Oven of Charity, carefully conserved for the 
Chickens of the Church, the Sparrows of the Spirit, and the 
sweet Swallows of Salvation.” Sometimes their quaintness 
lias some humour. One Sir Humphrey Lind, a zealous puri¬ 
tan, published a work, which a Jesuit answered by another, 
entitled, “ A Pair of Spectacles for Sir Humphrey Lind.” The 
doughty knight retorted, by '* A Case for Sir Humphrey Lind’s 
Spectacles.” 


CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE 


756 

Some of these obscure titles have an entertaining absurdity ; 
as, “The Three Daughters of Job,” which is a treatise on the 
three virtues of patience, fortitude, and pain. “ The Innocent 
Love, or the Holy Knight,” is a description of the ardours of 
a saint for the Virgin. “ The Sound of the Trumpet,” is a work 
on the day of judgment; and “ A Fan to drive away Flies,” 
is a theological treatise on purgatory. 

The title which George Gascoigne, who had great merit in 
his day, has given to his collection, may be considered as a 
specimen of the titles of his times. It was printed in 1576.. 
He calls it “ A hundred sundrie Floures bounde up in one 
small Poesie ; gathered partly by translation in the fyne and 
outlandish gardens of Euripides, Ovid, Petrarche, Ariosto, and 
others; and partly by invention out of our own fruitefull or- 
chardes in Englande; yielding sundrie sweet savours of tragi- 
call, comicall, and morall discourses, both pleasaunt and 
profitable to the well-swelling noses of learned readers.” 

Literary Labour and Perseverance. —The Rev. WiL 
liam Davy, curate of Lustleigh, Devon, in the year 1807, 
finished a work in twenty-six volumes, of which the following 
is the title :— 

“ A System of Divinity, in a Course of Sermons on the first 
Institutions of Religion—on the Being and Attributes of God 
—on some of the most important Articles of the Christian 
Religion, in Connection—and on the several Virtues and Vices 
of Mankind; with Occasional Discourses. Being a Compila¬ 
tion of the best Sentiments of the Polite Writers and eminent 
sound Divines, both ancient and modern, on the same subjects, 
properly connected, with Improvements ; particularly adapted 
for the Use of Chief Families, and Students in Divinity, for 
Churches, and for the Benefit of Mankind in general.” 

The author of the work bearing this astounding title, once 
attempted to publish it by subscription; in which he failed : 
he being poor, and unable to venture its publication, resolved 
to print it himself; for which purpose he procured as many 
worn-out types from a country printing-office as enabled him 
to print two pages at once ; which, with the addition of a 
press of his own manufacture, he set to work in the year 1795, 
serving every office himself, from compositor to printer’s-devil; 
and proceeding regularly page by page, he struck off forty 
copies of the first three hundred pages, half of which he dis¬ 
tributed among the reviews, the bishops, and the universi¬ 
ties, with a view of attracting public attention ; but here also 
he failed: when he became determined to treat a misjudging 
world with contempt, and accordingly continued to print off 
fourteen copies of each, and at the end of twelve years finished 
the whole six-and-twenty volumes. 


SCARCITY OF BOOKS. 


757 

Curious account of the Scarcity of Books —Of the 
scarcity and value of books during the seventh and many 
subsequent centuries, the following curious account is given 
by Mr. Warton, in his History of English Poetry, vol. i. 

Towards the close of the seventh century, (says he,) even in 
the papal library at Rome, the number of books was so incon¬ 
siderable, that pope St. Martin requested Sanctarnand, bishop 
ol Maestricht, if possible, to supply this defect from the re¬ 
motest parts of Germany. In 855, Lupus, abbot of Ferriers, 
in France, sent two of his monks to pope Benedict III. to 
beg a copy of Cicero de Oratore, and Quintilian’s Institutes, 
and some other books : ‘ for (says the abbot) although we 
have part of these books, yet there is no whole or complete 
copy of them in all France.’ Albert, abbot of Gemblours, 
who with incredible labour and immense expense had col¬ 
lected one hundred volumes on theological, and fifty on profane 
subjects, imagined he had formed a splendid library. About 
A. D. 790, Charlemagne granted an unlimited right of hunt¬ 
ing, to the abbot and monks of Sithin, for making covers for 
their books of the skins of the deer they killed. These reli¬ 
gious were probaibly more fond of hunting than reading; and, 
under these circumstances, did not manufacture many volumes. 
At the beginning of the tenth century, books were so scarce 
in Spain, that one copy of the Bible, St. Jerome’s epistles, 
and some volumes of ecclesiastical offices and martyrologies, 
often served several different monasteries. In an inventory of 
the goods of John de Pontissara, bishop of Winchester, in 
his palace of Wulvesey, all the books are only septemdecim 
speciem librorum de diversis scientiis. This was in 1294. The 
same prelate, in 1299, borrows of his cathedral convent of 
St. Swithin, at Winchester, Bibiiam bene glossatam; i. e. the 
Bible with marginal annotations, in two large folio volumes; 
but gives a bond for due return of the loan, drawn up with 
great solemnity. This Bible had been bequeathed to the 
convent by Pontissara’s predecessor, bishop Nicholas de Ely: 
and in consideration of so important a bequest, pro bona Bib/ia 
dicti episcopi bene g/ossata , and one hundred marks in money, 
the monks founded a daily mass for the soul of the donor. 
When a single book was bequeathed to a friend, it was seldom 
without many restrictions. If any person gave a book to a 
religious house, he believed that so valuable a donation merited 
eternal salvation; and he offered it on the altar with great 
ceremony. The most formidable anathemas were perempto¬ 
rily denounced against those who should dare to alienate a 
book presented to the cloister, or library of a religious house. 
The priorand convent of Rochester declare, that they will every 
year pronounce the irrevocable sentence of damnation on him 
who shall purloin or conceal a Latin translation of Aristotle’s 


758 


CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. 


Physics, or even obliterate the title. Sometimes a book v\as 
given to a monastery, on condition that the donor should 
have the use of it during his life; and sometimes to a private 
person, on the terms that he who received it should pray for 
the soul of his benefactor. When a book was bought, the 
affair was of so much importance, that it was customary to 
assemble persons of consequence and character, and to make 
a formal record that they were present. 

Among the royal manuscripts in the book of the Sentences 
of Peter Lombard, an archdeacon of Lincoln has left this 
entry: “This book of the Sentences belongs to master 
Robert, archdeacon of Lincoln, which he bought of Geoffrey 
the chaplain, brother of Henry, vicar of Northelkington, in the 
presence of master Robert de Lee, master John of Lirling, 
Richard of Luda, clerk, Richard the almoner, the said Henry 
the vicar, and his clerk, and others: and the said archdeacon 
gave the said book to God and St. Oswald, and to Peter 
abbot of Barton, and the convent of Barden.” The disputed 
property of a book often occasioned the most violent alter¬ 
cations. Many claims appear to have been made to a manu¬ 
script of Matthew Paris, belonging to the last mentioned 
library; in which John Russel, bishop of Lincoln, condi¬ 
tionally defends or explains his right of possession; and 
concludes thus, A. D. 1488, Whoever shall obliterate or 
destroy this writing, let him be anathema.” 

About 1225, Roger de Insula, dean of York, gave several 
Latin Bibles to the university of Oxford, on the condition, 
that the students who perused them should deposit a cau¬ 
tionary pledge. The library of that university, before A. D. 
1300, consisted only of a few tracts, chained or kept in chests 
in the choir of St. Mary’s church. In 1327, the scholars and 
citizens of Oxford pillaged the opulent Benedictine abbey of 
the neighbouring town of Abingdon. Among the books they 
found there, were one hundred psalters, as many grayles, 
forty missals, which undoubtedly belonged to the choir of the 
church, and twenty-two codices, on common subjects. And 
although the invention of paper, at the close of the eleventh 
century,contributed to multiply manuscripts, and consequently 
to facilitate knowledge, yet, even so late as the reign of 
Henry VI. the following remarkable instance occurred of the 
inconveniences and impediments to study, which must have 
been produced by a scarcity of books. It is in the statutes 
of St. Mary’s college at Oxford, founded as a seminary to 
Oseney abbey, in 1446: “ Let no scholar occupy a book in the 
library above one hour, or two hours at most; so that others 
shall not be hindered from the use of the same!” The famous 
library established in the university of Oxford, by that muni¬ 
ficent patron of literature, Humphrey duke of Gloucester, 


SCARCITY OF BOOKS 


759 


contained only six hundred volumes. About the commence* 
ment ol the fourteenth century, there were only four classics 
in the royal library at Paris. There was one copy of Cicero, 
Ovid, Lucan, and Boetius. The rest were chiefly books of 
devotion, which included but few of the Fathers: many treatises 
of astrology, geomancy, chiromancy, and medicine, originally 
written in Arabic, and translated into Latin or French: pan¬ 
dects, chronicles, and romances. This collection was prin- 
cipally made by Charles V. who began his reign in 1365. 
This monarch was passionately fond of reading; and it was 
the fashion to send him presents of books from every part of 
the kingdom of France. These be ordered to be elegantly 
transcribed, and richly illuminated; and he placed them in a 
tower of the Louvre, from thence called La Toure de la 
Libraire. The whole consisted of nine hundred volumes. 
They were deposited in three chambers, wainscoted with 
Irish oak, and ceiled with cypress curiously carved. The 
windows were of painted glass, fenced with iron bars and 
copper wire. The English became masters of Paris in the 
year 1425; on which event the Duke of Bedford, regent of 
France, sent the whole library, then consisting of only eight 
hundred and fifty-three volumes, and valued at 2223 livres, 
into England ; where perhaps they became the groundwork 
of Duke Humphrey’s library. Even so late as the year 1471, 
when Louis XI. of France borrowed the works of the Arabian 
physician, Rhasis, from the faculty of medicine at Paris, he 
not only deposited by way of pledge a quantity of valuable 
plate, But was obliged to procure a nobleman to join with 
him as a surety in a deed, by which he bound himself to 
return it, under a considerable forfeiture. The excessive 
prices of books in the middle ages afford numerous and 
curious proofs of the caution with which literary property was 
secured in those times of general ignorance. 

In 1174, Walter, prior of St. Swithin’s at Winchester, a 
writer in Latin of the lives of the bishops who were his 
patrons, purchased of the monks of Dorchester, in Oxford 
shire, Bede’s Homilies and St. Austin’s Psalter, for twelve 
measures of barley, and a pall, on which was richly em¬ 
broidered in silver the history of St. Birinus converting a 
Saxon king. Among the royal manuscripts in the British 
M useum, there is Comestor’s Scholastic History in French; 
which, as it is recorded in a blank page at the beginning, was 
taken from the king of France at the battle of Poictiers; and 
being purchased by William Montague, Earl of Salisbury, for 
100 marcs, was ordered to be sold by the last will of his 
countess, Elizabeth, for 40 livres. About A. D. 1400, a 
copy of John of Meun’s Romance de la Rose, was sold before 
the palace gate at Paris for a sum equal to £33. 6s. 6d. 


CURIOSITIES OV LIFE II ATI) RE. 


760 

Celebrated Libraries. —The first who erected a libraiy 
at Athens was the tyrant Pisistratus. This was transported 
by Xerxes into Persia, and afterwards brought back by 
Seleucus Nicanor to Athens. Plutarch says, that under 
Eumenes there was a library at Pergamus which contained 
two hundred thousand books. That of Ptolemy Philadel- 
phus, according to A. Gellius, contained forty thousand, 
which were all burnt by Caesar’s soldiers. The celebrated 
library of Alexandria, begun by Ptolemy Soter, and enlarged 
by his successors, consisting of seven hundred thousand 
volumes, contained nearly all the literary treasures of the 
world. This was burnt by order of the Caliph Omar, in the 
seventh century, and the loss must for ever remain irreparable. 
On this calamity, literature can never reflect without a sigh. 
Constantine and his successor erected a magnificent one at 
Constantinople, which in the eighth century contained three 
hundred thousand volumes, and among the rest, one in which 
the Iliad and Odyssey were written in letters of gold, on the 
entrails of a serpent; but this library was burnt, by order of 
Leo Isaurus. The most celebrated libraries of ancient Rome, 
were the Ulpian and the Palatine; and in modern Rome, that 
of the Vatican, the foundation of which was laid by Pope 
Nicholas in the year 1450. It was afterwards diminished in 
the sacking of Rome by the constable of Bourbon, and 
restored by Pope Sixtus V. and has been considerably enriched 
with the ruins of that of Heidelberg, plundered by count 
Tilly in 1682. One of the most complete libraries in Europe, 
was that erected by Cosmo de Medicis; though it was after¬ 
wards exceeded by that of the French king, which was begun 
by Francis I. augmented by cardinal Richelieu, and com¬ 
pleted by M. Colbert. The emperor’s library at Vienna, 
according to Lambecius, consists of eighty thousand volumes, 
and fifteen thousand nine hundred and fortv curious medals. 
The Bodleian library at Oxford exceeds that of any university 
in Europe, and even those of any of the sovereigns, except 
those of the emperors of France and Germany, which are 
each of them older by a hundred years. It was first opened 
in 1602, and has since been increased by a great number of 
benefactors : indeed the Medicean library, that of Bessarion 
at Venice, and those just mentioned, exceed it in Greek 
manuscripts, but it outdoes them all in Oriental manuscripts; 
and as to printed books, the Ambrosian at Milan, and that of 
Wolfenbuttle, are two of the most famous libraries on the 
continent, and yet both are considerably inferior to the Bod¬ 
leian. The Cottonian library consists wholly of manuscripts, 
particularly of such as relate to the history and antiquities 
of England; which, as they are now bound, make about pne 
thousand volumes. 


BOOK OF BLUNDERS.-LONDON INSTIUTIONS. 76 

Book of Blunders. —One of the most egregious, shall 
we add illustrious, of all literary blunders, is that of the edition 
of the Vulgate, by Sixtus V. His holiness carefully superin¬ 
tended every sheet as it passed through the press; and, to the 
amazement of the world, the work remained without a rival—• 
it swarmed with errata! A multitude of scraps were printed, 
to paste over the erroneous passages, in order to give the 
true text. The book makes a whimsical appearance with 
these pasted corrections; and the heretics exulted in the 
demonstration of papal infallibility! The copies were called 
in, and violent attempts made to suppress it; however, a few 
still remain for the pursuit of biblical collectors: at a late sale, 
the Bible of Sixtus V. fetched above sixty guineas—a tole¬ 
rable sum for a mere book of blunders! The world was highly 
amused at the bull of the Pope and editor prefixed to the 
first volume, which excommunicates all printers, &c. who 
in reprinting the work should make any alteration in the 
text! 

Curious account of The Means of Intellectual Im¬ 
provement in London. —The following is an estimate made 
of the means of intellectual improvement in London. There 
are four hundred and seven places of public worship; four 
thousand and fifty seminaries for education, including two 
hundred and thirty-seven parish charity schools; eight socie¬ 
ties for the express purpose of promoting good morals; twelve 
societies for promoting the learned, the useful, and the polite 
arts; one hundred and twenty-two asylums and alms-houses 
for the helpless and indigent, including the Philanthropic 
Society for reclaiming criminal children; thirty hospitals-and 
dispensaries for sick and lame, and for the delivery of poor 
pregnant women; seven hundred friendly or benefit societies; 
about thirty institutions for charitable and humane purposes; 
about thirty institutions for teaching some thousands of poor 
children the arts of reading, writing, and arithmetic, on the 
plans of Mr. Lancaster and Dr. Bell; and these several estab¬ 
lishments, including the poor’s rate, are supported at the 
kJ most incredible cost of one million per annum. 


/ 


62 


CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. 


CHAP. LXXX1. 

curiosities of literature.— (Continued.) 

Orig in of the Word “News” — Origin of Newspapers — Instances of 
New Studies in Old Age—Literary Shoemakers—Imprison 
ment of the Learned—Singular Customs annually observed 
bij the Company of Stationers—Book of Shorts—Origin of 
Card;—Explanation of all the Letters on a Guinea . 

Origin or the Wo p d “News.”— The four cardinal points 
of the compass, marked with the letters N. E. W. S. standing 
for North, East, West, and South, form the word News, 
which coming from all parts of the world, gave derivation to 
the word. 

Origin of Newspapers.— We are indebted to the Italians 
for the idea of Newspapers. The title of the Gazettas, was 
perhaps derived from Gazzera, a magpie or chatterer; or more 
probably from a farthing coin, peculiar to the city of Venice, 
called Gazetta, which was the common price of the news¬ 
papers. Another learned etymologist is for deriving it from 
the Latin Gaza , which would colloquially lengthen into 
Gazetta , and signify a little treasury of news. The Spanish 
derive it indeed from the Latin Gaza; and likewise their 
GazaterOy and our Gazetteer , for a writer of the Gazette; and, 
what is peculiar to themselves, Gazetista, for a lover of the 
Gazette. 

Newspapers then took their birth in that principal land 
of modern politicians, Italy, and under the government of that 
aristocratical republic, Venice. The first paper was a Vene¬ 
tian one, and only monthly: but it was the newspaper of the 
government only. Other governments afterwards adopted the 
Venetian name for it; and from one solitary government 
Gazette, we see what an inundation of newspapers has burst 
out upon us in this country. 

Mr. Chalmers gives, in his life of Ruddiman, a curious 
particular of these Venetian Gazettes. “ A jealous govern¬ 
ment did not allow a printed newspaper; and the Venetian 
Gazetta continued long after the invention of printing to the 
close of the sixteenth century, and even to our own days, to 
be distributed in manuscript.” In the Magliabechian library 
at Florence are thirty volumes of Venetian Gazettas, all in 
manuscript. 

Those who first wrote newspapers, were called by the Italians 
Menanti, because, says Vossius, they intended commonly by 


ORIGIN OF NEWSPAPERS.-STUDIES IN OLD AGE. 763 

these loose papers to spread about defamatory reflections, and 
were therefore prohibited in Italy by Gregory XIII. in a 
particular bull, under the name of Menantes, from the Latin 
MinanUs , threatening. Menage, however, derives it from the 
Italian Mcnare , which signifies, to lead at large, or spread 
afar. 

Mr. Chalmers discovers in England tl» first newspaper. 
It may gratify national pride, says he, to be told, that man¬ 
kind are indebted to the wisdom of Elizabeth and the pru¬ 
dence of Burleigh for the first newspaper. The epoch of the 
Spanish Armada is also the epoch of a genuine newspaper. 
In the British Museum are several newspapers which had 
been printed while the Spanish fleet was in the English 
Channel, during the year 1588. It was a wise policy to pre¬ 
vent, during a moment of general anxiety, the danger of false 
reports, by publishing real information. The earliest news¬ 
paper is entitled “ The English Mercurie,” which by authority 
“ was imprinted at London by her highness’s printer, 1588.” 
These were, however, but extraordinary Gazettes, not regularly 
published. 

The following are curious Instances of New Studies in 
Old Age. —Socrates learnt to play on musical instruments 
in his old age; Cato, at eighty, thought proper to learn Greek ; 
and Plutarch, almost as late in life, Latin. 

Theophrastus began his admirable work on the characters 
of men, at the extreme age of ninety. He only terminated 
his literary labours by his death. 

Peter Ronsard, one of the fathers of French poetry, applied 
himself late to study. His acute genius, and ardent applica¬ 
tion, rivalled those poetic models which he admired. 

The great Arnauld retained the vigour of his genius, and 
the command of his pen, to his last day; and at the age of 
eighty-two was still the great Arnauld. 

Sir Henry Spelman neglected the sciences in his youth, 
but cultivated them at fifty years of age, and produced good 
fruit. His early years were chiefly passed in farming, which 
greatly diverted him from his studies; but a remarkable dis¬ 
appointment respecting a contested estate, disgusted him 
•vith these rustic occupations, and resolving to attach himself 
to regular studies and literary society, he sold his farms, and 
became a most learned antiquary and lawyer. 

Colbert, the famous French minister, almost at sixty re¬ 
turned to his Latin and law studes. 

Tellier, the chancellor of France, learnt logic, merely for 
an amusement, to dispute with his grandchildren. 

Dr. Johnson applied himself to the Dutch language but a few 
years before his death. But on this head the Marouis de Saint 


CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE 


764 

Anlaire may be regarded as a prodigy * at the age of seventy 
he began to court the Muses, and they crowned him with 
their freshest flowers. His verses are full of fire, delicacy, 
and sweetness. Voltaire says, that Anacreon, less old, pro¬ 
duced less charming compositions. 

Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales were the composition of his 
latest years: they were begun in his fifty-fourth year, and 
finished in his sixty-first: it is on these works his fame is 
established, at least they are those which are most adapted to 
attract all classes of poetical readers. 

The celebrated Boccacio was thirty-five years of age when 
he began his studies in polite literature. He has, however, 
excelled many whose whole life has been devoted to this branch 
of letters. Such is the privilege of genius. 

Ludovico Monaldesco, at the extraordinary age of 115, 
wrote the memoirs of his time: a singular exertion, noticed 
by Voltaire, who himself is one of the most remarkable in¬ 
stances of the progress of age in new studies. 

Koonhert began at forty to learn the Latin and Greek lan¬ 
guages, of which he became a master; several students, who 
afterwards distinguished themselves, have commenced as late 
in life their literary pursuits. Ogilby, the translator of Homer 
and Virgil, knew little of Latin or Greek, till he was past 
fifty; and Franklin’s philosophical pursuits began when he 
had nearly reached his fiftieth year 

Accorso, a great lawyer, being asked why he began the 
study of the law so late, answered, that indeed he began it 
late, but should therefore master it the sooner. 

Dryden’s complete works form the largest body of poetry 
from the pen of one writer in the English language ; yet he 
gave no public testimony of poetical abilities till his twenty- 
seventh year. In his sixty-eighth year he proposed to trans¬ 
late the whole Ilias; his most pleasing productions were written 
in his old age. 

Michael Angelo preserved his creative genius even in ex¬ 
treme old age ; for he worked almost to his last day, and he 
reached his ninetieth year. He alludes, doubtless, to himself 
in an ingenious device, if it be of his own invention : A vene¬ 
rable old man is represented in a go-cart, an hour-glass upon 
it, with the inscription, Ancora Imparo! Yet I am learn¬ 
ing! 

Literary Shoemakers. —The fraternity of shoemakers 
have unquestionably given rise to some characters of worth 
and genius. The late Mr. Holcroft was originally a shoe¬ 
maker. His dramatic pieces must rank among the best of 
those on the English stage. Robert Bloomfield wrote his 
poem of “ The Farmer’s Boy,” while employed at this business. 


IMPRISONMENT OF THE LEARNED. 765 

and Dr. William Carey, professor of Sanscrit and Bengalee 
^ i - C °^ e ® e Fort William, Calcutta ; and the able and 
rndefatigable translator of the Scriptures into many of the 
Eastern languages, was in early life a shoemaker in North¬ 
amptonshire. The present Mr. Gifford, the translator of 
Juvenal, and the supposed editor of the Quarterly Review, 
spent some of his early days in learning the “ craft'and mys- 
teiy # of a shoemaker; as he tells us, in one of the most inte¬ 
resting pieces of auto-biography ever penned, and prefixed to 
his nervous and elegant version of the great Roman satirist. 

Imprisonment of the Learned. —Imprisonment seems 
not much to have disturbed the men of letters in the progress 
of their studies. 

It was in prison that Boethius composed his excellent book 
on the Consolations of Philosophy. 

Grotius wrote, in his confinement, his Commentary on St. 
Matthew. 

Buchanan, in his dungeon of a monastery in Portugal, 
composed his excellent Paraphrases on the Psalms of DavTd.’ 

Pelisson, during five years’confinement for some state affairs, 
pursued with ardour his studies in the Greek language, in 
philosophy, and particularly in theology, and produced several 
good compositions. 

Michael Cervantes composed the best and most agreeable 
book in the Spanish language, during his captivity in Bar¬ 
bary. 

Fleta, a well-known and very excellent little law production, 
was written by a person confined in the fleet prison for debt, 
but whose name has not been preserved. 

Louis XII. when he was Duke of Orleans, being taken pri¬ 
soner at the battle of St. Aubin, was long confined in the 
tower of Bourges. and applying himself to his studies, which 
he had hitherto neglected, he became, in consequence, an 
able and enlightened monarch. 

Margaret, Queen of Henry IV. King of France, confined in 
the Louvre, pursued very warmly the study of elegant literature, 
and composed a very skilful apology for the irregularities of 
her conduct. 

Charles I. during his cruel confinement at Holmsby, wrote 
that excellent book, entitled The Portait of a King, which he 
addressed to his son, and where the political reflections will 
be found not unworthy of Tacitus. This work, however, has 
been attributed, by his enemies, to a Dr. Gowden, who was 
incapable of writing a single paragraph of it. 

Queen Elizabeth, while confined by her sister Mary, wrote 
some very charming poems, which we do not find she ever 
could equal after her enlargement: and Mary Queen of Scots, 


766 


CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. 


during her long imprisonment by Elizabeth, produced man) 
beautiful poetic compositions. 

Singular Custom annually observed by the Com¬ 
pany of Stationers. —On the annual aquatic procession 
of the Lord Mayor of London to Westminster, the barge of 
the Company of Stationers, which is usually the first in the 
show, proceeds to Lambeth palace, where for time immemorial 
they have received a present of sixteen bottles of the Arch¬ 
bishop’s prime wine. This custom originated at the beginning 
of the last century. When archbishop Tenison enjoyed the 
see, a very near relation of his, who happened to be master 
of the Stationers’ Company, thought it a compliment to call 
there in full state, and in his barge : when the archbishop was 
informed that the number of the company within the barge 
was thirty-two, he thought that a pint of wine for each would 
not be disagreeable ; and ordered, at the same time, that a 
sufficient quantity ol new bread and old cheese, with plenty 
of strong ale, should be given to the watermen and attendants: 
and from that accidental circumstance it has grown into a 
settled custom. The Company, in return, presents to the 
Archbishop a copy of the several almanacks which they have 
the peculiar privilege of publishing. 

Book of Sports. —A book, or declaration, drawn up by 
bishop Morton, in the reign of king James I. to encourage 
recreations and sports on the Lord’s day. It was to this 
effect: “ That for his good people’s recreation, his majesty’s 
pleasure was, that, after the end of divine service, they should 
not be disturbed, letted, or discouraged, from any lawful recre¬ 
ations ; such as dancing, either of men or women; archery 
for men; leaping, vaulting, or any such harmless recreations; 
nor having of may-games, whitsun-ales, or morrice-dances; 
or setting up of may-poles, or other sports therewith used, 
so as the same may be had in due and convenient time, with¬ 
out impediment or let of divine service; and that women 
should have leave to carry rushes to the church for the deco¬ 
rating of it, according to their old customs : withal prohibiting 
all unlawful games to be used on Sundays only; as bear- 
bating, bull-bating, interludes, and at all times (in the 
meaner sort of people prohibited) bowling.” Two or three 
restraints were annexed to the declaration, which deserve 
notice :— 1. No recusant (i. e. papist) was to have the benefit 
of this declaration. 2. Nor such as were not present at the 
whole of divine service. 3. Nor such as did not keep to their 
own parish churches, that is, puritans. 

This declaration was ordered to be read in all the parishes 
of Lane ashire, which abounded with papists; and Wilson adds. 


ORIGIN OF CARDS. 


767 


that it was to have been read in all the churches of England, 
but that archbishop Abbot, being at Croydon, flatly forbade 
its being; read there. In the reign of king Charles I. arch- 
bishop Laud put the king upon republishing this declaration, 
which was accordingly done. The court had their balls, 
masquerades, and plays, on the Sunday evenings; while the 
youth of the country were at their morrice-dances, may-games, 
church and clerk ales, and all such kind of revelling. The 
severe pressing of this declaration made sad havock among 
the puritans, as it was to be read in the churches. Many 
poor clergymen strained their consciences in submission to 
their superiors. Some, after publishing, immediately read 
the fourth commandment to the people :—“ Remember the 
sabbath day, to keep it holy:” adding, “This is the law of 
God;” the other, “The injunction of man.” Some put it 
upon their curates; whilst great numbers absolutely refused 
to comply : the consequence of which was, that several cler¬ 
gymen were actually suspended for not reading it. 

Origin of Cards. —About the year 1390, cards were in¬ 
vented, to divert Charles VI. then king of France, who was 
fallen into a melancholy disposition. 

That they were not in use before, appears highly probable, 
1st. Because no cards are to be seen in any paintings, sculp¬ 
ture, tapestry, See. more ancient than the preceding period, but 
are represented in many works ot ingenuity since that age. 

2dly. No prohibitions relative to cards, by the king’s edicts, 
are mentioned, although, some few years before, a most severe 
one was published, forbidding by name, all manner of sports 
and pastimes, in order that the subjects might exercise them¬ 
selves in shooting with bows and arrows, and be in a condi¬ 
tion to oppose the English. Now it is not to be presumed, 
that so luring a game as cards would have been omitted in the 
enumeration, had they been in use. 

3dly. In all the ecclesiastical canons prior to the said time, 
there occurs no mention of cards ; although, twenty years after 
that date, card-playing was interdicted by the clergy, by a 
Gallican synod. About the same time is found, in the account 
book of the king’s cofferer, the following charge “ Paid for 
a pack of painted leaves bought for the king’s amusement, 
three livres.” Printing and stamping being then not disco¬ 
vered, the cards were painted, which made them so dear. 
Thence, in the above svnodical canons, they are called gilU 
picta, painted little leaves. 

4thly About thirty years after this, came a severe edict 
against cards in Fiance; and another by Emanuel, duke of 
Savoy; only permitting the ladies this pastime, pro spinulis , 
for pins and needles. 


CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. 


768 

Of their design.—The inventor proposed, by the figures of 
the four suits, or colours, as the French call them, to repre¬ 
sent the four states, or classes, of men in the kingdom 

By the Ccesars (Hearts) are meant the gens de chceur, choir 
men', or ecclesiastics ; and therefore the Spaniards, who cer- 
tainly received the use of cards from the French, have copas , 
or chalices, instead of hearts. 

The nobility, or prime military part of the kingdom, are 
represented by the ends or points of lances or pikes ; and our 
ignorance of the meaning or resemblance of the figure induced 
us to call them Spades. The Spaniards have espaces (swords) 
in lieu of pikes, which is of similar import. 

By Diamonds, are designed the order of citizens, merchants, 
and tradesmen, carreaux (square stone tiles or the like.) The 
Spaniards have a coin dineros, which answered to it; and the 
Dutch call the French word carreaux stieneen, stones and dia¬ 
monds, from their form. 

Treste , the trefoil leaf, or clover-grass (corruptly called 
Clubs) alludes to the husbandmen and peasants. How this suit 
came to be called clubs is not explained, unless, borrowing the 
game from the Spaniards, who have bastos (staves or clubs) 
instead of the trefoil, we gave the Spanish signification to the 
French figure. 

• ^ • • 

The history of the four Kings, which the French in drollery 
sometimes call the cards, is David, Alexander, Ccesar, and 
Charles, (which names were then, and still are, on the French 
cards.) These respectable names represent the four cele¬ 
brated monarchies of the Jews, Greeks, Romans, and Franks 
under Charlemagne. 

By the Queens are intended Argine, Esther, Judith , and Pallas , 
(names retained in French cards,) typical of birth, piety, for¬ 
titude, and wisdom, the qualifications residing in each person 
Argine is an anagram for Regina, queen by descent. 

By the Knaves were designed the servants to knights (for 
knave originally meant only servant; and in an old translation 
of the Bible, St. Paul is called the knave of Christ) but French 
pages and valets, now indiscriminately used by various orders 
of persons, were formerly only allowed to persons of quality, 
esquires, (escuiers,) shield or armour-bearers. 

Others fancy that the knights themselves were designed by 
those cards, because Hogier and Lahire, two names on the 
French cards, were famous knights at the time cards were 
supposed to be invented. 

Explanation of all the Letters on a Guinea.—T he 
Inscription on a Guinea runs thus :—GEORGIUS III. DEI 
GRATIA, M. B. F. ET H. REX, F.D B.ETL.D. S. R. L 
A. T. ET E. 


ADDRESS TO THE LATE QUEEN CHARLOTTE. 769 

That is, Georgius Tertius, Dei Gratia, Magnae Briitanniae, 
rianciae et Hibernise Rex, hidei Defensor, Brunswicii et Lu- 

nenburgi Dux, Sacri Romani Imperii Archi-Thesaurarius et 
Elector. 

In English—George the Third, by the Grace of God, King 
of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, 
Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburgh, Arch-Treasurer and 
Elector of the Holy Roman Empire 


CHAP. LXXXII. 

curiosities of literature. — (Concluded) 

Curious Address to the late Queen Charlotte—Quaint Lines on 
Queen Elizabeth—Curious Names adopted in the Civil Wars —■ 
Curious Extracts from the Will of an Earl of Pembroke — 
Curious Letter from Pomare, King of Otaheite, to the Mis¬ 
sionary Society—Curious Love Letter and Answer—Creeds oj 
the Jews—The Unbeliever s Creed—Explanation of the Terms 
“ Whig” and “ Tory.” 

CURIOUS ADDRESS TO THE LATE QUEEN CHARLOTTE. 

" The Add ress of the Burgomaster, Magistrates, and Citizens 
of Strelitz, to her Royal Highness the Most Illustrious 
Princess Sophia Charlotte, Duchess of Mecklenburgh, 
Pri ncess of Wenden, Schrouin, and Piotzburgh, and Coun¬ 
tess of Schwerin, and the countries of Rostock and Slan- 
gard, on her leaving the Territories of the said City in her 
Way to England, as the Royal Bride of his Most Illustrious 
Majesty George the Third, King of Great Britain, See. &c. 
Aug. 27, 176i. 

“ Illustrious Dutchess, most gracious Princess and Lady; 
your Royal Highness is at present leaving that country whose 
happiness it has hitherto been to admire you, the model of a 
perfect Princess; you leave it to share with the greatest 
monarch in Europe, a throne respected through every part of 
the universe. The instant is at hand when your Royal High¬ 
ness will for ever be withdrawn from our eyes : but it affects 
us the more sensibly, from the apprehension that the many 
great and brilliant objects, with which you will henceforth be 
connected, will efface so small a place as ours from your ines¬ 
timable remembrance. Yet that goodness which we have 
hitherto with transport admired in your Royal Highness, 
revives our spirits ; it assures us, that you will ever from the 
threne condescend graciously to look back on our town; and 

5 E 


770 


CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. 


continue the patroness of those whose happiness it is to be 
the subjects of your illustrious Family. We, therefore, in full 
confidence, give ourselves up to that lively joy excited in us 
all, on the glorious union to which the Divine Provid'ence has 
called your Royal Highness, and beg leave to accompany you 
with our most cordial wishes for your safe journey and con¬ 
tinual welfare and prosperity. May the Eternal Ruler of all 
things, who has appointed this great event, make your Royal 
Highness the most perfect instance of felicity, the delight of 
that Royal Family into which you are now entering, the joy of 
Britain, and the glory of the illustrious Mecklenburg! May 
our illustrious Sovereign, the beloved Adolphus Frederic, long, 
and in all earthly happiness, together with his faithful and 
happy subjects, rejoice in these felicities! Your Royal High¬ 
ness will graciously permit that Twelve of our Daughters, here 
present in the attire of innocence, may, as a memorial of this 
fortunate event, second the ardent sentiments of their Fathers* 
and in artless words, most humbly wish you a safe and plea 
sant journey:— 

Eleonora Dorothea Maria Bentghoven. 

Hail Princess! with each shining virtue bright. 

All pure within, without all glorious light, 

Whose form divine, whose goodness we adore; 

Heaven bless thy parting from the German shore! 

Christiana Juliana Elizabeth Berendsden. 

As Consort of a mighty Monarch shine, 

Restore the honour of an ancient line; 

For this thy coming, Britain’s King invites. 

For this he calls to Hymen’s soft delights. 

Dorothea Elizabeth Tetlington. 

Thy soul with each divinest virtue fraught, 

Thy wisdom perfect, both in word and thought; 

Each British bosom snail with rapture fire, 

And faction sleep whilst gazing crowds admire. 

Sophia Elizabeth Gradhandlan. 

When seated by thy royal Consort’s side, 

New lustre he shall gain from such a Bride; 

Her worth shall grace the sacred nuptial ties. 

And Britain’s throne in dignity shall rise 

Carolina Henrietta Tangate. 

O God! whose mercies through the world abound. 

Whose power supports the King thy hand has crown’d* 
Waft o’er the main the Bride’s transcendent charms. 

In safety to the Bridegroom’s longing arms. 


ADDRESS TO THE LATE QUEEN CHARLOTTE. 

Dorothea Gaven. 

May she, with each endearing art possest. 

To pleasure ever soothe the Monarch’s breast! 

May all the royal virtues of her heart. 

To laithlul subjects joy sincere impart! 

Anna Maria Elizabeth Christen. 

Britons, rejoice, receive with loud acclaim 
Sophia Charlotte, ever dear to fame ; 

Delight of Mecklenburg! she comes to shower 
On Britain’s isle new blessings every hour. 

Madalen Elizabeth Colterjahn. 

Thrice happy Bride! who soon shall cross the mam, 
W horn to behold again we wish in vain ; 

May happiness increasing with thee dwell, 

To every age may fame thy glory tell! 

Christiana Sophia Sea/on. 

From Ganges to where Mississippi flows, 

Diffusing wealth and plenty as it goes; 

From Senegal, still scorch’d by Phoebus’ beams, 

To where St. Lawrence rolls his silver streams, 
Proclaim Britannia’s bliss the world around. 

From pole to pole, to earth’s remotest bound. 

Christiana Elizabeth Phoelen. 

It’s wish auspicious Flavel hastes to bring. 

For fair Charlotta and his Britain’s King; 

On Britain’s isle all blessing he implores, 

And rolls his friendly wave to Albion’s shores. 

Dorothea Christiana Elizabeth Rexsehen . 

Beneath the Lord’s anointed may she thrive. 

Still may his influence keep the palm alive. 

Still may it flourish, branches still extend. 

Afford us shelter, and from heat defend. 

Catharine Sophia Bertrowen. 

Nought can our brothers’ ardent zeal restrain, 
Fain\vould they tempt with thee the roaring main; 
Permit them, Queen, thy person to be near, 

That of thy safety tidings we may hear. 

Chorus. 

Yet for one favour more we must apply. 

But little can these barren tracts supply; 

Permit us, since both gold and pearls you scorn. 
Your royal brows with myrtle to adorn! 


772 


CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE 


Quaint Lines on Queen Elizabeth. —Queen Elizabeth, 
who died at Greenwich, was brought thence to Whitehall by 
wate.r, in a grand procession. On this Occasion, as Camden 
informs us, the following quaint lines were written:— 

“ The Que^|n was brought by water to Whitehall; 

At every stroke the oars did tears let fall; 

More clung about the barge; fish under water 

Wept out their eyes of pearl, and swam blind after. 

I think the bargemen might, with easier thighs. 

Have row’d her thither in her people’s eyes ; 

For howsoe’er, thus much my thoughts have scann’d. 

She had come by water, had she come by land.” 

Curious Names adopted in the Civil Wars.—Acuiious 
style of naming individuals was exceedingly common in the 
time of the civil wars. It was said that the genealogy of our 
Saviour might be learned from the names in Cromwell’s 

vJ 

regiments. The muster-master used no other list than the 
first chapter of Matthew. 

A Jury was returned in the county of Sussex of the fol¬ 
lowing names: 

Accepted Trevor, of Horsham. 

Redeemed Compton, of Battle. 

Faint-not Hewet, of Heathfield. 

Make-peace Heaton, of Hare. 

God-reward Smart, of Fivehurst. 

Stand-fast-on-high Stringer, of Crowhurft 

Earth Adams, of Warbleton. 

Called Lower, of Warbleton. 

Kill-sin Pimple, of Witham. 

Return Spelman, of Watling. 

Be-faithful Joiner, of Britling. 

Fly-debate Robert, of Britling. 

Fight-th e-good fght-offaith White, of Emer. 

More-fruit Fowler, of East Hadley. 

Hopefor Bending, of East Hadley 

Graceful Harding, of Lewes. 

Weep-not Billings, of Lewes. 

Meek Brewer, of Okeham. 

A noted character in those days was a divine of the name 
of Praise-God Barebone. He is little known as a divine, but 
is celebrated for having been an active member in Cromwell’s 
parliament, and indeed for giving a name to it which is yet 
preserved in history. Praise-God Barebone had two brothers, 
namely, Christ-came-into-the-world-to-save Barebone , and If - 
Christ-had-not-died-thou-hadst-been-damned Barebone: some are 
said to have omitted the former part of the latter name, and 
to have called him only “ Damned Barebone.” 


EXTRACTS FROM A WILL, ETC. 


773 


The reader will be amused with the following Curious 
Extracts from the Will of an Earl of Pembroke. 

“ Imprimis .—For my soul; I confess I have heard very much 
of souls, but what they are, or whom they are, or what they 
are for, God knows, I know not: they tell me now of another 
world, where I never was, nor do I know one foot of the way 
thither. While the king stood, I was of his religion, made 
my son wear a cassock, and thought to make him a bishop, 
but then came the Scots, and made me a Presbyterian ; and 
since Cromwell entered, I have been an Independent. These, 
I believe, are the kingdom’s three estates: and if anv of these 
can save a soul, I may claim one; therefore if my executors 
do find I have a soul, I give it to him who gave it me. 

“ Item .—I give my body, for I cannot keep it, to be buried. 
Do not lay me in the church-porch, for I was a Lord, and 
would not be buried where Colonel Pride was born. 

“ Item .—My will is, that I have no monument, for then 
I must have epitaphs and verses, and all my life long I have 
had too much of them. 

“ Item .—I give all my deer to the Earl of Salisbury, whc 
I know will preserve them, because he denied the king a buck 
out of one of his own parks. 

** Item .—I give nothing to the Lord Say; which legacy 
I give him, because I know he will bestow it on the poor. 

“ Item .—To Tom May I give five shillings: I intended him 
more: but whoever has seen his history of the parliament, 
thinks five shillings too much. 

“ Item .—I give Lieutenant General Cromwell one word of 
mine, because hitherto he never kept his own. 

“ Item .—I give up the ghost, concordat cum origiuati .” 


Curious Letter from Pomare, King of Otaheite, to 

the Missionary Society. 

(Translation.) 


Friends 


Matavae, Otaheite, Jan. 1, 1807. 


I wish you every blessing, friends, in your residence in 
your country, with success in teaching this bad land, this 
foolish land, this wicked land, this land which is ignorant of 
good, this land that knoweth not the true God, this regardless 

land. . r i i- 

Friends, I wish you health and prosperity; may I also live, 

and may Jehovah save us all! 

Friends, with respect to your letter you wrote to me, I have 
this to say to you, that your business with me, and your 
wishes, I fully consent to, and shall consequently banish Ore 
f h is chief idol) and send him to Racatea. 

Friends, I do therefore believe and shall obey your word. 


774 


CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. 


Friends, I hope you also will consent to my request, which 
is this; I wish you to send a great number of men, women, 
and children, here. 

Fr iends, send also property and cloth for us, and w’e also 
will adopt English customs. 

Friends, send also plenty of muskets and powder, for wars 
are frequent in our country:—should I be killed, you will have 
nothing in Tahete ; do not come here wdien I am dead. Ta¬ 
li ete is a regardless country; and should I die with sickness, 
do not come here. This also I wish, that you would send me 
all the curious things that you have in England : also send 
me every thing necessary for writing; paper, ink. and pens, 
in abundance; let no writing utensil be wanting. 

Friends, I have done, and have nothing at all more to ask 
you for: as for your desire to instruct Tahete, ’tis what I 
fully acquiesce-in. ’Tis a common thing for people not to un¬ 
derstand at first; but your object is good, and I fully consent 
to it; and shall cast off all evil customs. 

What I say is truth, and no lie; it is the real truth. 

This is all I have to write. I have done. Friends, write to 
me, that I may know what you have to say. I wish you life 
and every blessing. May I also live, and Jehovah save us 
all ! 

Pomare, King of Tahete, &c. &c. 
For my Friends, the Missionary 
Society, London. 


Curious Love Letter. 

Madam,— Most worthy of estimation! After long conside 
ration, and much meditation, on the great reputation you 
possess in the nation, I have a strong inclination to become 
your relation. On your approbation of this declaration, I 
shall make preparation to remove my situation, to a more 
convenient station, to profess my admiration ; and if such 
oblation is worthy of observation, and can obtain commisera¬ 
tion, it will be an aggrandization beyond all calculation of the 
joy and exultation. 

Of your’s. 

Sans Dissimulation. 

The Answer. 

Sir,—I perused your oration with much deliberation, and 
a little consternation, at the great infatuation of your imagi¬ 
nation, to shew such veneration on so slight a foundation. 
But after examination and much serious contemplation, 1 sup¬ 
posed your animation was the fruit of recreation, or had 
sprung from ostentation, to display your education, by an 
odd enumeration, or rather multiplication, of words of the 


CREEDS OF THE JEWS. 


775 


same termination, though of great variation in each respective 
signification. 

Now without disputation, your laborious application in so 
tedious an occupation, deserves commemoration, and thinking- 
imitation a sufficient gratification, I am, without hesitation, 

Your’s, 

Mary Moderation. 

Creeds of the Jews. —The following piece is transcribed 
from the Common Prayer now in use among; the Jews, and is 
entitled the Thirteen Creeds. It will give some idea of the 
theoretic branch of religion now prevailing among this singu¬ 
lar people. 

1. I believe, with a firm and perfect faith, that God is the 
Creator of all things ; that he doth guide and support all 
creatures; that he alone has made everything; and that he 
still acts, and will act, during the whole eternity. 

2. I believe, with a firm and perfect faith, that God is one • 
there is no unity like his : he alone hath been, and shall b< 
eternally, our God. 

3. I believe, with a firm and perfect faith, that God is not 
corporeal; he cannot have any material properties; and no 
corporeal essence can be compared with him 

4. I believe, with a firm and perfect faith, that God is the 
beginning and end of all things. 

5. I believe, with a firm and perfect faith, that God alone 
ought to be worshipped, and none but he ought to be 
adored. 

6. I believe, with a firm and perfect faith, whatever hath 
been taught by the Prophets. 

7. I believe, with a firm and perfect faith, that the doctrine 
of Moses is true. He is the father and the head of all the 
doctors that livfed before or since, or shall live after him. 

8. I believe, with a firm and perfect faith, that the law we 
have is the same as was given by Moses. 

9. I believe, with a firm and perfect faith, that this law 
shall never be altered, and God will give no other. 

10. I believe, with a firm and perfect faith, that God know 
eth all the thoughts and actions of men. 

11. I believe, with a firm and perfect faith, that God will 
reward the works of all those who perform his commandments, 
and punish those who transgress his laws. 

12. I believe, with a firm and perfect faith, that the Mes^ 
siah is to come. Although he tarrieth, I will wait, and expect 
daily his coming! 

]3. I believe, with a firm and perfect faith, the Resurrection 
of the Dead shall happen when God shall think fit. Blessed, 
and glorified eternally, be the name of the Creator! Amen. 


776 


CURIOSITIES OF LITERATURE. 


The Unbeliever’s Creed. 

“ I believe that there is no God, but that maHer is God, 
and God is matter, and that it is no matter whether there is 
any God or not. I believe, also, that the world was not made; 
that the world made itself; that it had no beginning; that it 
will last for ever, world without end. 

“ I believe that a man is a beast, that the soul is the body, 
and the body is the soul; and that after death there is neither 
body nor soul. 

“ I believe there is no religion ; that natural religion is the 
only religion ; and that all religion is unnatural. I believe not 
in Moses; I believe in the first philosophy; 1 believe not in 
the Evangelists; I believe in Chubb, Collins, Toland, Tindal, 
Morgan, Mandeville, Woolston, Hobbes, and Shaftsbury ; I 
believe in lord Bolingbroke ; I believe not in St. Paul. 

“ I believe not in revelation ; I believe in tradition ; I believe 
in the Talmud ; I believe in the Alcoran; I believe not in the 
Bible; I believe in Socrates ; I believe in Confucius ; I believe 
in Sanchoneathon; I believe in Mahomet; I believe not in 
Christ. 

“ Lastly, I believe in all unbelief.” 

Explanation of the Terms “Whig” and “Tory.”— 
Burnet, who was contemporary with the introduction of these 
terms, gives the following account of the former:— 

“ The south-west counties of Scotland have seldom corn 
enough to serve them through the year; and the northern 
parts producing more than they need, those in the west come 
in the summer to buy at Leith, the stores that come from the 
north; and from a word (whiggam) used in driving their horses, 
all that drove were called Whiggamors, and, shorter, the 
Whigs. Now in that year, before the news came down of the 
duke of Hamilton’s defeat, the ministers animated the people 
to rise and march to Edinburgh; and they came up, marching 
at the head of their parishes with an unheard-of fury, praying 
and preaching all the way as they came. This was called the 
Whiggamor’s inroad ; and ever after, all that opposed the 
court came in contempt to be called Whigs. 

Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, quotes this passage ; yet by 
placing against the term Whig, the Saxon word Whag, syno¬ 
nymous to whey, or sour milk, he seems not to reject another 
derivation, which has been assigned to it by some writers. 

Echard says—“Great animosities were created by these 
petitioners and abhorrers, and they occasioned many feuds and 
quarrels in private conversations; and about the same time, 
1680, and from the same cause, arose the pernicious terms 
and distinctions of Whig and Tory, both exotic names, 
which the parties invid ously bestowed upon each other. All 


TERMS OF WHIG AND TORY.— MONSTER. 


777 


that adhered to the interest of the crown and lineal succes¬ 
sion, were by the contrary branded with the title given to the 
Irish robbers ; and they, in return, gave the others the appel¬ 
lation of Whig, or sour milk, formerly appropriated to the 
Scotch presbyterians and rigid covenanters/’—p. 988. 

Tindal, in his introduction to the Continuation of Rapin’^ 
History, notices the distinction between the principles of the 
parties, but does not inquire into the etymology of the terms. 
—Vol. i. p. 15. 

Toland, in his State Anatomy, considers the words as 
mere terms of reproach, first applied to each party by its ene¬ 
mies, and then adopted by each as a distinction. 

“ The words themselves are but late nicknames, given by 
each party to the other in King Charles the Second’s reign : 
Tories in Ireland, and Whigs in Scotland, being what we in 
England call highwaymen; and you, public robbers.”— 
Part I. 

Hume, the historian, says— 

“ This year, 1680, is remarkable for being the epoch of the 
well-known epithets Whig and Tory, by which, and sometimes 
without any material difference, this island has been so long 
divided. The court party reproached their antagonists with 
their affinity to the fanatical conventiclers, who were known 
by the name of Whigs; and the country party found a resem¬ 
blance between the courtiers and the Popish banditti in Ire¬ 
land, who were known by the name of Tories.”—Vol. VIII. 
p. 125. 

These are the principal writers in which the origin of the 
terms is noticed. 


CHAP. LXXXIII 

MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES 

Monster — Individuation — Reproduction — Peruke—Centaurs 

and Lapit/ue. 

Monster— A birth or production of a living being, dege¬ 
nerating from the proper and usual disposition of parts in the 
species^to which it belongs; as, when there are too many 
members, or too few ; or some of them are extravagantly out 
of proportion, either on the side of defect or excess,—is gene¬ 
rally denominated a monster. 

F. Malebranche accounts for the production of monsters in 
the animal world in the following manner:—“The Creator has 
33. 5 F 





MIS :lllan eous curios ties. 


778 


establ’shed such a communication between the several parts 
of his creation, that we are naturally led to imitate one 
another, i. e. to have a disposition to do the same things, and 
assume the same manners, with those about which we converse ; 
we have also certain natural dispositions, which incline us to 
compassion as well as imitation. Of these things most men are 
sensible, and therefore they need not be proved. The animal 
spirits, then, are not only naturally carried into the respective 
parts of the body to perform the same actions and the same 
motions which we see others do, but also to receive in some 
manner their wounds, and take part in their sufferings. 

“ Experience tells us, that when we look attentively on any 
person severely beaten, or that has a large wound, ulcer, or 
the like, the spirits immediately flow into those parts of our 
bodies which answer to those we see suffer in the other; un¬ 
less their course be stopped from some other principle. This 
flux of spirits is very sensible in persons of delicate constitu¬ 
tions, who frequently shudder, and find a kind of trembling 
in the body on these occasions; and this sympathy in bodies 
produces compassion in the mind. 

“ Now it must be observed, that the view of a wound. See. 
affects the person who views it the more strongly and sensibly, 
as the person is more weak and delicate ; the spirits making a 
stronger impression on the fibres of a delicate body, than in 
those of a robust one. Thus, strong and vigorous men, Sec. 
see an execution without much concern, while women. Sec. are 
struck with pity and horror. As to children that are unborn, 
the fibres of their flesh being incomparably finer than those in 
women, the course of the animal spirits must necessarily pro¬ 
duce much greater alterations. 

“ Th ese things being laid down, monsters are easily ac¬ 
counted for. Suppose, for instance, a child to be born a fool, 
and also with its legs and arms broken in the same manner 
as those are of criminals executed ; the phenomena may be 
accounted for thus: Every stroke given to the poor man 
struck forcibly the imagination of the mother, and, by a 
kind of counter-stroke, the tender and delicate brain of the 
child. No w, though the fibres of the woman’s brain were 
strongly shaken by the violent flux of animal spirits on this 
occasion, yet they had strength and consistence enough to 
prevent an entire disorder; whereas the fibres of the child’s 
brain, being unable to bear the shock of those spirits, were 
quite ruined, and the ravage was great enough tc deprive him 
of reason all his lifetime. 

“ Again, the view of an execution frightening the mother, 
the viol ;nt course of the animal spirits was directed forcibly 
from the brain to all those parts of the body corresponding to 
the suffering parts of the criminal* and the s?me thing must 


MONSTERS. 


779 

happen in the child But as the bones were strong enough 
to resist the impulse of those spirits, they were not damagea ; 
and yet the rapid course of these spirits could easily over¬ 
power and break the tender and delicate fibres of the bones of 
the child ; the bones being the last parts of the body that are 
formed, and having a very slender consistence, while the child 
is yet in the womb.” 

lo this it may here be added, that had the mother deter¬ 
mined the course of these spirits towards some other part of 
her body, by tickling or scratching herself vehemently, the 
child would not in all probability have had its bones broken ; 
but the part answering that to which the motion of the spirits 
was determined, would have been the sufferer. Hence ap¬ 
pears the reason why women, in the time of gestation, seeing 
persons, See. marked in such a manner in the face, impress 
the same mark on the same parts of the child ; and why, upon 
rubbing some other part of the body when startled at the 
sight of any thing, or agitated with any extraordinary passion, 
the mark or impression is fixed on that hidden part, rather 
than on the face of the child. From the principles here laid 
down, most, if not all, of the phenomena of monsters, may be 
easily accounted for. 

Various other theories have been formed by different philo¬ 
sophers and phisiologists. But, after all, it must be con¬ 
fessed that we seem as yet to be very little acquainted wWi 
nature in her numerous’variations. 

Monsters are more common and more extraordinary in the 
vegetable than in the animal kingdom, because the different 
juices are more easily deranged and confounded together. 
Leaves are often seen, from the internal part of which other 
leaves spring forth ; and it is not uncommon to see flowers of 
the ranunculus, from the middle of which issues a stalk bear¬ 
ing another flower. M. Bonnet informs us, that in certain 
warm and rainy years he has frequently met with monsters of 
this kind in rose-trees. This observer saw a rose, from the 
centre of which issued a square stalk of a whitish colour, 
tender, and without prickles, which at its top bore two flower- 
buds opposite to each other, and totally destitute of a calix ; 
a little above the buds issued a petal of a very irregular 
shape. Upon the prickly stalk which supported the ruse, 
a leaf was observed which had the shape of trefoil, together 
with a broad flat pedicle. In the Memoirs of the Academy 
of Sciences, for 1707, p. 448, mention is made of a rose, from 
the centre of the leaves of which issued a rose-branch two or 
three inches long, and furnished with leaves. See the same 
Memoirs for 1724, p.20, and for 1749, p. 44. In the Memoirs 
for 1755, a very singular instance is mentioned of a monstro¬ 
sity observed by M. Duhame.1, in an apple-tree ingrafted with 


780 MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 

clay. At the place of the insertion there appeared a bud, 
which produced a stalk and some leaves; the stalk and the 
pedicle of the leaves were of a pulpy substance, and had the 
most perfect resemblance both in taste and small to the pulp 
of a green apple. 

An extraordinary chanuzmelum is mentioned in the Acta 
Helvetica. M. Bonnet, in his Recherches sur 1’ Usage des Feu - 
Hies, mentions likewise some monstrous pioductions which 
have been found in fruits with kernels, analogous in their 
nature to those which occur in the flowers of the ranunculus 
and of the rose-tree. He has seen a pear, from the eye of 
which issued a tuft of thirteen or fourteen leaves, very well 
shaped, and many of them of the natural size. He has seen 
another pear which gave rise to a ligneous and knotty stalk, 
on which grew another pear somewhat larger than the first. 
The stalk had probably flourished, and the fruit had formed. 
The lilium album polyanthos, observed some years ago at 
Breslaw, which bore on its top a bundle of flowers, consisting 
of one hundred and two lilies, all of the common shape, is 
well-known. M. Regnier has mentioned some individuals 
monstrous with respect to the flower, in the Journal de Phy¬ 
sique et d’Histoire Naturelle , for November, 1785. He has 
likewise mentioned a monstrous tulip, which is seen in the 
gardens of some amateurs; juniper berries with horns; a 
balsamine with three spurs, &c. 

Individuation, —is the unity of a thing with itself, or that 
whereby a thing is what it is. 

To begin with those species of body that are not properly 
organized, which have neither life nor sense, as stones, metals, 
&c. In these, individuation seems to consist in nothing but 
greater or less : take the less part of a stone away, you may 
still call it the same stone; take an equal part with the remains, 
that individuation ceases, and they are two new individuals. 
Divide a stone, &c. as often as you please, every part of it 
will be a stone still, another individual stone, as much as any 
in the mountain or quarry out of which it was first cut, even 
though reduced to the minutest sand, or, if possible, a thou¬ 
sand times less. But when we take one step farther, and 
proceed a degree higher, to the vegetable kingdom, the case 
is far otherwise ; and indeed Nature seems to be still more 
distinct, and, as it w r ere, careful in its individuation, the 
higher it rises, till at last it brings us to that great transcen¬ 
dental individual, the only proper uncompounded essence, the 
One God, blessed for ever. 

To return to plants: their individuation consists in that 
singular form, contexture, and order of their parts, whereby 
they are disposed for those uses to which Nature has designed 


INDIVIDUATION.— REPRODUCTION. 


781 


them, and by which they receive and maintain their beings, 
For example, in a tree, though you take away the branches, 
it grows, receives nourishment from the earth, maintains 
itself, and is still a tree, which the parts thereof are not 
when separated from the rest; for we cannot say that every 
part of a tree is a tree, as we can that every part of a stone is 
still a stone, but if this tree be cloven in two or more pieces, 
or felled by the roots, this contexture, or orderly respect of 
the parts one to another, ceases; its essence as a tree is 
destroyed; its individuation perishes; and it is no more 
a tree, but a stump, or piece of timber. 

Let us proceed a degree higher, to merely sensible creatures, 
who are not so immediately depending on the earth, the 
common mother, as the plants, nor rooted to it as they are, 
but walk about, and have a kind of independent existence, 
and are a sort of world by themselves. And here the in¬ 
dividuation consists in such a particular contexture of their 
essential parts, and their relation one toward another, as 
enables them to exert the operations of the sensible or animal 
life. Thus, cut off the legs or any other parts of an animal, 
it is the same animal still; but cut off* its head, or take away 
its life, and it is no longer that individual animal, but a mere 
carcase, and will, by degrees, resolve itself into common 
matter again. 

To ascend now to the highest rank of visible beings,—the 
rational. The individuation of man appears to consist in the 
union of a rational soul with any convenient portion of fitly 
organized matter. Any portion of matter duly qualified, and 
united to the soul by such a union as we experience, is 
immediately individuated by it, and, together with that soul, 
makes a man; so that, if it were possible for one soul to be 
clothed over and over at different times with all the matter in 
the universe, it would in all those distinct shapes be the same 
individual man. Nor can a man be supposed in this case to 
differ more from himself, than he does from what he really 
was when an infant, or just passed an embryo, when compared 
with what he is when of adult or decrepit age; he having, 
during that intermediate time, changed his portion of matter 
over and over; as, being fat and lean, sick and well, having- 
been exhausted by bleeding, effluvia, perspiration, &c.; and 
reunited again by aliment; so that perhaps not one particle, 
or but very few of the first matter which he took from his 
parents, and brought with him into the world, is now re¬ 
maining. 

The preceding article is naturally followed by Repro¬ 
duction. —Reproduction is usually understood to mean the 
restoration of a thing before existing, and since destroyed 



762 


MISCELLANEOUS CUR10SIT1E8. 


It is very well known that trees and plants may be raised 
from slips and cuttings; and some late observations have 
shewn, that there are some animals which have nearly the 
same property. The polype (See Hydra) was the first in¬ 
stance we had of this kind; but we had scarcely time to 
wonder at the discovery M. Trembley had made, when 
M Bonnet discovered the same property in a species of water- 
worm. Amongst the plants which may be raised from cuttings, 
there are some which seem to possess this quality in so 
eminent a degree, that the smallest portion of them will 
become a complete tree again. A twig of willow, popiar, or 
many other trees, being planted in the earth, takes root, and 
becomes a tree, every piece of which will in the same manner 
produce other trees. The case is the same with these worms: 
they are cut to pieces, and these several pieces become per¬ 
fect animals; and each of these may be again cut into a 
number of pieces, each of which will in the same manner 
produce an animal. It has been supposed by some, that these 
worms were oviparous; but, IM. Bonnet, on cutting one of 
them to pieces, having observed a slender substance, resem¬ 
bling a small filament, to move at the end of one of the pieces, 
separated it, and on examining it with glasses, found it to be 
a perfect worm, of the same form with its parent, which lived 
and grew larger in a vessel of water into which he put it. 
These small bodies are easily divided, and very readily com¬ 
plete themselves again, a day usually serving for the production 
of a head to the part that wants one; and, in general, the 
smaller and more slender the worms are, the sooner they 
complete themselves after this operation. When the bodies 
of the large worms are examined by the microscope, it is 
very easy to see the appearance of the young worms alive, and 
moving about within them ; but it requires great precision 
and exactness to be certain of this, since the ramifications of 
the great artery have very much the appearance of young 
worms, and they are kept in a sort of continual motion by the 
s\>ioles and diastoles of the several portions of the artery, 
winch serve as so many hearts. It is very certain, that what 
we force in regard to these animals by our operations, is done 
also naturally every day in the brooks and ditches where they 
live. A curious observer will find in these places many of 
th em without heads or tails, and some without either; as also, 
other fragments of various kinds, all of which are in the act 
of completing themselves; but whether accidents have reduced 
them to this state, or they thus purposely throw off parts of 
their own bodies for the production of more animals, it is 
not easy to determine. They are plainly liable to many 
aceid ;nts, by which they lose the several parts of their bodies ; 
and they must perish very early, if they had not a power of 


REPRODUCTION.—PERUKE. 


78 J 

reproducing what was lost. They are often broken into two 
parts, by the resistance of some hard piece of mud which 
they enter; and they are subject to a disease, a kind of 
gangrene, rotting off the several parts of their bodies, by 
which they must inevitably perish, were they not possessed of 
th is surprising property. 

The reproduction of several parts of lobsters, crabs, 8cc :s 
one of the greatest curiosities in natural history. It seems, 
indeed, inconsistent with the modern philosophical system of 
generation, which supposes the animal to be wholly formed 
in the egg; that, in lieu of an organical part of an animal cut 
off, another should arise perfectly like it: the fact, however, 
is too well attested to be denied. The legs of lobsters, &c. 
consist each of five articulations; now, when any of the legs 
happen to break bv any accident, as by walking, 8cc. which 
frequently occurs, the fracture is always found to be at the 
suture near the fourth articulation; and what they thus lose 
is exactly reproduced in some time afterwards ; that is, a part 
of the leg shoots out, consisting of four articulations, the first 
whereof has two claws, as before; so that the loss is entirely 
repaired. 

If the leg of a lobster be broken off by design at the fourth 
or fifth articulation, what is thus broken off is always repro¬ 
duced, even after a second or third accident. But if the frac¬ 
ture be made in the first, second, or third articulation, the 
reproduction is not so certain. And it is very surprising, 
that if the fracture be made at these articulations, at the end 
of two or three days, all the other articulations are generally 
found broken off to the fourth, which, it is supposed, is done 
by the creature itself, to make the reproduction certain. The 
part reproduced, is not only perfectly similar in form to that 
retrenched, but also, in a certain space of time, it grows 
equal to it. The creature is, however, frequently taken before 
this is accomplished. Hence it is that we frequently see 
lobsters, which have their two large legs unequal in all pro¬ 
portions. 

Peruke. —It appears that this term was originally applied 
to describe a fine natural head of long hair, and if this appel¬ 
lation had been retained, we should never have associated 
wigs with monsters. But whatever may have been the ancient 
use or meaning of the word, it has now almost become obsolete, 
though it was for more than a century in constant application 
to those artificial heads of hair, made probably at first to con¬ 
ceal natural or accidental baldness, but which afterwards 
became so ridiculously fashionable, as to be worn in preference 
to the most beautiful locks, absurdly shaved off the head to 
make room for them. 


784 MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 

Ancient authors might be quoted, to prove, that the great 
and luxurious of that time, had recourse to this mode of con¬ 
cealing defects, and of decorating the head; nay, it might 
perhaps be proved, that the peruke of the Emperor Commodus 
was more absurdly composed than any modern peruke has 
ever been; and indeed it must be admitted, that a wig pow¬ 
dered with scrapings of gold, in addition to oils and glutinous 
perfumes, must have made a more wonderful appearance than 
our immediate ancestors ever witnessed. It was in the reign 
of our Charles the First, that perukes were introduced through¬ 
out Europe, when the moralists attacked them without mercy, 
as they perceived that the folly of youth even extended to 
the cutting off nature’s locks, to be replaced by the hair ot 
the dead, and of horses, woven into a filthy piece of can¬ 
vass. Admonition and ridicule were, however, of little avail, 
and the clergy began to be affected by the general mania. 
Those on the Continent being almost universally Roman 
Catholics, were so completely subject to their superiors, that 
the peruke was soon routed from their body; but as the 
dignified clergy of England conceive that their consequence 
is increased by the enormous bushes of hair upon their heads, 
and the judges have adopted their sentiments in this parti¬ 
cular, it is probable many years will elapse before the shape 
and absurdity of two particular species of perukes are for¬ 
gotten. 

About the close of the seventeenth century, the peruke was 
made to represent the natural curl of the hair, but in such 
profusion, that ten heads would not have furnished an equal 
quantity, as it flowed down the back, and hung over the 
shoulders half way down the arms. By 1721, it had become 
fashionable to tie one half of it on the left side -into a club. 
Between 1730 and 1740, the bag-wig came into fashion, and 
the peruke was docked considerably, and sometimes plaited 
behind into a queue, though even till 1752 the long flowing 
locks maintained their influence. After 1770 those were 
rarely seen; and since that time persons wearing perukes have 
generally had substantial reasons for so doing, from baldness, 
and complaints in the head. At one time, indeed, when the 
stern virtues of Brutus were much in vogue, the young men 
of Europe wore perukes of black or dark hair, dressed from 
his statues. Many particulars on this subject have been 
preserved by Mr. Malcolm, in his “ Anecdotes of ^he Manners 
and Customs of London,” from which we earn, that a young 
countrywoman obtained £60 for her head of hair in the year 
1700, when human hair sold at £3 per ounce; and in 1720, 
the grey locks of an aged woman sold for £50 after her 
decease. Wigs of peculiar excellence were sold at £40 
each. 


CENTAUKS A N D LAPJTHiE. 


/85 

A petition from the master peruke-makers of London and 
Westminster, presented to the King, in 1763, points out the 
great decline of their use to have taken place at that time. 
In this they complain of the public wearing their own hair; 
and say, “ That this mode, pernicious enough in itself to their 
trade, is rendered excessively more so by swarms of French 
hair-dressers already in those cities, and daily increasing/* 

We close this chapter with an account of Centaurs and 
LapithjE. —Under the reign of Ixion, king of Thessaly, a 
company of bulls which fed upon Pelion ran mad, by which 
means the mountain was inaccessible. They also descended 
into the inhabited parts, ruining the trees and fruits, and 
killing the larger cattle. Upon which Ixion declared that he 
would give a great reward to any person that would destroy 
these bulls. Riding on horseback was never practised before 
that time. But some young men that lived in a village at the 
foot of Pelion, had attempted successfully to train horses fit 
■to back, and had accustomed themselves to that exercise. 
These youths undertook to clear the mountain of the bulls, 
which they effected by pursuing them on horseback, and pier¬ 
cing them with their arrows as they fled; but when the bulls 
stopped or followed them, they retired without receiving any 
hurt. And from hence they were called Centaurs, viz. Pierce 
bulls. Having received of Ixion the recompense he promised 
them, they became so fierce and proud, that they committed 
a thousand insolences in Thessaly, not sparing even Ixion 
himself, who dwelt in the town of Larissa. The inhabitants 
of the country were at that time called Lapithse, who one day 
invited the Centaurs to a feast which they celebrated : but the 
Centaurs abused their civility ; for, having drunk too much, 
they took the Lapithites’ women from them, set them on their 
horses, and carried them away. This violence kindled a long 
war between the Centaurs and the Lapithse : the Centaurs in 
the night came down into the plain, and laid ambushes for 
their enemies, and, as soon as day appeared, retired again into 
the mountain, with whatever they had taken. Thus, as they 
r* tired, the Lapithse saw only the hinder parts of their horses, 
and the men’s heads; so that they seemed but as one animal, 
whence they believed the Centaurs had become half men 
and half horses, and that they were clouds, because the vil¬ 
lage where they dwelt was called Nophelus, which signified a 
cloud. 


5 G 



CHAP. LXXXIV. 


r 


miscellaneous curiosities. — (Continued.) 

Spontaneous Inflammation—Diseases peculiar to Particular Coun¬ 
tries—Injuriesfrom Swallowing the Stones oj Fruits — Extraor¬ 
dinary Surgical Operation—Extraordinary Cures by Burning 

—Illumination by Electricity—Divisibility of Matter . 

Spontaneous Inflammation. —A paper on this subject, 
which appeared in the Repertory of Arts, vol. ii. p. 425, in¬ 
duced the Rev. W. Tooke to publish some remarks in vol. iii. 
p. 95, of that work, from which the following is an extract, 
respecting the spontaneous inflammation of animal and vege¬ 
table substances. “ One Rude, (says he,) an apothecary at 
Bautzen, had prepared a pyrophorus from rye-bran and alum. 
Not long after he had made the discovery, there broke out, in 
the next village of Nauslitz, a great fire, which did much mis¬ 
chief, and was said to have been occasioned by the treating 
of a sick cow in the cow-house. Mr. Rude knew that the 
countrymen were accustomed to lay an application of parched 
rye-bran to their cattle, for curing the thick neck ; he knew 
also that alum and rye-bran, by a proper process, yielded a 
pyrophorus; and now, to try whether parched rye-bran alone 
would have the same effect, he roasted a quantity of it by the 
fire, till it had acquired the colour of roasted coffee. This 
roasted bran he wrapped up in a linen cloth ; in a few minutes 
there arose a strong smoke, with a smell of burning. Soon 
after, the rag grew as black as tinder, and the bran, now become 
hot, fell through it on the ground in little balls. Mr. Rude 
repeated the experiment, and always with the same result. 
Who now will doubt, that the frequency of fires in cow¬ 
houses, which in those parts are mostly wooden buildings, 
is occasioned by this practice, of binding roasted bran about 
the necks of the cattle?” 

Montet relates, in the Memoires de CAcadomie de Paris, 1748, 
that animal substances kindle into flame ; and that he him¬ 
self has been witness to the spontaneous accension of dung¬ 
hills. The woollen stuff prepared at Sevennes, named 
Emperor’s stuff, has kindled of itself, and burnt to a coal. 
It is usual for this to happen to woollen stuffs, when in hot 
summers they are laid in a heap, in a room but little aired. 
In June, 1781, this happened at a woolcomber’s in Germany, 
where a heap of wool-combings, piled up in a close ware¬ 
house seldom aired, took fire of itself. This wool burnt from 
within outwards, and became quite a coal; though neither 


SPONTANEOUS 1 N FLAM MATION. 


?87 

fire nor light had been used at the packing. In like manner 
cloth-workers have certified, that after they have bought wool 
that was become wet, and packed it close in their warehouse, 
this wool has burnt of itself. The spontaneous accension of 
various matters from the vegetable kingdom, as wet hay, corn, 
and madder, and at times wet meal and malt, is well known. 
Hemp, flax, and hemp-oil, have also often given rise to dread¬ 
ful conflagrations. 

In the spring of 1780, a fire was discovered on board a frigate 
lying in the roads off Cronstadt, which endangered the whole 
fleet. After the severest scrutiny, no cause of the fire was to 
be found ; and the matter remained without explanation, but 
with strong surmises of some wicked incendiary.—In August, 
1780, a fire broke out at the hemp magazine at St. Peters¬ 
burg, by which several hundred thousand poods (about 361b. 
English) of hemp and flax were consumed. The walls of the 
magazine are of brick, the floors of stone, and the rafters and 
covering of iron ; it stands alone on an island in the Neva, on 
which, as well as on board the ships lying in the Neva, no fire 
is permitted.—In St. Petersburg, in the same year, a fire 
was discovered in the vaulted shop of a furrier. In these 
shops, which are all vaults, neither fire nor candle is allowed, 
and the doors of them are all of iron. At length the probable 
cause was found to be, that the furrier, the evening before the 
fire, had got a roll of new cerecloth, and had left it in his 
vault, where it was found almost consumed.—In the night 
between the 20th and 21st of April, 1781, a fire was seen on 
board the frigate Maria, at anchor, with several other ships, in 
the roads off the island of Cronstadt; the fire was, however, soon 
extinguished, but, by the severest examination, nothing could 
be extorted concerning the manner in which it had arisen. The 
garrison was threatened with a scrutiny that should cost them 
dear; and while they were in this cruel suspense, the wisdom 
of the sovereign gave a turn to the affair, which quieted the 
minds of all, by pointing out the proper method to be pursued 
by the commissioners of inquiry, in the following order to 
Czernichef: “When we perceived, by the report you have 
delivered in of the examination into the accident that hap¬ 
pened on board the frigate Maria, that, in the cabin where 
the fire broke out, there were found parcels of matting, tied 
together with packthread, in which the soot of burnt fir-wood 
had been mixed with oil, for the purpose of painting the ship’s 
bottom, it came into our mind, that, for the fire which hap¬ 
pened last year at the hemp-warehouses, the following cause 
was assigned; that the fire might have proceeded from the 
hemp being bound up in greasy mats, or even from such mats 
having lain near the hemp : therefore, neglect not to guide 
your farther inquiries by this remark.” 


788 


MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 


As, upon juridical examination as well as private inquiry, 
it was found that, jn the ship’s cabin, where the smoke ap¬ 
peared, there lay a bundle of matting, containing Russian 
lamp-black, prepared from fir-soot moistened with hemp-oil 
varnish, which was perceived to have sparks of fire in it at the 
time of the extinction, the Russian admiralty gave orders to 
make various experiments, to see whether a mixture of hemp- 
oil varnish and the forementioned Russian black, folded up 
in a mat and bound together, would kindle of itself. They 
shook 401b. of fir-wood soot into a tub, and poured about 
351b. of hemp-oil varnish upon it; this they let stand for an 
hour, after which they poured off the oil. The remaining* 
mixture they now wrapped up in a mat, and the bundle was 
laid close to the cabin where the midshipmen had their birth. 
Two officers sealed both the mat and door with their own 
seals, and stationed a watch of four officers, to take notice of 
all that passed during the whole night; and as soon as any 
smoke should appear, immediately to give information to the 1 
commandant of the port. The experiment was made on the 26th 
of April, about eleven o’clock a. m. in presence of all the 
officers. Early on the 27th, about six o’clock a. m. a smoke 
appeared, of which the chief commandant was immediately 
informed : he came with speed, and, through a small hole in 
the door, saw the mat smoking. He dispatched a messenger 
to the members of the commission ; but as the smoke became 
stronger, and fire began to appear, he found it necessary to* 
break the seals and open the door. No sooner was the air 
thus admitted, than the mat began to burn with greater force, 
and presently it burst into a flame. 

The Russian admiralty, being now fully convinced of the 
self-enkindling property of this composition, transmitted their 
experiment to the Imperial Academy of Sciences ; who ap¬ 
pointed Mr. Georgi, a very learned adjunct of the academy, 
to make farther experiments on the subject. Three pounds of 
Russian fir-black were slowly impregnated with 51b. of hemp- 
oil varnish ; and when the mixture had stood open five hours, it 
was bound up in linen. By this process it became clotted ; 
but some of the black remained dry. When the bundle had 
lain sixteen hours in a chest, it was observed to emit a very 
nauseous, and rather putrid smell, not unlike that of boiling 
oil. Some parts of it became warm, and steamed much ; 
eighteen hours after the mixture was wrapt up, one place 
became brown, emitted smoke, and directly afterwards glow¬ 
ing fire appeared. The same thing happened in a second or 
third place ; though other places were scarcely warm. The 
fire crept slowly around, and gave a thick, grey, stinking 
smoke. Mr. Georgi took the bundle out of the chest, and 
laid it on a stone pavement; when, on being exposed to the 


DISEASES OF PARTICULAR COUNTRIES. 


789 


free air, there arose a slow burning flame, a span high, with 
a strong body of smoke. Not long afterwards, there appeared, 
here and there, several chaps, or clefts, as from a little vol¬ 
cano, the vapour issuing from which burst into flames. On 
Iris breaking the lump, it burst into a very violent flame, full 
three feet high, which soon grew less, and then went out. 
The smoking and glowing fire lasted six hours; and the re¬ 
mainder continued to glow without for two hours longer. 
The grey earthy ashes, when cold, weighed five and a half 
ounces. Mr. Tooke concludes with a case of self-accen- 
sion, noticed by Mr. Hagemann, an apothecary, at Bremen. 
He prepared a boiled oil of hyoscyamus , or henbane, in the 
usual way, with common oil. The humidity of the h.erb was 
nearly evaporated, when he was called away by other affairs, 
and was obliged to leave the oil on the fire. The evaporation 
of the humidity was hereby carried so far, that the herb could 
easily be rubbed to powder. The oil had lost its green colour, 
and had become brownish. In this state it was laid on the 
straining cloth, and placed in the garden, behind the house, 
in the open air. In half an hour, on coming again to this 
place, he perceived a strong smoke there, though he thought 
the oil must have long been cooled : on closer inspection, he 
found that the smoke did not proceed from the oil, but from 
the herb on the straining cloth ; at the same time the smell 
betrayed a concealed fire. He stirred the herb about, and 
blew into it with a bellows, whereupon it broke out into a 
brio-ht flame. 

Diseases peculiar to Particular Countries. —The 
inhabitants of particular places are peculiarly subject to par¬ 
ticular diseases, owing to their manner of living, or to the 
air and effluvia of the earth and waters. Hoffman has made 
some curious observations on diseases of this kind. He re¬ 
marks, that swellings of the throat have always been common 
to the inhabitants of mountainous countries: and the old 
Roman authors say, ‘Who wonders at a swelled throat in the 
Alps?’ The people of Switzerland, Carinthia, Stiria, the 
Hartz forest, Transylvania, and the inhabitants of Cronstadt, 
he observes, are all subject to this disease. 1 he French are 
peculiarly troubled with fevers, worms, hydroceles, and sarco- 
celes; and all these disorders seem to be owing originally to 
their eating very large quantities of chestnuts. The people of 
Britain are° affected with hoarsenesses, catarrhs, coughs, dy¬ 
senteries, consumptions, and the scurvy; the women with the 
Jiuor albus; and children with a disease scarcely known else¬ 
where, which we call the rickets. 

In different parts of Italy, different diseases reign. At Naples, 
the venereal disease is more common than in any other part 


MISCELLANEOUS CU RIOS 111 ES. 


/90 

of the world. At Venice, people are peculiarly subject to the 
bleeding piles. At Rome, tertian agues and lethargic dis¬ 
tempers 5 are most common; in Tuscany, the epilepsy; and in 
Apulia, burning fevers, pleurisies, and that sort of madness 
which is attributed to the bite of the tarantula, and fancied to 
be cured by music. In Spain, apoplexies are common, as also 
melancholy, hypochondriacal complaints, and bleeding piles. 
The Dutch are peculiarly subject to the scurvy, and to the 
stone in the kidneys. The people of Denmark, Norway, Swe¬ 
den, Pomerania, and Livonia, are all terribly afflicted with 
the scurvy : and it is remarkable, that in Denmark, Sweden, 
and Norway, fevers are very common ; but in Iceland, Lap- 
land, and Finland, there is scarcely ever such a disease met 
with. The Russians and Tartars are afflicted with ulcers, 
made by the cold, of the nature of what we call chilblains, 
but greatly worse; and in Poland and Lithuania, there reigns 
a peculiar disease, called the Plica Polonica , so terribly pain¬ 
ful and offensive, that scarcely any thing can be thought worse. 
The people of Hungary are very subject to the gout and rheum¬ 
atism : they are also more infested with lice and fleas than 
any other people in the world ; and they have a peculiar dis¬ 
ease which they call cremor. The Germans, in different parts 
of the empire, are subject to different reigning diseases. In 
Westphalia, they are peculiarly troubled with peripneumonies 
and the itch. In Silesia, Franconia, Austria, and other places 
thereabout, they are very liable to fevers of the burning kind, 
to bleedings at the nose, and other haemorrhages; and to the 
gout, inflammations, and consumptions. In Misniathey have 
purple fevers ; and the children are peculiarly infested with 
worms. In Greece, Macedonia, and Thrace, there are very 
few diseases; but what they have are principally burning 
fevers and phrenzies. Anciently, the most common diseases 
in Egypt were blindness, ulcers in the legs, consumptions, 
and the leprosy, called elephantiasis , which was peculiar to 
that country ; as Pliny observes, Egypti peculiare hoc malum 
elephantiasis. At Constantinople the plague always rages; 
and in the West Indian islands, malignant fevers, and the 
most terrible colics. These diseases are called endemic. 
In general, it is observed, that the colder the country is, the 
fewer and the less violent are the diseases. 

Schceffer tells us, that the Laplanders know no such thing 
as the plague, or fevers of the burning kind ; nor are they 
subject to half the distempers we are. They are robust and 
strong, and live to eighty, ninety, and many of them to more 
than one hundred years; and at this great age they are not 
feeble and decrepit, but a man of ninety is able to work or 
travel as well as a man of sixty with us. They are subject, 
however, to some diseases, more than other nations. They 


ON SWALLOWING THE STONES OF FRUITS. 


79 i 


have often distempers of the eyes, owing to their living in 
smoke, or being blinded by snow. Pleurisies, inflamma¬ 
tions of the lungs, and violent pains of the head, are also very 
frequently found among these hardy inhabitants of the north; 
and the small-pox rages with great violence. They have one 
general remedy against these and all other internal diseases; 
this is, the root ol that sort of moss which they call jerth. 
They make a decoction of this root in the whey of rein-deer’s 
milk, and drink very large dqses of it warm, to keep up 
a breathing sweat; if they cannot get this, they use the stalks 
of angelica boiled in the same manner: but the keeping in a 
sweat, and drinking plentifully of diluting liquors, may go 
a great way in the cure. They cure pleurisies by this method 
in a very few days, and get so well through the small-pox 
with it, that very few die of the disease. 

Injuries from swallowing the Stones of Fruits.— 
The dangers arising from swallowing the stones of plums and 
other fruits are very great. The Philosophical Transactions 
give an acount of a woman who suffered violent pains in her 
bowels for thirty years, the malady returning once in a month 
or less. At length, a strong purge being given her, the occa¬ 
sion of all these complaints was discovered to be a stone of 
an oval figure, of about ten drams in weight, and measur¬ 
ing five inches in circumference. This had caused all the 
violent fits of pain, which she had suffered for so many years; 
after this, she became perfectly well. The ball extracted 
looked like a stone, and felt very hard, but swam in water. 
On cutting it through with a knife, there was found in the 
centre, a plum-stone, round which several coats of this hard 
and tough matter had gathered. 

Another instance is given in the same papers, of a man, 
who, dying of an incurable colic, which had tormented him 
many years, and baffled the effects of medicines, was opened 
after death; and in his bowels was found a ball similar to 
that above-mentioned, but somewhat larger, being six inches 
in circumference, and weighing* an ounce and a half. In the 
centre of this, as of the other, there was found the stone of 
a common plum, and the coats were of the same nature with 
those of the former. These and similar instances mentioned 
in the same work, sufficiently shew the folly of that common 
opinion, that the stones of fruits are wholesome. Even 
cherry stones, swallowed in great quantities, have occasioned 
death. 

Extraordinary Surg ical Operation. —“ The most sur¬ 
prising and honourable operation of surgery ever performed, 
was, without any contradiction, that executed by M. Richerand, 


% 


MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 


792 

by taking away a part of the ribs and of the pleura. The 
patient was himself a medical man, and not ignorant of the 
danger he ran in this operation being had recourse to; but he 
also knew that his disorder was otherwise incurable. He was 
attacked with a cancer on the internal surface of the ribs and 
of the pleura, which continually produced enormous fungo- 
sities, that had been in vain attempted to be repressed by the 
actual cautery M. Richerand was obliged to lay the ribs 
bare, to saw away two, to detach them from the pleura, and 
to cut away all the cancerous part of that membrane. 

“As soon as he had made the opening, the air rushi.ig into 
the chest, occasioned the first day great suffering, and distress¬ 
ing shortness of breath: the surgeon could touch and see the 
heart through the pericardium, which was as transparent as 
glass, and could assure himself of the total insensibility of 
both. Much serous fluid flowed from the wound, as long as 
it remained open; but it filled up slowly by means of the 
adhesion of the lung with the pericardium, and the fleshy 
granulations that were formed in it. At length the patient 
got so well, that on the twenty-seventh day after the opera¬ 
tion, he could not resist the desire of going to the Medicinal 
School, to see the fragments of the ribs that had been taken 
from him ; and in three or four days afterwards he returned 
home, and went about his ordinary business. The success of 
M. Richerand is the more important, because it will authorize, 
in other cases, enterprises, which, according to received 
opinions, would appear impossible ; and we shall be less afraid 
of penetrating into the interior of the chest. M. Richerand 
even hopes, that by opening the pericardium itself, and using 
proper injections, we may cure a disease that has hitherto 
always been fatal, the dropsy of that cavity.”— Thomson's 
Annals. 

Extraordinary Cures by Burning. —ITie following 
case is recorded in the memoirs of the Academy of Sciences, 
by M. Homberg. A woman, of about thirty-five, became sub¬ 
ject to a headach, which at times w r as so violent, that it drove 
her out of her senses, making her sometimes stupid and 
foolish, at other times raving and furious. The seat of the 
pain was in the forehead, and over the eyes, which were 
inflamed, and looked exceedingly red and sparkling; and the 
most violent fits of it were attended with nausea and vomiting. 
In the time of the fits, she could take no food; but at all 
others she had a very good appetite. M. Homberg had in 
vain attempted her cure for three years, with all kinds of 
medicines: only opium succeeded; and that but little, all its 
effect being only to take off the pain for a few hours. The 
redness of her eyes was always the sign of an approaching 


DIVISIBILITY OF MATTER. 


793 

fit. One night, feeling a fit coining on, she went to lie down 
upon the bed ; but first walked up to the glass with the candle 
in her hand, to see how her eyes looked: in observing this, 
the candle set fire to her cap; and as she was alone, her head 
was terribly burnt before the fire could be extinguished. 
M. Homberg was sent for, and ordered bleeding and proper 
dressings: but the expected fit this night never came on; the 
pain of the burning wore off by degrees; and the patient 
found herself from that hour cured of the headach, which had 
never once returned in four years after; such being the time 
when the account was communicated. 

Another case, not less remarkable, was communicated to 
M. Homberg by a physician at Bruges. A woman, who for 
several years had her legs and thighs swelled in an extra¬ 
ordinary manner, found some relief from rubbing them before 
the fire with brandy every morning and evening. One even¬ 
ing, the brandy she had rubbed herself with took fire, and 
slightly burnt her. She applied some brandy to her burn; 
and in the night all the water with which the afflicted parts 
were swelled, was entirely discharged, and the swelling did 
not again return. 

Illumination by Electricity. —Professor Meinecke, of 
Hallch as, in Gilbert’s Annals, 1819, Number 5, proposed to 
illuminate halls, houses, and streets, by the electric spark; 
and expresses his strong persuasion that one day it will afford 
a more perfect and less expensive light than gas-illumination, 
and ultimately replace it. His plan is, to arrange, what are 
called, in electricity, luminous tubes, glasses, &c.; i. e. insulat¬ 
ing substances, having a series of metallic spangles at small 
distances from each other, along the place to be illuminated; 
and then, by a machine, send a current of electricity through 
them: sometimes also partially exhausted glasses, as the 
luminous receiver, conductor, &c., are used. In this way 
Professor Meinecke obtained from a two-feet plate machine, 
a constant light in his apartment equal to that of the moon, 
and even surpassing it; and by enclosing his system of sparks 
in tubes filled with rarified hydrogen gas, in which gas 
it is assumed that the electric spark is more than doubled in 
brilliancy, he thinks it will be easy to enlarge the plan to any 
extent. 

Divisibility of Matter. —We may be readily convinced 
of the infinite divisibility of bodies, by simply walking in 
a garden, and inhaling the sweet incense that rises from 
a thousand flowers. How inconceivably small must be the 
odoriferous particles of a carnation, which diffuse themselves 
through a whole garden, and every where strike our sense oi 

5 H 


MISC ELL AN EOUS CURIOSITIES. 


794 

smell if this is not sufficient, let us consider some other 
objects of nature; as, for instance, one of those silk threads, 
the work of a poor worm. Suppose this thread is three hun¬ 
dred and sixty feet long, it will weigh but a single grain. 
Again, consider into how many perceptible parts a length of 
three hundred and sixty feet can be divided. A single inch 
may be divided into six hundred parts, each as thick as 
a hair, and consequently be perfectly visible. Hence a single 
grain of silk can be divided into at least two millions five 
hundred and ninety-two thousand parts, each of which may 
be seen without the help of a microscope. And as every one 
of these parts may be again divided into several more millions 
of parts, till the division is carried beyond the reach of 
thought, it is evident that this progression may be infinite 
The last particles, which are no longer divisible by human 
industry, must still have extension, and be consequently 
susceptible of division, though we are no longer able to effect 
it. If we examine the animal kingdom, we shall discover 
still further proofs of the infinite divisibility of matter. Pep¬ 
per has been put into a glass of water, and on looking through 
a microscope, a multitude of animalcules were seen in the 
water, a thousand million times less than a grain of sand! 
How inconceivably minute then must be the feet, muscles, 
vessels, nerves, and organs of sense, in these animals! And 
how small their eggs and their young ones, and the fluids 
which circulate in them! Here the imagination loses itself, 
our ideas become confused, and we are incapable of giving 
form to such very small particles. What still more claims our 
attention is, that the more we magnify, by means of glasses, 
the productions of nature, the more perfect and beautiful do 
they appear: whilst with works of art it is generally quite con¬ 
trary; for when these are seen through a microscope, we find 
them rough, coarse, and imperfect, though executed by the 
most able artists, and with the utmost care. Thus the 
Almighty has impressed even upon the smallest atom the 
stamp of his infinity. The most subtile body is as a world, 
in which millions of parts unite and are arranged in the most 
perfect order. 


Jew’s harp.— remarkable aquedlcts. 


796 


CHAP. LXXXV. 

miscellaneous curiosities.— ( Continued .) 

[he Jew's Harp—Remarkable Aqueducts—Crichup Linn — Eddy- 
sione Rocks—Dismal Swamp—Curious Wine Cellar—Mint oj 
Segovia—Remarkable Mills—Silk Mill at Derby—Portland 
Vase—Murdering Statue—A Curious Pulpit. 

The Jew’s Harp. —The Jew’s trump, or Jew’s harp, as it 
is often called, though now a boy’s instrument, is of ancient 
origin, for Mr. Pennant informs us, (Tour to Scotland, p. 195,) 
that one made of gilt brass was found in Norway, deposited 
in an urn. There appears to be an allusion, in the name, to 
the inhabitants of Judea; and it is to be observed, that in 
Dodsley’s old plays, vol. iv. p. 171, Quick calls the usurer, 
on account of his Jewish avarice, “ a notable Jew’s trump.” 
In the plate, however, of Jewish musical instruments, in Cal- 
met’s Dictionary, nothing of this kind occurs ; so that perhaps 
there is a corruption here of jeu-trompe, a plaything, or play- 
tromp, as it is now only used by boys for that purpose ; or it 
may be a corruption of Jew’s harp, from the circumstance of 
its being placed between the teeth when played. 

Remarkable Aqueducts. —Aqueducts are conveyances 
for carrying water from one place to another; made on uneven 
ground, to preserve the level. Aqueducts of every kind were 
long ago the wonders of Rome ; the vast quantity of them 
which they had ; the prodigious expense employed in con¬ 
ducting waters over arcades from one place to another, at the 
distance of thirty, forty, sixty, and even one hundred miles, 
which were either continued or supplied by other labours, as 
by cutting mountains and piercing rocks : all this may well 
surprise us, as nothing like it is undertaken in our times; we 
dare not purchase conveniency at so dear a rate. Appius 
Claudius, the censor, devised and constructed the first aque¬ 
duct. His example gave the public luxury a hint to cultivate 
these objects; and the force of prodigious and indefatigable 
labour diverted the course of rivers and floods to Rome. 
Agrippa, in that year when he was edile, put the last hand 
to the magnificence of these works. 

The aqueduct of the Aqua Martia, had an arch of sixteen 
feet in diameter. The whole was composed of three different 
kinds of stone; one of them reddish, another brown, and a 
third of an eartlr colour. Above, there appeared two canals, 
of which the highest was fed by the new waters of the Tive 


796 


MISCELLANEOUS CU It 1 OS ITI ES. 


rone, and the lower by what they called the Claudian river. The 
entire edifice is seventy Roman feet high. Near this aque¬ 
duct, we have, in Father Montfaucon, the plan of another, with 
three canals; the highest supplied by the Aqua Julia, that in 
the middle fromTepula, and the lowest from the Aqua Martia. 
The arch of the aqueduct of the Aqua Claudia is of hewn stone, 
very beautiful; that of the aqueduct of the Aqua Neronia is 
of bricks: they are each of them seventy-two Roman feet in 
height. The canal of the aqueduct which was called Aqua 
Appia, deserves to be mentioned for a singularity which is 
observed in it; for it is not, like the others, plain, nor gradual 
in its descent, but much narrower at the lower than the higher 
end. The consul Frontinus, who superintended the aqueducts 
under the emperor Nerva, mentions nine of them which had 
each 13,594 pipes of an inch in diameter. Vigerus observes, 
that, in the space of twenty-four hours, Rome received 500,000 
hogsheads of water. Not to mention the aqueducts of Dru- 
sus and Rhiminius, that which gives the most striking idea 
of Roman magnificence, is the aqueduct of Metz, of which a 
great number of arcades still remain. These arcades crossed 
the Moselle, a river which is of vast breadth at that place. 
The copious sources of Gorze furnished water for the repre¬ 
sentation of a sea-fight. This water was collected in a re- 
servoir; whence it was conducted by subterraneous canals 
formed of hewn-stone, and so spacious, that a man could walk 
erect in them: it traversed the Moselle upon its superb and 
lofty arcades, which may still be seen at the distance of two 
leagues from Metz ; so nicely wrought, and so finely cemented, 
that except those parts in the middle which have been carried 
away by the ice, they have resisted, and will still resist, the 
severest shocks of the most violent seasons. From these 
arcades, other aqueducts conveyed the w r aters to the baths, 
and to the place where the naval engagement was exhibited. 

If we may trust Colmenarus, the aqueduct of Segovia may 
be compared with the most admired labours of antiquity. 
There still remain one hundred and fifty-nine arcades, wholly 
consisting of stones enormously large, and joined without 
mortar. These arcades, with what remains of the edifice, are 
one hundred and two feet high; they are formed in two ranges, 
one above another. The aqueduct flows through the city, 
and runs beneath the greatest number of houses, which are at 
the lower end. After these enormous structures, we may be 
believed when we speak of the aqueduct which Louis XIV. 
caused to be built near Maintenon, for carrying wate! from 
the river Bucq to Versailles : it is perhaps the greatest aque¬ 
duct now in the world, being 7000 fathoms in lengthy above 
2560 in height, and containing no fewer than two hundred 
and forty-two arcades. 





Eddystone Lighthouse, 







































* 


CRICHUP LINN.— EDDYSTONE ROCKS 


797 


Crichup Linn. —This is a very beautiful cascade, formed 
by the rivulet Crichup, in Berwickshire. It falls over a preci¬ 
pice about eighty-five or ninety feet high, and almost perpendi¬ 
cular. About a half a mile below this, descends a hill of red 
free-stone, forming a linn, or waterfall, peculiarly romantic. 
The linn from top to bottom is upwards of a hundred feet, 
and though twenty deep, it is yet so narrow at the top, that 
one might easily leap across it, were it not for the tremendous 
prospect below, and the noise of the water running its dark 
course, and by its deep murmuring, affrighting the imagina¬ 
tion. “ In the time of persecution, (says the Rev. Mr. Yor- 
stoun,) the religious flying from their persecutors found an 
excellent hiding-place in Crichup Linn ; and there is a seat, 
cut out by nature in the rock, which, having been the retreat 
of a shoemaker in those times, has ever since borne the 
name of the Sutor’s Seat. Nothing can be more striking 
than the appearance of this linn from its bottom. The dark¬ 
ness of the place, upon which the sun never shines ; the ragged 
rocks rising over one’s head, and seeming to meet at the top, 
with here and there a blasted tree bursting from the crevices; 
the roaring of the water, together with some degree of danger 
to the spectator, while he surveys the striking objects—all 
naturally tend to work upon the imagination. Hence many 
fabulous stories which are told, were once believed concerning 
this curious linn.” 

Eddystone Rocks. —This is the name of some rocks in 
the English Channel, so called from the variety of contrary 
currents in their vicinity. They are situated nearly S. S. W. 
from the middle of Plymouth Sound, their distance from the 
port is about fourteen miles, and fromRame Head, the nearest 
point of land, twelve and a half. They are almost in the line 
which joins the Start and Lizard points; and as they lie nearly 
in the direction of vessels coasting up and down the channel, 
they were very dangerous, and ships were sometimes wrecked 
on them, before the lighthouse was established. They are so 
exposed to the swells of the ocean, from all the south and 
west points of the compass, that the heavy seas com-e uncon¬ 
trolled, and break on them with the utmost fury. Sometime* 
after a storm, when the sea in general is, to all appearance, 
quite smooth, and its surface unruffled by the slightest breeze, 
the growing swell or under current, meeting the slope of the 
rocks, the sea beats dreadfully upon them, and even rises 
above the lighthouse in a magnificent manner, overtopping it, 
for the moment, as with a canopy of frothy wave. Notwith¬ 
standing this tremendous swell, Mr. Henry Winstardey, in 
1696, undertook to build a lighthouse on the principal rock; 
and he completed it 1700. This ingenious mechanic was so 


MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 


798 

confident of the stability of his structure, that he declared 
his wish to be in it during the most tremendous storm that 
could blow. Unfortunately he obtained his wish, for he pe¬ 
rished in it, during the dreadful storm which destroyed it on 
the 27th of November ^OS. In 1709, another lighthouse 
was erected of wood on tms rock, but on a different construc¬ 
tion, by Mr. John Rudyard. It stood till 1755, when it was 
burnt. A third one, of stone, was begun by the late cele¬ 
brated Mr. John Smeaton, on the 2d of April, 1757, and 
finished 24th of August, 1759; and has withstood the rage of 
all weathers ever since. The rock w r hich slopes towards the 
south-west is cut into horizontal steps ; into which are dove¬ 
tailed, and united by a strong cement, Portland stone, and 
granite : for Mr. Smeaton discovered, that it was impossible 
to make use of the former entirely, as there is a marine ani¬ 
mal that can destroy it; and that he could not use the latter 
solely, as the labour of working it would have been too expen¬ 
sive. He therefore used the one for the internal, and the other 
for the external part of the structure. Upon the principle of 
a broad base and accumulation of matter, the whole, to the 
height of thirty-five feet from the foundation, is a solid mass 
of stones engrafted into each other, and united by every kind 
of additional strength. The lighthouse has four rooms, one 
over another, and at the top a gallery and lantern. The stone 
floors are flat above, but concave below, and are kept from 
pressing against the sides of the building by a chain let into 
the walls. The lighthouse is nearly eighty feet high, and 
withstands the most violent storms, without sustaining the 
smallest injury. It has now stood above sixty-three years, 
during which time it has been often assaulted by all the fury 
of the elements; and, in all probability, as Mr. Smeaton said, 
nothing but an earthquake can destroy it. The wooden part 
of it, however, was burnt in 1770, but renewed in 1774. 

Dismal Swamp, —is a morass in North America, reaching 
from Albermarle Sound, in North Carolina, to the neighbour¬ 
hood of Portsmouth, on the opposite side of the harbour to 
Norfolk. It is supposed to contain about two hundred and 
fifty square miles, or one hundred and fifty thousand acres. 

Some of the interior parts of this vast swampy plain are 
seldom explored, being full of danger; yet several adventu¬ 
rous huntsmen sometimes pursue their game within its precincts, 
but they cannot advance far without great risk of forfeiting 
their lives to their temerity. 

Mr. Janson a late traveller, relates, that in one of these 
excursions he was often knee-deep, though, in other parts, 
the ground supported him firmly. In endeavouring to pass 
one of these f;nny spots, he attempted to avail himself of a 


CURIOUS WINE CELLAR, ETC. 799 

sort of bridge, formed of the body of a very large tree; when, 
to his surprise, he was suddenly immersed in dust up to his 
waist, the tree having become rotten, or probably eaten out 
by insects, though it retained its shape, and appearance of 
solidity. Wild beasts lurk in this impenetrate recess : cat¬ 
tle also stray there, and often become wild : hogs are turned 
into it by their owners, to fatten upon the acorns that fall from 
the oaks. 

Lake Drummond is situated near the centre of the swamp, 
and is formed by the drainings of this immense bog. It is 
crowded with fish of various kinds, which, living unmolested, 
attain a prodigious size. 

Curious Wine Cellar. —The monastery of Arcadi, in 
Candia, surpasses every other part of the island, though fer¬ 
tile in religious houses, both in the number of monks, and 
the endowment of the convents. It is supposed to be built 
on the spot where the ancient Arcadia once stood. The house 
itself contains nearly one hundred inhabitants, while about 
two hundred more are dispersed over the lands belonging to 
the monastery, and are employed in agriculture. The cellar 
is by far the finest part of the building. It contains two hun¬ 
dred casks of wine, of which the choicest is marked with the 
name of the superior, and no one may touch it without his 
permission. This cellar receives a solemn annual benediction 
immediately after the vintage. The prayer recited by the 
superior on this occasion, is printed in the Greek Spiritual; 
it is as follows :—“ Lord God ! who lovest mankind, look on 
this wine, and on those that shall drink it; bless those vessels 
as thou hast blessed the wells of Jacob, the fishpool of Siloa, 
and the beverage of thy holy apostles. Lord, who didst con¬ 
descend to be present at the marriage of Cana, where thou 
didst manifest thy glory to thy disciples by changing water 
into wine, send thy holy Spirit on this wine, and bless it in 

thv name.” 

%/ 

Mint of Segovia. —At the mint of Segovia, in Spain, 
there is an engine moved by water, but so artificially made, 
that one part of it distends an ingot of gold into the breadth 
and thickness requisite to make coin. “ It delivereth the 
plate that it hath wrought unto another, that printeth the 
figure of the coin upon it; and from thence it is turned over 
tc another, that cutteth it according to the print in due shape 
and weight And lastly, the several pieces fall into a coffer 
in another room, where the officer, whose charge it is, findi 
treasure ready coined.” 

Remarkable Mills. —At Dantzic, a city of Prussia, Mr 


MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 


500 

Morrison, an ingenious traveller of this nation, saw a mill, 
which, without help of hands, did saw boards, having an iron 
wheel, which did not only drive the saw, but also did hook in, 
and turn the boards unto the saw. Dr. John Dee mentions 
the like seen by him at Prague ; but whether the mill moved 
by wind or water, is set down by neither of them. 

Silk Mill at Derby. —This mill, situated on the river 
Derwent, was erected by Sir T. Loombe, who, at a vast expense 
and great hazard, brought the model from Italy. It is fixed 
in a large house, six stories high, and consists of 26,586 
wheels, with 97,746 movements, all driven by one large water¬ 
wheel, fixed on the outside of the house! It goes round three 
times in one minute, and each time works 78,726 yards of silk 
thread, so that in twenty-four hours it works 318,496,320 
yards of silk thread, under the management of only one regu¬ 
lator! It has been of such service to the silk trade, that Sir 
Thomas had the benefit of it during his life ; but the parlia¬ 
ment having allowed him £14,000, as a further reward for his 
services, he suffered a model of it to be taken. This model 
now lies in the Record-office at the Tower, for the benefit of 
the public, any person being allowed to inspect it, so that 
there are at present several mills of the kind erected in different 
parts of the kingdom. 

Portland Vase. —This is a celebrated funeral vase, which 
was long in the possession of the Baberini family; but which 
was some years since purchased for 1000 guineas by the duke 
of Portland, from whom it has derived its present name. Its 
height is about ten inches ; and its diameter, where broadest, 
six. There are a variety of figures upon it, of most exquisite 
workmanship, in bas relief, in white opaque, raised on a 
ground of deep blue glass, which appears black, except when 
held against the light. It appears to have been the work of 
many years ; and there are antiquarians who date its produc¬ 
tion several centuries before the Christian era, since, as has 
been said, sculpture w r as declining in excellence in the time 
of Alexander the Great. Respecting the purpose of this vase, 
and what the figures on it were meant to represent, there have 
been various conjectures. We shall, therefore, give a short 
account of the several figures, without noticing any of the 
theories or conjectures that have been made about them. In 
one compartment, three exquisite figures are placed on a ruined 
column, the capital of which is fallen, and lies at their feet 
among other disjointed stones: they sit under a tree, on loose 
piles of stone. The middle figure is a female.in a reclining 
and dying attitude, with an inverted torch in her left hand, 
the elbow of which supports her as she sinks, while the right 


MURDERING STATUE.—CURIOUS PULPIT. 


JS01 


hand is raised, and thrown over her drooping head. The figure 
on her right hand is a man, and that on the Left a woman, 
both supporting themselves on their arms, and apparently 
thinking intensely. Their backs are to the dying figure, and 
their faces are turned towards her, but without an attempt to 
assist her. On another compartment of the vase is a figure 
coming through a portal, and going down with great timidity 
into a darker region, where he is received by beautiful female, 
who stretches forth her hand to help him: between her knees 
is a large and playful serpent. She sits with her feet towards 
an aged figure, having one foot sunk into the earth, and the 
other raised on a column, with his chin resting on his hand 
Above the female figure is a Cupid preceding the first figure, 
and beckoning him to advance. This first figure holds a cloak 
or garment, which he seems anxious to bring with him. but 
which adheres to the side of the portal through which he has 
passed. In this compartment there are two trees, one of 
which bends ove.r the female figure, and the other over the 
aged one. On the bottom of the vase, there is another figure 
m a larger scale than the one we have already mentioned, but 
not so well finished nor so elevated. This figure points with 
its finger to its mouth. The dress appears to be curious and 
cumbersome, and above there is a foliage of a tree. On the 
head of the figure there is a Phrygian cap: it is not easy tc 
say whether this figure be male or female. On the handles ol 
the vase are represented two aged heads with the ears of a 
quadruped, and from the middle of the forehead rises a kind 
of tree without leaves : these figures are, in all probability, 
mere ornaments, and have no connection with the story repre¬ 
sented on the vase. 

Murdering Statue. —Kenith, king of Scotland, had 
slain Cruthlintus the son, and Malcolmus Duflfus the king 
and kinsman of Fenella: she, to be revenged of the murderer, 
caused a statue to be framed with admirable art. In one of 
the hands of it was an apple of gold set full of precious 
stones, which, whosoever touched, was immediately slain with 
many darts, which the statue threw or shot at him. Kenith, 
suspecting nothing, was invited to this place, and being slain 
in this manner, Fenella escaped over into Ireland. 

A Curious Pulpit. —The pulpit of the grand parochial 
church at Brussels, a curious production of Henry Verbruggen, 
of Antwerp, is placed in the middle of the nave. At the base 
are Adam and Eve, large as life, the expelling Angel and Death 
in the rear! Our first parents, though closely pursued, bear 
upon their shoulders the terrestrial globe, the cavity of which 
is filled by the preacher! From the globe rises a tree, whose 


MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 


m 

top extends into a canopy sustaining an Angel, ana Truth 
exhibited as a female genius. Above are the Virgin and tho 
infant Jesus, crushing the serpents head with a cross. Th 
steps on either side appear as if cut from trunks of trees, an 
are accompanied by carvings of the ostrich, eagle, peacock, 
parrot, &c. 




CHAP. LXXXVI. 

miscellaneous curiosities.— (Continued.) 

Extraordinary Echoes, and Whispering Places—Natural Produc 
tions resembling Artificial Compositions—Remarkable Lamps* 
—Perpetual Fire—Magical Drum—An Extraordinary Can - 
non.—Curious Account of Old Bread—Substitute for Spec - 
tacles—Winter Sleep of Animals and Plants. 

Extraordinary Echoes, and Whispering Places.— 
These are places where a whisper, or other low sound, may 
be heard from one part to another, to a great distance. They 
depend on a principle, that the voice, &c. being applied 
to one end of an arch, easily passes by repeated reflections to 
the other. 

Hence sound is conveyed from one side of a whispering 
gallery to the opposite one, without being perceived by those 
who stand in the middle. The form of a whispering-gallery 
is that of a segment of a sphere, or the like arched figure. 
All the contrivance in whispering-places is, that near the per¬ 
son who whispers there may be a smooth wall, arched either 
cylindrically or elliptically. A circular arch will do, but not 
so well. 

The most considerable whispering-places in England are, 
the whispering-gallery in the dome of St. Paul’s, London, 
where the ticking of a watch may be heard from side to side r 
and a very easy whisper be sent all round the dome. The 
famous whispering-place in Gloucester Cathedral, is no other 
than a gallery above the east end of the choir, leading from 
one side thereof to the other. It consists of five angles and 
six sides; the middlemost of which is a naked window, yet 
two whisperers hear each other at the distance of twenty-five 
yards. 

In the Philosophical Transactions for 1746, there is a letter 
inserted from Robert Southwell, Esq. in which he gives the 
following account of some extraordinary whispering-places 
and echoes.—“ The best whispering-place in England,” he 
observes, “ I ever saw, was that at Gloucester: but in Italy, 


©- CD 


ECHOES, AND W H IS P E R ] N G-P L A C ES. 803 

in the way to Naples, two days from Rome, I saw, in a inn, 
a room with a square vault, where a whisper could be easily 
heard at the opposite corner, but not at all in the side corner 
that was near to you. 

“ I saw another, in the way from Paris to Lyons, in the 
porch of a common inn, which had a round vault: but neither 
of these was comparable to that of Gloucester; only the differ¬ 
ence between these last two was, that to the latter, by holding 
your mouth to the side of the wall, several could hear you on 
the other side; the voice being more diffused: but to the 
former, it being a square room, and you whispering in the 
corner, it was only audible in the opposite corner, and not 
to any distance from thence, as to distinction of words. And 
this property was common to each corner of the room. 

“ As to Echoes, there is one at Brussels that answers fifteen 
times: but when at Milan, I went two miles from thence to a 
nobleman’s palace, to notice one still more extraordinary. 
The building is of some length in the front, and has two 
wings projecting forward; so that it wants only one side of 
an oblong figure. About one hundred paces before the house, 
there runs a small brook, and that very slowly; over w T hich 
you pass from the house into the garden. We carried some 
pistols with us, and, firing one of them, I heard fifty-six 
reiterations of the noise. The first twenty were with some 
distinction; but then, as the noise seemed to fly away, and 
the answers were at a great distance, the repetition was so 
doubled, that you could hardly count them all, seeming as if 
the principal sound was saluted in its passage by reports on 
this and that side at the same time. Some of our company 
reckoned above sixty reiterations, when a louder pistol was 
discharged.” 

Some persons tell us, that the sound of one musical instru¬ 
ment in this place will seem like a great number of instruments 
playing together in concert. This echo is of the multiple or 
tautological kind, returning one sound several times succes¬ 
sively, so as to make one clap of the hands seem like many,— 
one ha, like a laughter,—or one instrument 1 ikre several of the 
same kind, imitating each other; and by placing certain echo¬ 
ing bodies in such a manner, that any note played should be 
returned in thirds, fifths, and eighths, a musical room may be 
so contrived, that not only one vi€> 1 in played therein shall 
seem many of the same sort and size, but even a concert o* 
different instruments. Those echoes which return the voice 
but once are called single; whereof some are tonical, only 
repeating when modulated into some particular musical tone. 
Others, that repeat many syllables or words, are termed 
polysyllabical; of which kind is the fine echo in Woodstock 
Park, which Dr. Plott assures us will return seventeen sylla 


MI SC ELLA N EOUS CURIOSITIES. 


804 

bles distinctly in the day-time, and in the night twenty. 
Barthius likewise, in his notes on Statius’s Thebais, mentions 
an echo near Bingeni in Germany, which would repeat words 
seventeen times, as he himself had proved; and what is very 
strange in this echo, the person who speaks is scarcely heard 
at all, but the repetition most clearly, and always in surprising 
varieties, the echo seeming sometimes to approach nearer, 
and sometimes to retire to a greater distance. Vitruvius tells 
us, that in several parts of Greece and Italy there were brazen 
vessels artfully ranged under the seats of the theatres, to 
render the sound of the actors’ voices more clear, and make 
a kind of echo; by which means, of the prodigious number 
of persons present, every one might hear with ease and plea 
sure. 

Knout. —This is a punishment inflicted in Russia, with a 
kind of whip called knout, and made of a long strap of leather 
prepared for this purpose. With this whip tjie executioners 
dexterously carry a slip of skin from the neck to the bottom 
of the back, laid bare to the waist; and repeating their blows, 
in a little while rend away all the skin off the back in parallel 
strips. In the common knout, the criminal receives the lashes 
suspended on the back of one of the executioners; but in the 
great knout, which is generally used on the same occasions 
as racking on the wheel was in France, the criminal is raised 
into the air by means of a pulley fixed to the gallows, and 
a cord fastened to the two wrists, which are tied together; 
a piece of wood is placed between his two legs, which are also 
tied together; and another of a crucial form under his breast 
Sometimes his hands are tied behind over his back, and when 
he is pulled up in this position, his shoulders are dislocated. 
The executioners can make this punishment more or less 
cruel; and it is said, they are so dexterous, that when a 
criminal is condemned to die, they can make him expire 
either by one or several lashes. 

Natural Productions resembling Artificial Com¬ 
positions.— Some stones are preserved by the curious, for 
representing distinctly figures traced by Nature alone, and 
without the aid of Art. 

Pliny mentions an agate, in which appeared, formed by the 
hand of Nature, Apollo amidst the Nine Muses, holding a 
harp. Majolus assures us, that at Venice another is seen, in 
which is naturally formed the perfect figure of a man. At 
Pisa, in the church ol St. John, there is a similar natural pro- ' 
duction, which represents an old hermit in a desert, seated 
by the side oi a stream, and who holds in his hands a small 
bell, as St. Anthony is commonly painted. In the temple of 


FIGURES FORMED BY NATURE.— LAMPS. 


80 fl 

St. Sophia, at Constantinople, tner*„ was formerly, on a white 
marble, the image of St. John the Baptist, covered with the 
skin of a camel, with this only imperfection, that nature had 
given but one leg.—At Ravenna, in the church of St. Vital, 
a Cordelier is seen on a dusky stone. In Italy, a marble was 
found, in which a crucifix was so elaborately finished, that 
there appeared the nails, the drops of blood, and the wounds, 
as perfectly as the most excellent painter could have per¬ 
formed.—At Sneilberg, in Germany, they found in a mine 
a certain rough metal, on which was seen the figure of a man, 
who carried a child on his back.—In Provence, was found, in 
a mine, a quantity of natural figures of birds, trees, rats, and 
serpents; and in some places of the western parts of Tartary, 
are seen on divers rocks, the figures of camels, horses, and 
sheep. Pancirollus, in his Lost Antiquities, attests, that in a 
church at Rome, a marble perfectly represented a priest 
celebrating mass, and raising the host. Paul III. conceiving 
that art had been used, scraped the marble to discover whe¬ 
ther any painting had been employed; but nothing of the 
kind was discovered. 

There is a species of the orchis found in the mountainous 
parts of Lincolnshire, Kent, 8cc Nature has formed a bee, 
apparently feeding in the breast of the flower, with so much 
exactness, that it is impossible at a very small distance to 
distinguish the imposition. Hence the plant derives its 
name, and is called the Bee Flower. This is elegantly ex¬ 
pressed by Langhorne, who thus notices its appearance: 

See on that flow’ret’s velvet breast, 

How close the busy vagrant lies! 

His thin-wrought plume, his downy breast, 

Th’ ambrosial gold that swells his thighs. 

Perhaps his fragrant load may bind 
His limbs; we’ll set the captive free:— 

I sought the living Bee to find. 

And found the picture of a Bee. 

Remarkable Lamps. —Cedrenus makes mention of a 
lamp, which, together with an image of Christ, was found at 
Edessa, in the reign of the Emperor Justinian. It was set 
over a certain gate there, and privily enclosed, as appeared by 
the date of it, soon after Christ was crucified: it was found 
burning, as it had done for five hundred years before, by the 
soldiers of Cosroes, king of Persia, by whom also the oil was 
taken out, and cast into the fire; which occasioned such 
a plague, as brought death upon almost all his forces.—At 
the demolition of our monasteries here in England, there was 
found, in the supposed monument of Constantins Chlorus, 
(father to the Great Constantine,) a lamp, which was thought 
to ha\ * continued burning there ever since his burial, which 


SO 6 


MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 


was about three hundred years after Christ. The ancient 
Homans used in that manner to preserve lights in their sepul¬ 
chres a long time, by the oil of gold, resolved by art into a 
liquid substance. 

Perpetual Fire. —In the peninsula of Abeheron, in the 
province of Schirwan, formerly belonging to Persia, but now 
in Russia, there is found a perpetual, or as it is there called, 
an eternal fire. It rises, and has risen from time immemorial, 
from an irregular orifice in the earth, of about twelve feet in 
depth, with a constant flame. The flame rises to the height 
of six or eight feet, unattended with smoke, and it yields no 
smell. The aperture, which is about one hundred and twenty 
feet in width, consists of a mass of rock, ever retaining the 
same solidity and the same depth. The finest turf grows about 
the borders, and at the distance of two toises, are two springs 
of water. The neighbouring; inhabitants have a sort of vene- 
ration for this fire, which they accompany with religious cere¬ 
monies. 

Magical Drum. —This is an instrument of superstition, 
used in Lapland, which is thus described by Schcefter, in his 
History of that country: It is made of beech, pine, or fir, 
split in the middle, and hollowed on the flat side where the 
drum is to be made. The hollow is of an oval figure, and is 
covered with a skin clean dressed, and painted with figures 
of various kinds, such as stars, suns and moons, animals and 
plants, and even countries, lakes, and rivers; and of later 
days, since the preaching of Christianity among them, the 
acts and sufferings of our Saviour and his apostles are often 
added among the rest. All these figures are separated by 
lines into three regions or clusters. There is, besides these 
parts of the drum, an index and a hammer. The index is a 
bundle of grass or iron rings, the largest of which has a hole 
in its middle, and the smaller ones are hung to it. The ham¬ 
mer, or drumstick, is made of the horn of a reindeer; and 
with this they beat the drum so as to make these rings move, 
they being laid on the top for that purpose. In the motion of 
these rings about the pictures figured on the drum, they 
fancy to themselves some prediction in regard to the things 
they inquire about. What they principally search into by 
this instrument, are three things: 1. What sacrifices will 
prove most acceptable to their gods : 2. What success they 
shall have in their occupations, as hunting, fishing, curing 
diseases, and the like : and 3. What is done in places remote 
from them. On these occasions they use several peculiar 
ceremonies, and place themselves in various odd postures as 
they beat the drum, which influences the rings t<~ the one or 


CANNON.—OLI) BREAD.-SPECTACLES. 


807 


the other side, and to come nearer to the one or the other set 
of figures. And when they have done this, they have a me¬ 
thod of calculating a discovery, which they keep as a great 
secret, but which seems merely the business of the imagination 
in the diviner or magician. 

O 

An Extraordinary Cannon. —At Kubberpore-na-Jeal, 
in India, there is a cannon two hundred and thirteen inches 
long, sixty-six inches round the muzzle, and eighteen inches 
round the calibre. It has five, and had originally six, equi¬ 
distant rings, by which it was lifted up. This gun is called 
by the natives, Jaun Kushall, or the destroyer of life, and its 
casting and position are attributed to the doctas or divinities, 
though its almost obliterated Persian inscriptions declare its 
formation by human means. But what is most extraordinary 
about it is, that two peepul trees have grown both cannon 
and carriage into themselves. Fragments of the iron, a spring, 
one of the linches, and part of the wood-work, protrude from 
between the roots and bodies of these trees; but the trees 
alone entirely support the gun, one of the rings of which, 
and half of its whole length, are completely hidden between, 
and inside their bark and trunks. A more curious sight, or a 
cannon more firmly fixed, though by the mere gradual growth 
of two trees, cannot well be imagined. The Indians assert 
that it was only once fired, and then sent the ball twenty-four 
miles !—Asiatic Journal. 

Old Bread. —Bartholinus assures us, that in Norway 
the inhabitants make bread which keeps thirty or forty 
years ; and that they are there fonder of their old hard bread, 
than others are of new or soft; since the older it is, the more 
agreeable it grows. For their great feasts, particular care is 
taken to have the oldest bread ; so that at the christening of 
a child, they have usually bread which had been baked per¬ 
haps at the christening of his grandfather! It is made by 
a mixture of barley and oatmeal, baked between two hollow 
stones. 

The following is said to be A Substitute for Specta¬ 
cles. —A man, especially if accustomed to spend his time 
among books, would be much to be pitied, when his sight 
begins to fail, could he not in a great measure restore it by 
the aid of spectacles; but there are some men whose sight 
cannot be aided by the use either of convex or concave glasses. 
The following method, adopted by one of these to aid his 
sight, is certainly worthy of notice. When about sixty year? 
of age, this man had almost entirely lost his sight, seeing 
nothing but a kind of thick mist, with little black specks 


MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 


808 

which appeared to float in the air. He knew not any of Ilia 
friends; he could not even distinguish a man from a woman ; nor 
could he walk in the streets without being led. Glasses were 
of no use to him ; the best print, seen through the bell spec¬ 
tacles, seemed to him like a daubed paper. Wearied with 
this melancholy state, he thought of the following expedient. 
He procured some spectacles with very large rings ; and tak¬ 
ing out the glasses, substituted in each circle a conic tube of 
black Spanish copper. Looking through the large end of the 
cone, he could read the smallest print placed at its other 
extremity These tubes were of different lengths, and the 
openings at the end were also of different sizes ; the smaller 
the aperture, the better could he distinguish the smallest let¬ 
ters ; the larger the aperture, the more words or lines it com¬ 
manded ; and consequently, the less occasion was there for 
moving the head and the hand in reading. Sometimes he 
used one eye, sometimes the other, alternately relieving each; 
for the rays of the two eyes could not unite upon the same 
object when thus separated by two opaque tubes. The thin¬ 
ner these tubes, the less troublesome are they. They must be 
totally blackened within, so as to prevent all shining, and 
they should be made to lengthen or contract, and enlarge or 
reduce the aperture, at pleasure. When he placed convex 
glasses in these tubes, the letters indeed appeared larger, but 
not so clear and distinct as through the empty tube; he also 
found the tubes more convenient when not fixed in the spec¬ 
tacle rings ; for when they hung loosely, they could be raised 
or lowered with the hand, and one or both might be used, as 
occasion required. It is almost needless to add, that the 
material of the tubes is of no importance, and that they may 
be made of iron or tin as well as of copper, provided the in¬ 
sides of them be sufficiently blackened.—See La Nouvelt , 
Bigarurt for February, 1754, or Monthly Magazine for April, 
1799. 

Winter Sleep of Animals and Plants. —The winter 
sleep is a very singular property of animals and plants ; and, 
though it occurs daily before, our eyes, we are not able to 
explain the phenomena with which it is attended. In cold 
countries, many animals, on the approach of winter, retire to 
their subterraneous abodes, in which they bury themselves 
under the snow, where they remain five or six months without 
nourishment or motion; nay, almost without circulation of 
their blood, which flows only sluggishly, and in the widest 
vessels. I heir perspiration is almost imperceptible; but still 
they lose something by it, as they enter their winter quarters 
in very good condition, and are exceedingly thin when they 
r eiurn from them. 


WINTER sLEEi' Of ANIMAL!) AND PLANTS. 


809 


Some animals ^njoy their winter sleep under the earth, and 
others are concealed beneath the snow; some for the same 
purpose creep into the holes of rocks, and others under stones, 
or the bark of trees. 

Plants have their winter sleep also; for, during the period 
of winter, their sap flows towards the roots, and the circula¬ 
tion of it, which is very slow, takes place only in the widest 
vessels. Were the expansion of the sap in winter as conside¬ 
rable as in summer, it would burst all the vessels, on being 
frozen. 

Some observers have endeavoured to prove that this singu- 
larcircuinstance is merely accidental, and, indeed, no difference 
is found in the internal organization of those animals which 
have winter sleep, and those which have not. It is very 
remarkable, that this property belongs in general to animals 
of prey. As these have far stronger powers of digestion, and 
stronger digestive juices, it would appear that abstinence 
from food for several months would to them be hardly pos¬ 
sible. 

The common bear, the bat, and the hedgehog, have winter 
sleep, but the white bear has not. As the latter is secured 
from the cold by his long hair, he finds nourishment in 
che dead whales and seals which are cast on shore by the 
waves. 

The earthworms have winter sleep; but aquatic worms 
very seldom. Insects, as well as their larvae, have winter 
sleep. Butterflies may be often seen fluttering about in the 
warm days of spring, after having spent the whole winter in 
that condition. Amphibious animals have winter sleep, those 
which live merely in the ocean excepted. Few birds, on the 
other hand, are exposed to this state. The greater part of 
these, on the approach of winter, retire to a milder climate, 
where they can find more abundant nourishment. In Iceland, 
the sheep have winter sleep. In that country they are suf¬ 
fered to range in perfect freedom. In the winter season, 
therefore, they may be found buried under the snow, where 
it would be impossible for them to remain, were they not in 
that condition. 


810 


MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 


CHAP. LXXXVII. 

miscellaneous curiosities— ( Continued .) 

Lama — Nun—Mahometan Paradise—Opinions respecting 

Hell — London — Coins of the Kings of England—Coinage 

and Coins of the United States. 

Lama. —This is the sovereign pontiff, or rather god, of the 
Asiatic Tartars, inhabiting the country of Barantola. The lama 
is not only adored by the inhabitants of the country, but also 
by the kings of Tartary, who send him rich presents, and go 
in pilgrimage to pay him adoration, calling him lama cotigiu , 
i. e, “ god, the everlasting father of heaven.” He is never to 
be seen but in a secret place of his palace, amidst a great 
number of lamps, sitting crosslegged upon a cushion, and 
adorned all over with gold and precious stones ; where at a 
distance they prostrate themselves before him, it not being 
lawful for any to kiss his feet. He is called the great lama, 
or lama of lamas ; that is, “ priest of priests.’’ The orthodox 
opinion is, that when the grand lama seems to die either of 
old age or infirmity, his soul in fact only quits a crazy habi¬ 
tation to look for another younger or better; and it is disco¬ 
vered again in the body of some child, by certain tokens 
known only to the lamas, or priests, in which order he always 
appears. A particular account of the pompous ceremonies 
attending the inauguration of the infant lama in Thibet, is 
given in the first volume of the Asiatic Researches. The 
emperor of China appears, on such occasions, to act a very 
conspicuous part, in giving testimony of his respect and zeal 
for the great religious father of his faith. 

The twenty-eighth day of the seventh moon, corresponding 
nearly (as their year commences with the vernal equinox) with 
the middle of October, is reckoned the most auspicious for 
the ceremony of inauguration. The procession, on these 
occasions, from Terpaling to the Teeshoo Loombo, is con¬ 
ducted with such slow and majestic solemnity, that though 
the distance is only twenty miles, it takes up three days. 
The crowd of spectators is immense. The three next days are 
spent in the inauguration, in delivering the presents sent by 
the emperor to the lama, and in the public festivals on the 
occasion ; during which, all who are at the capital are enter¬ 
tained at the public expense, and alms are distributed libera Hy 
to the poor. Universal rejoicings prevail throughout Thibet; 
banners are unfurled on all their fortreses, the peasantry fill 


NUNS.-MAHOMETAN PARADISE. 


811 


up the day with music and festivity, and the night is cheered 
by general illuminations. A long period is afterwards em¬ 
ployed in making presents and public entertainments to the 
newly-inducted lama, who, at the time of his accession to 
the musnud, or pontificate of Teeshoo Loombo, is often not 
three years of age. The whole ceremony, from its commence¬ 
ment to its consummation, lasts forty days. 

Some particulars respecting Nuns. —A nun is a woman 
dedicated to the severer duties of religion, secluded in a clois¬ 
ter from the world, and debarred by a vow from the converse 
of men. When a woman is to be made a nun, the habit, veil, 
and ring of the candidate, are carried to the altar; and she 
herself, accompanied by her nearest relations, is conducted to 
the bishop, who, after mass and an anthem (the subject of 
which is, “ that she ought to have her lamp lighted, because 
the bridegroom is coming to meet her/’) pronounces the bene¬ 
diction : then she rises up, and the bishop consecrates the 
new habit, sprinkling it with holy water. When the candi¬ 
date has put on her religious habit, she presents herself before 
the bishop, and sings on her knees, Ancilla Christi sum, fyc.; 
then she receives the veil, and afterwards the ring, by which 
she is married to Christ; and lastly, the crown of virginity. 
When she is crowned, an anathema is denounced against all 
who shall attempt to make her break her vows. 


Mahometan Paradise. —The paradise of the Maho¬ 
metans is said by them to be situated above the seven heavens, 
or in the seventh, and next under the throne of God ; and, to 
express the amenity of the place, they tell us that the earth 
of it is of the finest wheat flour, or of the purest musk, or of 
saffron; and that its stones are pearls and jacinths, the walls 
of its buildings enriched with gold and silver, and the trunks 
of all its trees of gold, amongst which the most remarkable is 
the tree luba, or tree of happiness. They pretend that this 
tree stands in the palace of Mahomet, though a branch of 
it will reach to the house of every true believer, loaded with 
pomegranates, grapes, dates, and other fruits, of surprising- 
size, and delicious tastes, unknown to mortals. 

If a man desires to eat of any particular kind of fruit, it 
will immediately be presented to him; or if he chooses flesh, 
birds ready dressed will be set before him, and such as he 
may wish foi. They add, that this tree will supply the blessed. 


MISCLLLAN ECUS CU RI0S1TIKS. 


812 

not only with fruit, but with silk garments also, and beasts 
to ride on, adorned with rich trappings, ail which will burst 
forth from the fruit; and that the tree is so large, that a per¬ 
son mounted on the fleetest horse would not be able to gallop 
from one end of its shade to the other in one hundred years. 
Plenty of water being one of the greatest additions to the 
pleasantness of any place, the Koran often speaks of the 
rivers of paradise as the principal ornament. Some of these 
rivers are said to flow with water, some with milk, some with 
wine, and others with honey : all of them have their sources 
in the root of this tree of happiness; and, as if these rivers 
were not sufficient, we are told that the garden of this paradise 
is also watered by a great number of lesser springs and foun¬ 
tains, whose pebbles are rubies and emeralds, their earth of 
camphor, their beds of musk, and their sides of saffron. 

But all these glories will be eclipsed by the resplendent 
and exquisite beauty of the girls of paradise, the enjoyment 
of whose company will constitute the principal felicity of the 
faithful. These (they say) are not formed of clay, as mortal 
women, but of pure musk, and are, as their prophet often 
affirms in his Koran, free from all the natural defects and in¬ 
conveniences incident to the sex. Beino- also of the strictest 

o 

modesty, they keep themselves secluded from public view, in 
pavilions of hollow pearls, so large, that, as some traditions 
have it, one of them will be no less than sixteen, or, as others 
say, sixty miles long, and as many broad. With these the 
inhabitants of paradise may taste pleasures in their height; 
and for this purpose will be endowed with extraordinary abili¬ 
ties, and enjoy a perpetual youth. 

Opinions respecting Hell. —The hell of the ancient 
heathens was divided into two mansions: the one called Ely¬ 
sium, on the right hand, pleasant and delightful, appointed 
for the souls of good men ; the other called Tartarus, on the 
left, a region of misery and torment, appointed for the wicked. 
The latter only was hell, in the present restrained sense of the 
word. The philosophers were of opinion, that the infernal 
regions were at an equal distance from all the parts of the 
earth; nevertheless, it was the opinion of some, that there 
were certain passages which led thither, as the river Lethe 
near the Syrtes, and the Acherusian cave in Epirus. At 
Hermione, it was thought, that there was a very short way to 
hell; for which reason the people of that country never put 
the fare into the mouths of the dead to pay their passage. 
The Jews placed hell in the centre of the earth, and believed 
it to be situated under waters and mountains. According to 
them, there are three passages leading to it: the first is in 
the wilderness, and by that Korah, Da than, and Abiram 


OPINIONS RESPECTING HELL.-LONDON. 813 

descended into hell; the second is in the sea, because Jonah, 
who was thrown into the sea, cried to God out of the belly of 
hell; the third is in Jerusalem, because it is said “ the fire of 
the Lord is in Zion, and his furnace is in Jerusalem.” They 
likewise acknowledged seven degrees of pain in hell, because 
they find this place called by seven different names in Scrip¬ 
ture. In the Koran of Mahomet, it is said that hell has seven 
gates; the first for the Mussulmans, the second for the Christ¬ 
ians, the third for the Jews, the fourth for the Sabeans, the 
fifth for the Magians, the sixth for the Pagans, and the seventh 
for hypocrites of all religions. 

Among Christians, there are two controverted questions in 
regard to hell; the one concerning the locality, the other the 
duration of its torments:—The locality of hell, and the reality 
of its fire, began first to be controverted by Origen. That 
father, interpreting the scripture account metaphorically, 
makes hell to consist, not in external punishments, but in a 
consciousness or sense of guilt, and a remembrance of past 
pleasures. Among the moderns, Mr. Whiston advanced a 
new hypothesis. The comets, he thinks, are so many hells, 
appointed in their orbits alternately to carry the damned into 
the confines of the sun, there to be scorched by its violent 
heat, and then to return with them beyond the orb of Saturn, 
there to starve them in those cold and dismal regions. An¬ 
other modern author, Mr Swinden, supposes the sun to be the 
local hell. However difficult it may be to ascertain the local 
place of hell, we may rest assured God will find both place 
and means to punish the obstinately wicked. 

London. —This metropolis is unparalleled, in extent and 
opulence, in the whole habitable globe, except, perhaps, 
Pekin in China, Jeddo in Japan, and Houssa in Africa; 
which are all said to be larger. 

It comprehends, besides London, Westminster, and South¬ 
wark, no less than forty-five villages, of considerable extent, 
independent of a vast accession of buildings upon the open fields 
in the vicinity. Its length is nearly eight miles, its breadth 
three, and its circumference twenty-six. It contains above 
8000 streets, lanes, alleys, and courts, and more than 65 
different squares. Its houses, warehouses, and other buildings, 
make 162,000, besides 246 churches and chapels, 207 meeting 
houses for dissenters, 43 chapels for foreigners, and 6 syna¬ 
gogues for the Jews, which in all make 504 places of public 
worship. The number of inhabitants, during the sitting ot 
parliament, is estimated at 3,500,000. Among these are found 
about 150,000 thieves, coiners and other bad persons. 

The annual depredations on the public, by this numerous 


MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 


814 

body of pilferers, are estimated at the sum of £2,100,000 
sterling In this vast city, there are, moreover, upwards of 
4000 seminaries for education, 8 institutions for promoting 
morality, 10 institutions for promoting the arts, 122 asylums 
for the indigent, 17 for the sick and lame, 13 dispensaries, 
704 charitable institutions, 58 courts of justice, and 7040 
professional men connected with the various departments of 
the law.—There are 13,500 vessels trading in the river Thames 
in the course of a year; and 40,000 waggons going and return¬ 
ing to the metropolis in the same period, including their 
repeated voyages and journeys.—The amount of exports and 
imports to and from the Thames is estimated at £66,811,932 
sterling annually, and the property floating in this vast city 
every year, is £170,000,000. These circumstances may be 
sufficient to convince us of the amazing extent and import¬ 
ance of the capital of the British empire. 

The numbers of bullocks, sheep, lambs, calves, hogs, and 
sucking pigs, purchased at the Smithfield markets, and 
annually consumed in the metropolis, are in the following 
proportion: bullocks 110,000; sheep and lambs 776,000; calves 
210,000; hogs 210,000; sucking pigs 60,000. Markets for hay, 
Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The markets for the sale 
of provisions are numerous, and amply supplied with every 
sort, generally of the most excellent kind : the bread generally 
fine and sound. Besides animal food and bread, there are no 
less than 6,980,000 gallons of milk [and water] annually con¬ 
sumed here: of vegetables and fruit, there are 10,000 acres of 
ground near the metropolis, cultivated wholly for vegetables ; 
and about 4000 acres of fruit. Of wheat, coals, ale, and 
porter, &c. the annual consumption is as follows: of wheat, 
700,000 quarters; of coals 600,000 chaldrons; of ale and por¬ 
ter 1,113,500 barrels; of spirits and compounds 11,146,782 
gallons; of wine 32,500 tons; of butter 16,600,000 pounds; 
and of cheese 21,100,000 pounds. Fish and poultry are 
sometimes excessively dear, and the quantities consumed are 
comparatively small. 

Coins of the Kings of England. —The silver Penny 
which was first circulated during the Heptarchy, continued to 
be the general coin after the kingdom had been united under 
one head, and extends, in a continued series, from Egbert 
almost to the present reign. The only kings wanting are 
Edmund Ironside, Richard I., and John. At first the penny 
weighed twenty-two and a half grains, but towards the close 
of the reign of Edward III. it fell to eighteen grains; in that 
of Edward IV. to twelve. In the time of Edward VI. it w T as 
reduced to eight grains; and in queen Elizabeth’s reign to 
grains, at which it still continues. 


COINS OF THE KINGS OF ENGLAND. 815 

Halfpence and farthings were first struck in silver by 
Edward I. in 1280: the former continued to the time of the 
Commonwealth, but the latter ceased with Edward VI. The 
groat and half groat were introduced in the reign of Edward 
III., in 1354, and continue to this day, though not in common 
circulation. 

Shillings were first coined by Henry VII. in 1503; at 
first they were called testoon, from the teste, tete, or head of 
the king, upon them; the name shilling being derived from 
the German schelling, under which name coins had been 
struck at Hamburgh in 1407. The crown was first coined in 
its present form by Henry VIII. The half-crown, six-pence, 
and three-pence, were coined by Edward VI. In 1558, queen 
Elizabeth coined three-halfpenny, and in 1561, three-farthing 
pieces; but they were discontinued in 1582. Gold was coined 
in England by Henry III. in 1257; the piece was called a gold 
penny, and was larger than the silver one, and the execution 
by no means bad for the time. The series of gold coinage, 
however, commences properly from Edward III. In 1344, 
this monarch first struck florins, in imitation of those in 
Italy; and it is remarkable, that though these coins, at the 
time they were first issued, bore only six shillings value, they 
were (even before the late increased value of gold) intrin¬ 
sically worth nineteen shillings; so much has the value of 
gol increased since that time. The half and quarter florin 
W’e^re struck at the same time, but only the last has been 
found. The florin being found inconvenient, gave place to 
the noble, of six shillings and eight-pence value, and exactly 
half a mark. The latter had its name from being a limited 
sum in accounts; and was eight ounces in weight, two-thirds 
of the money pound. The noble had its name from the 
nobility of the metal; the gold of which it is coined being of 
the finest sort. Sometimes it was called rose-noble, from both 
sides being impaled in an undulating circle. It continued, 
with the half and quarter noble, to be the only gold coin till 
the angels of Edward IV. appeared in 1465. These had their 
name from the image of Michael and the Dragon which they 
bore. The angelites, of three shillings and four-pence value, 
were substituted in their place. In 1527, Henry VIII. added 
to the gold coins the crown and half-crown at their present 
value; the same year he gave sovereigns of twenty-two shillings 
and six-pence, and ryals of eleven shillings and three-pence, 
angels at seven shillings and six-pence, and nobles at their 
old value of six shillings and eight-pence. In 1546 he caused 
sovereigns to be coined of the value of twenty shillings, and 
half sovereigns in proportion. 

On the union of the two crowns, James gave the sovereign 
*he name of unite; the value continuing twenty shillings, as 


MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 


810 

before He coined also rose ryals of thirty shillings, spjr 
rvals of fifteen shillings, angels of ten shillings, and angelites 
of five shillings value. Under the Commonwealth, the sove¬ 
reign received the name of the twenty shilling piece, and 
continued current till the coinage of guineas. These were so 
called, from their being coined of gold brought from the coast 
of Guinea, and were at first to pass but for twenty shillings, 
though by a universal but tacit consent, they always passed 
for twenty-one shillings. Half-guineas, double-guineas, and 
five guinea pieces, were also coined during the same reign; 
which still continue, though the two latter are not in common 
circulation. Quarter-guineas were coined by George I. and 
likewise by his late Majesty; but they were found so trou¬ 
blesome on account of their small size, that they were stopped 
at the Bank of England; and therefore are not to be met 
with in circulation at present. A few pieces of seven shil¬ 
lings value were likewise coined, and are known by the lion 
above the helmet; but none were issued. In 1668, the guinea 
rose to twenty-one shillings and sixpence, and continued to 
increase in value till 1696, when it was as high as thirty shil¬ 
lings ; but after the recoinage in 1697 and 1698, it fell by 
degrees, and in 1717 was at its old standard of twenty-one 
shillin gs. During the reign of George III. vast numbers of 
seven shilling pieces were issued, which continued some years 
in general circulation. Sovereigns have also been coined since 
his present Majesty’s accession, and they constitute at pre 
sent the prevailing gold currency of the realm. 

Coinage and Coins of the United States. —The principal 
Mint (or coin manufactory) in the United States is in Philadel¬ 
phia, Pa. Another large one is in San Francisco, Cal. Nearly 
all the work is done by machinery, and that of the most inge¬ 
nious and delicate nature. In converting the metals, silver, 
copper, (or copper and nickel), into coin the process is almost 
precisely the same as that of minting gold ; so we will confine 
ourselves to the latter metal. Standard gold in the United 
States is nine-tenths pure gold, one-tenth alloy. It goes through 
a course of treatment to anneal it, after which it is drawn to the 
required thickness of the coin. The “drawings” or ribbons are 
then cut by machinery into rude circles a little larger than the * 
intended coin. The next thing is to raise the slight rim on the 
edge. This is done at the rate of 120 double eagles a minute. 
Again they are annealed and thoroughly cleaned. They are 
then ready to be struck, the dies being previously prepared. A 
diagram would be necessary to fully describe the wonderfully 
ingenious machinery by which coin is struck. It is nearly a 
perfect automaton, which, when the blanks are fed to it through 
a tube, takes each blank piece in succession with a “hand,” 


ETHIOPIAN, AMERICAN. CAUCASIAN, MONGOLIAN, 



















































TIIE FIVE HITMAN RACES. 


817 


and lays it upon the face of the lower die. Both faces of tho 
coin and the fluted edges which are given to all coin (as a guard 
against Ailing) are struck at one blow. Then the automaton 
hand displaces the coin and puts another blank in its place. 
The pressure for a double eagle is equal to 75 tons. 20,000 
pieces can be struck in an hour by the 20 presses at work in one 
room at the Philadelphia Mint, only one girl and one boy being 
necessary to each press. From the press-rooms the coins are 
transferred to the chief coiner’s rooms, where they are weighed, 
examined, and, if found perfect, put into suitable packages for 
transmission to points of circulation. The double eagles ($20) 
•weigh 516 grains, and lesser coins in proportion : they are eagles, 
($10), $5, $3, $2.50, and $1. 

A silver dollar weighs 3S1 grains. Halves, quarters, dimes, 
and half-dimes in proportion. 

The nickel cent—88 parts copper and 12 parts nickel—weighs 
72 grains. 

yP 

The United States Mint was established in 1793. 


CHAP. LXXXVIII. 

miscellaneous curiosities— ( Continued.) 

The Five Human Races — Rome—Rome from the Capitol — 
Cologne Cathedral—Destruction of the Bastile. — Cleopatra’s 
Barge—Jewish High-Priest—Invention of Printing . 

The Five Human Paces. —Ethnologists have generally di¬ 
vided human beings into five distinct classes. But although the 
primitive types are well and strongly marked, yet from amalga¬ 
mation, climatic influences, and various other causes, the sharp 
lines are in many instances almost obliterated. We append a 
description of the diflerent races as they appear in their pure 
and unmixed condition. 

The Black or Negro Pace. —The Negro, proper, inhabits all 
that part of Africa from Senegal along the coast of Guinea 
south of the Equator, to the 16th degree of latitude. Voluntarily 
the Negro never leaves this country, but, from being carried into 
involuntary servitude, millions of this people are now to be 
found in America, the West Indies, and other parts of the 
world. Their most striking characteristics are the jetty black 
ness of skin, black, crisp, curly hair, low forehead, high cheek¬ 
bones, flat, broad nose, broad and small chin, strong, white teeth. 
The skull is deficient in all the higher intellectual manifestations. 



818 


MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 


The Hottentots and Caffres of South Africa, though black, and 
generally classed with Negroes, differ from them on. many 
points. The Negroes are often called Ethiopians. This is a 
mistake ; the Ethiopians were the inhabitants of the Upper Nile 
and Abyssinia, and though a dark, were by no means a Hack 
race. The Negroes have no written language ; the Arabic is 
generally used for all business purposes. 

The Red or Indian Race.— This race occupied the whole of 
the two Americas and the neighboring islands ; although there 
were manifest differences in the people of the North and those 
of the South. The North American Indians are tall and straight, 
forehead low and broad, nose aquiline, eyes black and deeply 
set, full lips, skin a warm, coppery red, hair long, black, and 
straight. They show rather a lack of disposition than of ability 
to become proficient in the arts of agriculture and manufacture. 

White or Caucasian Race.— The Caucasian race occupies all 
of Europe, Western Asia, Australia, and the greater part of 
America. Skin varying from a pure white to a rich brown, hair 
all shades, from blonde to black, beard full, soft and flowing, 
nose high and thin, lips medium. Surpass all other races in 
ability to comprehend and work out both mental and physical 
problems. This race is gradually but surely dominating the 
habitable part of the globe. 

Yellow, or Mongolian. —This race dwells principally in the 
East Indies, China, Japan, and the adjacent islands. In person 
they are usually small, slender, and remarkable for their agility 
and skillful manipulation; excelling in taste and execution, 
rather than invention. Skull small and narrow, with rather flat 
sides, forehead low and retreating, skin a yellowish tawny, eyes 
narrow and almond-shaped, hair long, black, and straight,' beard 
very scanty. 

The Samoids, Esquimaux, and Tartars.— These people are 
all supposed to have had a common origin, and their differences 
are attributed to local habitation or other accidental circum¬ 
stances. They are short in stature, but sturdy, foreheads low, 
eyes narrow, nose flat, hair black and straight. In many respects 
they closely resemble the Mongolian race. The Tartars show 
capacity for improvement, but the Esquimaux, owing to their 
painful struggle for mere existence, have little opportunity to 
exhibit their mental abilities. They are docile and kind. 

Rome.— Rome was founded in the year of the world 3230, in the 
third year of the 6th Olympiad, and in fhe seven hundred and 
fifty-third before the Christian era, on Mount Palatine. Rome 
is the principal, although not the most pleasing figure of the 
ancient world. The destinies of the noblest part of mankind 
were intimately connected by fate, during many centuries, with 


ROME FROM THE CAPITOL. 


819 


the events and interests of this imperial city. It at first, by 
force of arms and policy; then by laws, civilization, and 
manners; afterwards by sacerdotal power; and at last by her 
language, has ruled over the world, and enjoyed the veneration 
of nations in uninterrupted succession. ? The history of Home, 
is, during a considerable space of time, the history of the world. 
Many of the most important determinations of our condition, at 
the present day, are derived from the City on the Tiber, and 
there is hardly one European nation whose history would be in¬ 
telligible without that of Rome. It contains, besides the rich¬ 
est treasures of great characters and of imposing spectacles, the 
most impressive evidences of the power of man, and that of 
fate. It is, in fine, a continuous commentary of policy and 
political laws, and an illustrating counterpart of the revolutions 
of the latest times. 

Rome from the Capitol (see Frontispiece). — In the foreground 
is the Arcb of Constantine, the last perfect survivor of the many 
grand structures of its class, erected by the sovereigns who held 
sway over the Eternal City. On the left is the Pantheon, a 
temple devoted to the gods of all nations. It is the only one of 
the grand temples that have come to our era scarcely marred by 
either time or man. Its front is a very fine pure Grecian form, 
while the main part of the structure is a vast rotunda, sur¬ 
mounted by a dome. It owes its preservation to the fact that it 
was at an early period used as a Christian church, and dedicated 
to the Virgin. It was erected by Agrippa, and afterward dedi¬ 
cated as we have said. In a prominent part of the picture the 
Coliseum towers above the surrounding buildings. It was built 
for and used as a circus, in which gladitorial and other spectacles 
were exhibited. Vespasian, the father of Titus, was its founder. 
It is the largest building for its purpose ever erected by man. It 
is 581 feet in length, 481 in breadth, 1,616 in circumference. It 
was of this building that the poet, Byron, wrote : 

“ While stands the Coliseum, Home shall stand ; 

When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall, 

And when Rome falls—the world.” 

Nearly in the centre stands Trajan’s Pillar, almost perfect, 
and covered with exquisitely graven has reliefs. Ear in the 
middle distance is pictured the mighty fane of St. Peter’s, the 
grandest edifice ever reared by mortal hands to the Deity. In 
size it exceeds every other, it being calculated that it would hold 
twelve buildings like New York’s Trinity within its walls. Its 
dome is so lofty and widespread as to make visitors feel little 
beneath it. In various directions are seen that incongruous 
mixture of noble, lialf-ruined edifices, squalid huts, and common¬ 
place-looking houses, which render modern Rome unlike any 
other capitol on the globe. 


820 


MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 


The Cologne Cathedral. —On the 14th of August, 1880, 
the last stone of the great Domkirche of Cologne, the 
foundations of which were laid more than six hundred years ago, 
was put in its place, and the grandest conception of the Middle- 
Age Gothic Cathedral builders stands at length complete in all 
its parts. 

This stupendous structure is the largest, and architecturally 
the purest of the German-Gothic churches. It is believed to 
have been begun about the middle of the thirteenth century. It 
stands on the site of an older church, built in the ninth century 
and destroyed by fire in 1248. The architect is unknown, 
though the original design has been attributed to Gerhard von 
Rile. The work on it was carried forward with more or less 
rapidity up to the time of the Reformation, when it was entirely 
suspended until about fifty years ago. The choir, the first part 
completed, was consecrated in 1322. In 1509 the north and 
south aisles of the nave had only been carried up fo the capitals 
of the columns. A wooden roof was then thrown over them, 
and in this state the building remained, with only enough re¬ 
pairing to keep it from going to ruin, until the early part of the 
present century. 

Much of the indifference of the German people with respect to 
the completion of their noblest cathedral was doubtless owing 
to the fact that the original designs had been lost, and it seemed 
impossible to surmount the difficulties of structure presented by 
the two colossal towers with slender open-work spires which 
were to be the crowning glory of the edifice. But this obstacle 
was removed by the happy discovery of the design of the main 
building at Darmstadt in .1818, and subsequently of that of the 
two towers. This discovery aroused new interest in the great 
cathedral. The repair of the building was commenced in 1830. 
Large sums were appropriated by the Government to carry on 
the work, and money was also raised for the purpose by private 
subscription, and by an association called the Dombauverein , 
with branches throughout Europe. The amount required to 
complete the building was estimated by Zwirner, the architect 
employed to supervise it, at between four and five million dollars. 
In 1842 the foundation stone of the transept was laid by the 
King of Prussia. Six years later the nave, aisles, and transept 
were consecrated, and in 1863 the whole interior was thrown 
open. From that time on the work has been pushed rapidly for¬ 
ward, until at last, in this u utilitarian age,” the splendid dream 
of the unknown architect is fully realized, a veritable £C poem in 
stone.” 

The building is 511 feet in length, by 231 in breadth. • The 
towers reach to the imposing height of 511 feet, and the west 
gable, corresponding to the width, is 231 feet high. The choir 
is 161 feet high, and the central nave rises to a height of 144 
feet, with a breadth of 44 feet. Externally, the building has a 



DESTRUCTION ~>F THE BASTILE 
















































































































































THE DESTRUCTION OF THE BASTILE OF FARIS. 


821 


double range of stupendous flying buttresses and intervening 
piers, bristling with a perfect forest of pinnacles. The form of 
the church is a cross, and the arches are supported by a quad¬ 
ruple rovr of sixty-four columns. In the choir there are several 
stained windows belonging to the fourteenth century, which are 
regarded as unusually tine. Around the choir, against the col¬ 
umns, stand colossal figures of the Saviour, the Virgin Mary, 
and the twelve Apostles, sculptured in the same century ; and 
in a small chapel behind the high altar stands the celebrated 
“Shrine ot the Three Kings of Cologne,” or Wise Men of the 
East, whose bones are supposed to repose therein. The other 
parts of the building have been completed with careful fidelity 
to the original design, and it is now, in its finished state, as was 
written of it many years ago, u at once the most regular and 
most stupendous Gothic monument existing.” 

The Destruction of the Bastile of Paris.— This famous 
prison was originally the castle of Paris, and was built 
by order of Charles V., between the years 1310 and 1383, by 
Hugo Aubriot, Provost of Paris, at the Porte St. Antoine as a 
defense against the English. Afterwards when it came 
to be used as a State prison it was provided during the 16th and 
17th centuries with vast bulwarks and ditches. On each of its 
longer sides it had four towers of five stories each, over which 
ran a gallery which was armed with cannon. It was partly in 
these towers and partly in cellars under the level of the ground 
that the prison was situated. The unfortunate inmates of these 
abodes were so effectually removed from the world without as 
often to be entirely forgotten, and in some cases it was found 
impossible to discover either their origin or the cause of their 
incarceration. 

The Bastile was capable of containing 70 or 80 prisoners, a 
number frequently reached during the reigns of Louis XIV. 
and XV. Though small compared with the number which an 
ordinary prison contains, these numbers were considerable when 
we reflect that they rarely ever consisted of persons of the lower 
ranks or such as were guilty of actual crimes, but of those who 
were sacrificed to political despotism, court intrigue, ecclesiasti¬ 
cal tyranny, or had fallen victims to family quarrels. On the 
14th of July, 1789, the fortress was surrounded by an armed 
mob, which the reactionary policy of the Court had driven into 
fury, and to the number of which every moment added. The 
garrison consisted of 82 old soldiers and 32 Swiss. The nego¬ 
tiations which were entered into with the King led to no other 
result than the removal of the cannon posted on the Faubourg 
St. Antoine, which by no means contented the exasperated mul¬ 
titude. Some one cut the chains of the first drawbridge, and a 
contest took place, in which one of the besieged and 150 of the 
people were Killed or wounded ; but the arrival of a portion of 


822 


MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 


the troops, which had already joined the people, with four field 
pieces, turned the fortunes of the conflict in favor of the besiegers. 
Delaunay, the Governor, who had been prevented by one of 
his officers, when on the point of blowing the prison into the 
air, permitted the second drawbridge to be lowered, and^ the 
people rushed in, killing De Launay himself and several of his 
officers. The destruction of the Bastile commenced on the fol¬ 
lowing day amid the thunder of cannon and the pealing of the 
Te Deum. This event in itself apparently of no great moment, 
leading only to the release of three unknown prisoners, one of 
whom had been its tenant for thirty years, broke the spirit of 
the Court party, and changed the current of events in France. 

Cleopatra’s Barge.— The vessel in which the lovely and 
luxurious Queen of Egypt floated upon the Nile, has been de¬ 
scribed by historians and portrayed by poets at various times. 
We give Shakespeare’s account of it: 

“ The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne 
Burned on the water; the poop was beaten gold ; 

Purple the sails, and so perfumed, that 

The winds were lovesick with them ; the oars were silver, 

Which to the tunes of flutes kept stroke, and made 
The water which they beat to follow faster, 

As amorous of their strokes. For her own person, 

She beggared all description ; she did lie 
On her pavilion (cloth of gold and tissue) 

O’erpicturing that Yenus where we see 
The fancy outwork nature ; on each side her 
Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids, 

With divers-colored fans, whose wind did seem 
To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool, 

And what they undid, did.'’ 

Cleopatra was the daughter of Ptolemy Auletes, King of 
Egypt, and was co-heir to the throne with her brother. She 
was robbed of her possessions ; but on appealing to Kome she 
was restored by Julius Caesar. After his death she became the 
friend of Marc Antony, who left his wife, Octavia, for love of 
this bewitching woman. Antony having suffered defeat at 
Aetium, Cleopatra ended her troubled life by allowing an asp to 
poison her. She was in her thirty-ninth year when she died. 

Jewish High-Priest.— While the Israelites had a remarkably 
high and pure conception of the spiritual attributes of Jehovah, 
their forms of worship were full of material observances, and 
their great law-giver, Moses, laid down the most minute direc¬ 
tions as to the garb and ornaments that were to be worn by those 
who ministered at the altar. The ftoman Catholic Church has 
very largely borrowed from the more ancient forms. Nothing , 
can be grander in appearance than the dress worn by the High- \ 
Priest of Israel, while its ornamentation is full of symbolism 
appealing strongly to the imagination. This dress consisted of 


CLEOVATRA S BA RG6 



t r 




































































































* 


A JEWISH PRIEST. 
























































































































































































































































■ 



















. 

















*. 





THE INVENTOR OF PRINTING: 











INVENTION OF THE ART OF FEINTING. 


823 


a robe, embroidered coat, and a girdle. The colors were blue, 
scarlet, purple, and white. Embellishing all was abundance of 
pure gold, the latter curiously enwreathed and interwoven. On 
the head was worn a high mitre. A rich, broad girdle sur¬ 
rounded the waist, of fine linen, blended in which were the 
colors ot the robe and coat. Two onyx stones, in which were 
deeply graven the names of the tribes, six on each stone, were 
affixed, one on each shoulder, into ouches, or sockets, of gold. 
Upon the front was worn the Breastplate of Judgment, similar 
to the girdle in material (fine linen), workmanship, and colors. 
It was adorned with four rows of precious stones, in the follow¬ 
ing order: first row, a sardoin, a topaz, and a carbuncle; 
second row,an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond ; third row, a 
figure, an agate, and an amethyst; fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, 
and a jasper. Upon each stone was engraven the name of a 
tribe. The stones were firmly set in a frame of pure gold. This 
breast-plate w r as fastened in its place by golden chains passing 
through rings of the same metal. In ithe Breastplate of Judg¬ 
ment were the Urim and Tnummin. The robe having an aper¬ 
ture left in it was passsed over the head in attiring. The hems 
and borders were elaborately worked with gold in figures of 
bells, and pomegranates, intermingled with threads of the colors 
already mentioned. In the front of the towering mitre was 
placed a fine gold plate, on which was engraved the Hebrew 
legend, Holiness to the Lord. Such was the imposing garb of 
the Jewish High-Priest, as he stood at the altar of the temple 
when the Roman legionaries waded through flame and gore, and 
dabbled the high place of Zion with the blood of the ministering 
servant of Jehovah. 

Invention of the Art of Printing. —To the German nation 
belongs the glory of this salutary discovery. The true inventor 
of printing being John Guttenburg (called also Gansfleisch), 
of the equestrian family of Lorgenloch (born 1397(, who 
conceived the first idea of this art, and executed it at Mentz, 
with the aid of John Faust (since 1450), a rich goldsmith of that 
place, and with the subsequent co-operation (since 1453) ot 
Peter Shaeffer, of Gernsheim, who completed the invention. It 
arrived only gradually and slowly to perfection. Among the 
great events of the world, no one has been more important in 
its consequences, and more beneficial, than this grand invention. 
By this art, writing with letters, consequently also language, 
and, in general, the human intellect, were first enabled to fulfill 
completely their destinations ; the word of one is transmitted to 
millions; the treasury of the knowledge as well as of the feel¬ 
ings of all men and of all times, are made the common property 
of our race—a possession that is partly attained by every indi¬ 
vidual. Its immediate effect was to render possible the union of 
nations, and, indeed, of mankind, into one great family. 


824 


MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 


CHAP. LXXXIX. 

MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES CONTINUED. 

J)r. Tanner’s Fast—Other Long Fasts—Scriptural Fasts — 

Human Work and Waste—Spirit Happings—The Ma 

Turtle — Mesmerism — Hypnotism—Ice Factories — Pulque — 

Celluloid—Petroleum or Rock Oil — Benzine. 

Dr. Tanner’s Great Past. —At noon, June 28, 1880, the 
first entry on the record book was made: “ Dr. Henry S. 
Tanner, aged 49, appeared in Clarendon Hall (New York City), 
this day to begin a forty days’ fast. He declares that he lias 
eaten no solid food to-day, but took for breakfast a quart of 
milk, and the same quantity for dinner at 11:45 o’clock. His 
weight, with clothing, is 157-J pounds; temperature, 99 deg.; 
average pulse, 88, with a variation of from 21 to 24 pulsations 
per minute; respiration, 18. The Doctor was undressed, and 
carefully examined. His clothing also was carefully examined 
to see that no food was therein concealed.” 

Dr. Tanner’s first intention was to take neither food nor water 
for the space of forty days, but he was persuaded finally to take 
water, and drank copiously during the first two days. When 
the second day expired he decided not to take water for the 
remainder of his fast, and went on without food or water until 
the expiration of the tenth day. At this time his sufferings had 
become terrible. He was constantly calling for wet cloths to be 
placed upon his forehead and wet sponges in his hands. But 
the surface absorption was not sufficient for the purpose. He 
commenced the eleventh day by taking at intervals copious 
draughts of water. His weight at that time was 139J pounds, 
and during the next ten days he lost only 4J pounds, or a little 
less than 8 ounces per day, against 32 ounces per day of the 
preceding eight. 

At the end of the twentieth day he was in better physical 
condition than at the end of the tenth day, as his photographs 
clearly evince. During the third ten days he lost at the daily 
rate of 12 ounces, but no serious symptoms appeared until he 
had completed thirty days of his term. The elimination of 
urea, which was 29 grammes a day when the fast commenced, 
declined gradually, until at the end of the tenth day it was 13 
grammes, at the end of the twentieth about 11 grammes, and at 
the end of the thirtieth 6 grammes. The method of determina¬ 
tion adopted by Dr. Yan Der Weyde was an original but ex¬ 
tremely accurate one. His data are accordingly of high scientific 
value. 

Near the conclusion of the third ten days Dr. Tanner began 
to have periodical attacks of nausea and vomiting, accompanied 
by febrile disturbance. The slight fever recurred every third 


I 


LONG FASTS. 


825 


day, the gastric symptoms being a great deal worse at each 
recurrence of the fever, but never disappearing altogether. In 
this condition he had gone on for the last ten days of his extra¬ 
ordinary performance, growing feebler and feebler as the days 
wore slowly on, but maintaining his resolution to finish, or at 
least hold out to the last extremity, which he did. 

The following is a table of the loss in weight from day to 
day: & J 


Day Pounds 

1st.157j 

3d.153 

5th.147s 

7tli.143a 

11th.139* 

13th.136* 

14th.133 

16th.132 

17th (8:30 p. m.) . 1334 

17th (11 a. m.).135i 

18th...1364 

l»th.136 

20th (4 p. m.).1354 

20th (5 a. m.).135 

21st.135 

22d.1334 

24th.1324 


Day. Pounds. 

25th.1314 

26th.131? 

27th.130^ 

28th.129 3 

29tli.not taken 

30th.130 

31st.128 

32d.1274 

33d.126* 

34th.126 x 

35th.not taken 

36th.not taken 

37th.1254 

38th.not taken 

39 th.1224 

40th.1214 


The fluctuations of pulse, temperature, and respiration have 
been unimportant. Contrary to the advice of his physicians, 
who dreaded gastric fever, Dr. Tanner commenced eating meat 
and fruits and drinking wine and milk, and speedily regained 
health and strength. 


Othek Long Fasts. —Ann Moore, the famous fasting woman 
of Tutbury, pretended to have lived for eight years entirely 
without food. A Watch Committee was appointed, which 
detected the fraud in a very ingenious manner. The bed and 
bedding, with the woman in it, were placed on a delicate 
weighing machine, which resulted in the inevitable exposure. 
At the expiration of the ninth day of this strict watching, being 
warned that she was sinking, she acknowledged her imposture, 
and admitted—which is an important fact—that, so long as the 
watch upon her was but imperfect, her daughter had contrived, 
when washing her face, to feed her every morning by using 
towels made very wet with gravy, milk, and other nourishing 
fluids, and had also while kissing her contrived to convey small 
portions of solid food from mouth to mouth. Guillaume Granet, 
a prisoner at Toulouse, resorted to starvation to avoid punish¬ 
ment. For the first seven days the symptoms were not very 
remarkable. After this period he was compelled to drink water 
to relieve his raging thirst, and after lingering on in terrible 
agony he died in convulsions on the fifty-eighth day. The case 
is reported by Van Swieten. There is no doubt as to its truth. 




































826 


MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 


Viterbi, a Corsican, condemned to death for the assassination 
of Frediani, resolved to starve himself to deatii. He died on 
the twenty-first day. He, too, occasionally moistened his mouth 
with water. The medical details of his case, which are very 
horrible, will be found in Paris’s “ Medical Jurisprudence.” Of 
accidental starvation, the most remarkable example is, perhaps, 
that reported by Hr. Sloane, of Ayr: u A man, some 65 years 
of age, of a spare habit of body, and uncommonly vigorous for 
his time of life, was accidentally incarcerated in a coal mine for 
twenty-three days, during the first few of which he had access 
to water strongly impregnated with iron. He then became 
unable to move, and had unfortunately fallen some distance 
from the water. In this instance, Hr. Sloane thinks that an 
impure atmosphere, by lowering the vital powers, might tend to 
slightly prolong life under circumstances of privation. The 
unhappy man died on the third day after his removal.” In 
1866 Captain Casey, of the James Lowden, passed twenty-eight 
days in an open boat without food or water. He contrived 
however, to drink as much rain as he could collect, and it is, 
possible, of course, that he may have chewed fragments of his 
clothes. Thus, then, so far as ascertained cases go, life has 
actually, on one occasion, been sustained for fifty-eight days 
without food, but not without water. Some time in 1831 or 
1832 a son of Heacon Kelsey, of Fairfield, H. Y., abstained 
from all manner of food, but drank often of pure cold water and 
washed freely with it. He gradually wasted away to a mere 
skeleton, but did not die till the end of fifty-six days. Hr 
McHaughton, a professor in Fairfield Medical College, wrote an 
account of this case at the time, the faster having been a student 
of the college. 

Scriptural Cases of Long Fasting. —Moses distinctly states : 
“ I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights; I neither 
did eat bread nor drink water ” ; and then upon his return 
to the mount, after breaking the first two tables of stone, he 
adds: “ And I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty 
days and forty nights ; I did neither eat bread nor drink water, 
because of all your sins.” (Heut. ix. 9, 18). Of Elijah it is 
stated that he was miraculously fed (I. Kings xix. 5-8), and 
u went in the strength of that meat forty days and fortv nights.” 
Of the Saviour it is said (Matt. iv. 2), “ He fasted forty days 
and forty nights.” This was “in the wilderness.” (S£k page 65). 

LIuman Work and Human Waste.— Work means waste, 
equally to a human body and a locomotive engine. “ More 
work more waste,” is a motto alike true of the mechanic’s ap¬ 
paratus and ot the mechanic himself. Hot an action, we repeat, 
is performed by us which is not accompanied by an expenditure 
of force derived from and accompanied by a proportional waste 


SPIRIT RAPPINGS.-THE MAN-TURTLE. 


827 


of substance. The movements of the muscles, the beating of 
the heart r the winking of an eyelid, the thinking a thought, 
entail wear and tear upon the muscles that work and the brain- 
cells that think. Every action necessitates bodily waste and 
corresponding physical repair. Waste, however, cannot of 
necessity be a single and final process in a living body, unless, 
indeed, we were born with a full complement of matter, and 
were permitted in the order of nature to live on the principal 
with which we had been provided, instead of wdsely using that 
principal as a means of gaining a livelihood through the interest 
it acquired. That we are not so constituted is an evident fact, 
hence our bodies demand pretty constant repair as a companion 
action to that of work, labor, and duty. This process of repair 
consists in the reception of matter from the outer world, in the 
transformation of this matter into ourselves, and in its utiliza¬ 
tion in the work and repair of the frame. Such matter we 
shortly name food, and the processes whereby it is converted 
into our own bodily substance we term digestion. 

Spirit Rappings. —In August, 1847, great excitement at 
Rochester, N. Y., and surrounding country was caused by mys¬ 
terious knocks, noises, and peculiar and strange demonstrations. 
The first appearance of these knockings was at Arcadia, Wayne 
County, N. Y. The family where they first made their appear¬ 
ance fled from the house, and it was afterward occupied by Mr. 
John Fox. His daughters were the first mediums through 
which this mysterious agency professed to communicate. The 
family removed to the city of Rochester, and the strange mani¬ 
festations accompanied them. Very soon these strange pro¬ 
ceedings were characterized by the name of “Spirit rappings,” 
and numerous “ mediums ” were soon developed, and public 
lectures and private seances, where table-tipping and writing 
were introduced, were held. The subject attracted universal 
interest and attention, and within three years the followers of 
this new sensation numbered hundreds of thousands, with a force 
of 30,000 mediums. Several prominent persons publicly advo¬ 
cated the manifestations as communications from the “ Spirit 
Land.” Books were written, and hundreds of lecturers thronged 
the public platforms; private and darlc circles and seances were 
held, to which, chiefly, the “ demonstrations ” were confined. 
From this origin has sprung the great and world-wide doctrine 
known as Modern Spiritualism. The sect claims millions of 
converts, scattered through all parts of the world. 

Tiie Man-Turtle. —The following truthful description of the 
Man-Turtle is from Geo. M. Payne, of Wabash, Ind.: In the 
almshouse of Cass County, Michigan, is a most wonderful freak of 
nature. This human monstrosity has been the inmate of the 
poor-house for more than a quarter of a century. Ilis parents 


828 


MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 


were fisherfolk. One day, while in a boat fishing, the mother 
allowed her fingers to touch the water; a liugh turtle, attracted 
by the movements of the fingers, leaped through the water and 
bit them. The mother never fully recovered from her terror, 
and a few months afterward her child was born with the form 
of a turtle. 

At first its resemblance to a turtle was not apparent, but be¬ 
came more and more visible as age increased. The first turtle¬ 
like action noticeable was its continual creeping long after it 
could walk. Upon examination it was found that the joints of 
the limbs were double, and turned outward like those of a turtle. 
As the horrible truth dawned upon the mother the child became 
loathsome to her, and the intense grief over her unfortunate child 
probably hastened her death, which occurred in a short time. 
The husband soon followed his wife, and the child was sent to 
the poor-house. 

A gentleman who visited the poor-house states the following: 
“ Passing through the lower story of the building I was ushered 
into a room in which the first object that met my gaze was 
Samuel Keene, the celebrated human Man-Turtle. Keene, at 
the command of the overseer, managed, with a side movement 
of the body, to take off his hat by means of his queerly-shaped 
claws, and to make a bow. We spoke to him, but the poor being 
had not enough of intelligence to give a sensible answer. 

“As this human monstrosity stood before us bareheaded, he 
presented the most wonderful specimen of an amalgamation be¬ 
tween the highest and one of the lowest classes of animals that 
can be imagined. In stature he is a dwarf, being about four feet 
in height, thick-set, with short limbs, hands turning outward tbe 
same as a turtle’s, and instead of fingers the widened palms ending 
in webbed claws. The feet are fashioned in the same manner, and 
he walks wdth a sidelong, ambling gait peculiar to a tortoise. The 
inside of his claw was of a yellowish color, as, also, were his feet 
and stomach. The skin on the other portions had the same 
color and the same ribbed appearance as the under portion of a 
turtle. His back consists of tough layers of cuticle, which are 
becoming harder as he grows older. The most startling feature, 
however, is the head, which seems to be a continuation of the 
neck; it is pointed something like a snake’s, and the face is flat. 
The back portion of the cranium is perpendicular to the neck 
and covered with short, bristly black hair. The rest of the body 
is hairless with the exception of a few long, black bristles 
around the mouth. The nose is like that of a full-blooded 
negro. The mouth extends from jowl to jowl and contains a 
full set of white teeth. The eyes are black and extremely large 
and rolling, having small pupils, looking directly ahead with a 
wild, staring, yet fascinating glare, very sharp and peircing, and 
fairly glisten beneath the broad eyebrows.” 

In liis actions and talk he has a slow, measured, jerking style; 


MESMERISM. 


829 


he is almost constantly moving his head, and his eyes are ever 
restless and snappish. He has a docile disposition, but is sullen, 
morose, and irascible when angered. He is not very sociable, 
scarcely ever speaks unless addressed, and when young never 
mingled with children nor engaged in juvenile sports. 

His greatest delight is summer bathing, and he will remain 
under water for a very long time; he takes great pleasure with 
small children, also, and is especially fond of babies. He will 
eat anything set before him, but prefers vegetables, fish, and 
bread. During early childhood he was a constant care to his 
parents, as he was unable to feed himself, his claws, or fins, being 
too small to hold either spoon or knife. 

He seemed to have no passions or affections, and cares no more 
for the female sex than for his own; he possesses but little 
emotion if any, and obeys a summons to a funeral of a fellow 
inmate as cheerfully as if it were a call to dinner. 

He is now (1880) thirty years old, without a single idea of the 
world outside of the house and farm on which he has lived for 
the last twenty-seven years. It has been impossible to teach him 
anything but the few words which he hourly utters; he has no 
remembrance of dates or of incidents; he is ignorant of his age 
and everything connected with the past. All is blank; he exists 
only in the present, without a sorrow for the past or a thought 
of the future. 

Mesmerism. —Mesmerism, or animal magnetism as it was for¬ 
merly called, first excited public notice about the middle of the 
last century, when several persons in different parts of Europe 
conceived that men are sensible to its influence. Maximilian 
Hell, Professor of Astronomy at Vienna, advised (1773) a Baden 
physician of his acquaintance, Anton Mesmer—whence the 
name mesmerism—to try if he could not cure disease with the 
magnet. The Doctor, pleased with the idea, experimented act¬ 
ively, and finding that he could affect very singularly a number 
of his patients, laid claim to the discovery of a new remedial 
agent. Many sufferers were healed; popular attention was 
aroused on the subject, and Mesmer gained wide fame. A con¬ 
troversy arose between him and Hell, the former declaring that 
he did'not cure his patients by mineral, but by animal mag¬ 
netism, developed by his own body, and conducted to his patients 
with or without magnetism. The dispute waxed so fierce that 
Mesmer quitted Vienna for Paris, whence, as from the. great 
centre of literature and science, he proposed to proclaim his new 
doctrines to the intellectual world. He caused great excitement 
there, became celebrated, and gained many converts, particu¬ 
larly among the higher classes. He published several works on 
his favorite topic, and they were very favorably received. Al¬ 
though the French Government refused to grant him a certain 
chateau, with adjoining lands, as a reward for his discovery, to 


830 


MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 


be employed as a great healing institute, it offered him an an¬ 
nual pension of 20,000 livres. He declined the offer, and com¬ 
plained of the nation’s ingratitude. His followers and friends, 
desiring to compensate him for what he had done, proposed to 
form classes, which he should instruct in animal magnetism. 
By these classes he got 340,000 livres—nearly $70,000—a vast 
sum for such a man in those days, and had among his pupils 
Lafayette, D’Espreneuil, Puysegur, and Dr. d’Eslon. physician 
to the King’s brother. The Government subsequently ordered 
the medical faculty to investigate Mesmer’s theory, and a com¬ 
mission was appointed for the purpose, Benjamin Franklin, 
Lavoisier, Bailly, and Jussieu being among the members. 
Mesmer declined to appear before them ; but they reported, 
after careful research and inquiry, adversely to his claims, 
deciding that the influence exercised was due mainly to the 
imagination. While his pupils adhered to him, the general 
voice proclaimed him a quack, and he was extinguished by it. 
He soon retired to Morsburg (Baden), and died at an advanced 
age in total obscurity. Mesmer’s animal magnetism was very' 
unlike that of the present day. He usually treated his patients 
by placing magnets on different parts of their body, or ranging 
them around a covered tub, from which an iron rod went out to 
each person, the entire party touching hands. He also made 
passes with his hands on or near their bodies, causing nervous 
twitcliings, drowsiness, sleep, sometimes cramp, convulsions, and 
alleviation of pain in those suffering from nervous disorders. 

Hypnotism. —Some seven hundred medical students assembled 
in the lecture hall of the New York University Medical College 
January 28, 1881, and listened to a lecture on “ Hypnotism,” 
by Dr. William S. Hammond. Mesmerism has been in the 
hands of quacks and charlatans, said Dr. Hammond. For a long 
time there was an impression that animal magnetism had much 
to do with it, but that was one of the false ideas that had crept 
in through ignorance. I don’t claim anything for mesmerism. 

I am simply testing it like many others. I think about two 
men in eight would prove good subjects, and about four women 
in the same number. Its influence is not confined to men and 
women ; animals are liable to it, and make good subjects. I 
operated not long ago on a lot of crabs in Fulton Market. 
Frogs are capital subjects. You can take a frog and put him 
under this influence and turn him on his back. Now, of all the 
things in the world a frog dislikes it is being laid on his back. 
Well, when a frog is in this condition you might take a scissors, 
cut him open, and he will show no sign of the operation. 

Dr. Hammond then experimented with a hen, putting her 
under the influence by holding her head for a few seconds so 
that her eyes rested on a piece of glass, and the hen rolled over 
and was insensible. After some further explanations Dr. Ham¬ 
mond introduced a human subject. 


HYPNOTISM. 


83i 


He brought forward Mr. Rowley and sat him in a chair front¬ 
ing the nudience. He then held before the gentleman’s eyes a 
small glass ball, and after a little delaj' the subject seemed ito be 
completely absorbed in the contemplation of it. Turning again 
to the students Dr. Hammond said : “ You see I begin in the 
way serpents charm birds. The serpents fasten their steely eyes 
on those of the birds and fascinate the poor things until they fall 
an easy prey. Now you will see in a minute how this young 
man will follow the ball wherever it goes.” And so he did. 
Whichever way Dr. Hammond moved the ball the young man 
went after it. Nothing stopped him. Chairs, tables, doctors, 
stood in his way, but he stumbled over them or by them, and 
kept on after the ball with his eyes riveted on it as if his very 
life depended on his getting as near it as possible. Suddenly 
Dr. Hammond hid it and told him it was gone. He stopped, 
dazed, and looked as if he had lost ^unething very precious. 
While he was in this state he was handed a bottle of soda-water 
and told it was a young lady. He took the bottle in his arms 
and immediately began to make love to it. He caressed it and 
said tenderly, “ Will you have me? Do. I love you dearly. 
Oh, do have me.” As he walked up and down Dr. Hammond 
took a lance and stuck the blade into the flesh of the young 
man’s hand, telling him it was a bouquet, and the young man 
admired the imaginary flowers, showing no symptoms of pain. 
Suddenly he was told that the bottle was an old woman, seventy- 
five years of age, and he quickly dropped it, exclaiming, “ I 
don’t want to have anything to do with her.” He ate lemon for 
strawberry, and asked for more; stripped off his coat and made 
a dash for a man he was told had called him a liar ; waltzed, 
sang, cried, smelt water, and said it was “beautiful cologne,” 
and proved himself an utterly pliant subject. 

The next subject was Mr. David Wright, who accepted a book 
for a bird, and sang the “ Sweet By-and-By ” to it. When told 
it had escaped through the hall he made a rush for it among the 
students as if they had not been present. He made frantic 
efforts to climb a pillar and v T as furiously pursuing the bird 
when called back. He preached as an orthodox clergyman, then 
as a colored minister, changing his accent and his manner as 
quickly as the order was given to him, and did a number of other 
things, much to the amusement and astonishment of the audi¬ 
ence. The next subject, a Mr. Wilson, acted Macbeth, reading 
the vision scene with good effect; preached, told funny stories, 
said he was Colonel Bob Ingersoll, repeating parts of that gen¬ 
tleman’s lectures; got drunk on water, rolled in agony when 
told he was sick at the stomach, and created much merriment as 
a clown in a circus. Mr. Pritchitt, the last gentleman, stripped 
off all his clothes with lightning rapidity when told he was in¬ 
fested with rats. He delivered a lecture on electricity when 
told he was Benjamin Franklin. He stripped to fight at an 


832 


MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 


imaginary insult, rode a cliair for a horse with the same serious¬ 
ness and intensity he would a live equine. He became an organ- 
grinder, a ballet-dancer, a violinist, and numerous other char¬ 
acters. Dr. Hammond touched his nose with a cork and he 
roared with pain. The next instant he danced with delight at 
being assured that it was on again and in good condition. Dr. 
Hammond told him that his clothes were on fire, and he pulled 
them off, rushing almost nude to the opposite side of the amphi¬ 
theatre. Dr. Hammond frequently put his fingers on the left 
temple of the different subjects and instantly arrested their 
power of speech; then he would touch the right temple and the 
subject resumed his discourse. At the close of the experiments, 
Dr. Hammond started two of the subjects going at the same 
time, and the result was most ludicrous. The lecture w r as a most 
interesting and entertaining one and occupied two hours in the 
delivery. 

Artificial Ice Factory. —The factory of the Georgia Ice 
Company, at Atlanta, has on the ground floor, a boiler 50 
feet long and 4| feet in diameter, containing 150 feet of 3J-inch 
pipe. The boiler is kept filled with aqua ammonia, which is 
separated by the steam heat into ammonia, gas, and water. The 
gas, leaving the water in the boiler, forces its way through a 6-incli 
pipe outside the building to the roof, three stories up, where it 
passes into 15,000 feet of coiled pipes, in which it is converted 
into liquid by cold water thrown over it in fountain jets. This 
liquid passes into 15,000 feet of three-quarter inch pipe, arranged 
in vertical sections 30 feet high and 3 feet apart, and its sudden 
liberation into these pipes turns the liquid pure ammonia into 
vapor, and the sudden expansion makes the pipes intensely cold. 
Now, above these hundreds of vertical pipes are innumerable 
little fountain jets throwing spray all over the pipes, the spray 
freezing gradually, forming an immense icicle of pure ice around 
each pipe. The gas next goes into 15,000 feet of absorbing pipe, 
and, being cooled by water running on the pipes, it is met by 
water forced into the pipes, and thus converted back into aqua 
ammonia, which goes into the big boiler, and is used over again. 
There is no waste, the same ammonia being used and reabsorbed 
any number of times. The water used for the spray is drawn 
from a well 75 feet deep, on the premises, and the large olocks 
of ice (which are loosened from the pipes by a little hot steam) 
come out pure and clear, and entirely free from any odor or ob¬ 
jectionable taste. 

After the pipes have been stripped, about five weeks are re¬ 
quired for a new lot of the requisite thickness to form. But, of 
course, the pipes are never all stripped at the same time, the ice 
towers being in all stages of formation. The factory has a 
capacity of 35 tons per day, but 20 tons keep pace with the de¬ 
mand, and it isn’t stored, but cut every day as it is delivered, 
and it sells at from $10 to $12 per ton. 


PULQUE—THE MEXICAN NATIONAL DEINK. 


833 


Pulque—The Mexican National Deink. —In a letter from 
Mexico to the New York Sun , the writer says : “ This liquid is 
distilled from the maguey plant. It has a disagreeable smell 
and taste, but no description can possibly convey an adequate 
idea of its hurtful effects upon the prosperity of the country. In 
the first place, the most fertile and productive lands of the upper 
plain of Mexico are altogether given up to the production of the 
maguey plant. And when it is remembered that a maguey 
takes often years to come to perfection, and that very little 
attention is required in the meantime, it will be evident the em¬ 
ployment this species of agriculture gives to the laboring class 
is far below that required for the cultivation of any kind of 
grain. Yet it is by this very class of persons that pulque is 
most drank, and consequently the reals of the workingman find 
their way into the pockets of the rich owners of haciendas who 
spend their profits in Paris or Brussels, while the working 
people receive no substantial benefit from the principal agricul¬ 
tural pursuit of the country. Besides, the effect of pulque drink¬ 
ing is horribly enervating and demoralizing. Taken in modera¬ 
tion it is an excellent tonic to the stomach; but taken in excess 
the effect is fearful, as it produces the worst kind of intoxication. 
I have never seen so many drunken people as in the City of 
Mexico, where the ‘pulquerias’ are more frequent than gin 
palaces in London, or gin mills in the Bowery. A pulque drunk 
lasts about twenty-four hours, and as one plant produces every 
day about four quarts, just about enough to intoxicate a pulque 
drinker, and this plant lasts for six months or more, the owner 
of a small plot of ground can remain half drunk, as indeed 
many of them do, for many years. The enormous amount of 
liquor that is consumed yearly can be estimated from the fact 
that in the City of Mexico alone the consumption is at the rate 
of a pint a day for every inhabitant, and that a special pulque 
train runs twice a day between Apam, a village in the heart 
of the maguey district, and Mexico City, the freight from pulque 
on each train amounting to seven hundred and eight hundred 
dollars. 

“ The maguey yields another liquor, which is not so delete¬ 
rious in its effects as a drink or as an object of labor as is pulque. 
This is the vino mezeal, which is a species of brandy distilled 
from the juice of the maguey; and it is not unlike Jamaica 
rum. It is manufactured in large quantities at Apam, where 
the dry and cold temperature of the great Mexican plain pro¬ 
duces the maguey in its highest perfection. At Tequila, a little 
town in the State of Jalisco, to the north of Guadalajara, a very 
superior kind of mezeal is manufactured, which takes its name 
from the town, and is really a very palatable beverage. But, in 
spite of the usefulness of the maguey, supplying as it does, fruit, 
drink, yam, hemp, paper, needles, and brushes, it is one of the 
banes of this favored land.” 


831 


MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 


Celluloid. —Celluloid, one of the most remarkable of 
modern inventions, bids fair to be not less extensively or 
variously used than vulcanized rubber. It is produced by 
mixing gum-camphor with gun-cotton, and subjecting the com¬ 
bination to a high test of pressure and heat. The result is a 
hard product of extraordinary toughness and elasticity. It can 
be made plastic again and moulded in any required form. 
Any color can be given to it by the use of coloring matter 
during the process of manufacture. It is extensively used as a 
substitute for ivory, which it resembles so closely that it is 
sometimes difficult to detect the difference. It is said to equal 
ivory in strength and elasticity. It has proved a good material 
for piano and organ keys, backs of brushes, looking-glass frames, 
handles for knives, forks, umbrellas, and many other articles. 
It is much cheaper than ivory. It is also used with much suc¬ 
cess to imitate tortoise-shell, malachite, amber, pink coral, and 
other costly materials. In imitation of tortoise-shell, it is made 
into combs, napkin-rings, match-boxes and card-cases. Imita¬ 
tions of pink coral jewelry are made and sold at prices much 
below those of the genuine. It is also used as a substitute for 
porcelain in making dolls’ heads. The frames of eye-glasses, 
opera-glasses and spectacles are made of it. More recently it 
has come into use in combination with linen, cotton or paper, for 
shirt bosoms, cuffs and collars. The material has a hard, 
glistening surface, like that of newly laundried linen. 

Petroleum, or Rock Oil.— This is a liquid, inflammable 
substance, including benzole, naphtha, paraffine, asphatum, and 
various other articles. From time immemorial it has been 
found on the borders of the Caspian Sea, and to a limited ex¬ 
tent it has been used for illuminating purposes. It has also 
been found in Burmah, Trinidad, Canada, and the United 
States. It was used by Indians as a medicament in different 
parts of Hew York and Pennsylvania; they found it floating on 
the surface of some of the streams flowing into the large rivers. 
It was first distilled at Pittsburg, in 1850, and about that time 
used for illuminating. It was in 1859 that the first successful 
boring was made, at Oil Creek, and shortly after the wells 
yielded about 1,000 barrels a day. Soon after it was found to 
richly repay well-sinking in Ohio, Virginia, and other States. 
Before many years millions after millions of barrels were 
brought to the surface. Chemists assert that the oil is the pro¬ 
ceeds of animal bodies crushed in the subterraneous recesses of 
the earth, and their arguments seem to prove this theory. U. 
S. surgeons have found it very effectual in curing gangrenous 
wounds. . It has also many other valuable curative properties. 
In 1880 it was found in large quantities in Russian territory, 
and extensive works have been constructed to raise it and trans¬ 
port it to different parts of that empire. It now (1881) counts 


fulton’s steamboat. 335 

in value among the four or five articles exported from the 
United States. 


Benzine.— Among the many discoveries of the last quarter of 
a century, is that of a method of extracting this useful article 
by compression from coal-gas. It is a brilliant, colorless liquid, 
and smells strongly of coal-gas. It boils at 176 deg., and is 
very inflammable. . It is extensively used in the arts, having 
the property of dissolving India rubber, gutta percha, wax, 
camphor, and fat. From it is also produced aniline , the basis 
ot many very beautiful dyes. It is also extensively used in per¬ 
fumery, under the name of essence of mirbane. Formerly the 
material which is the basis of all these valuable products, was 
not only useless, but pernicious, and gas manufactories had 
much difficulty in getting rid of it. 


-♦- 

CHAP. XC. 

MISCEL L AN EOUS C URIOSITIES. —( Con t iliued .) 

The First Steamboat—Steamship “ Great Eastern ”—Ship 
“ Great Harry ”—Pacific Railroad—Great Trestle Bridge 
on Pacific R.R.—Great Sutro Tunnel—Flying Machine — 
Discovery of Gold. 

Fulton’s Steamboat.— The first successful steamboat was 
built by Bobert Fulton, a native of Pennsylvania, and called the 
Clermont. Mr. Fulton made his trial trip on the Hudson River, 
from New York to Albany, and thousands of curious spectators 
thronged the shores to witness the failure of “Fulton the 
Fanatic.” None believed, few hoped, and everybody jeered. 
An old Quaker accosted a young man who had taken passage, 
in this manner : “ John , will thee rish thy life in such a con¬ 
cern f I tell thee she is the most fearful wildfowl living , and 
thy father ought to restrain theeT But, on Friday morning, 
the 1th of August, 1807, the Clermont left the wharf, and went 
puffing up the Hudson with every berth, twelve in number, en¬ 
gaged to Albany. The fare was seven dollars. Fulton stood 
upon the deck and viewed the motley and jeering crowd upon 
the shore, with silent satisfaction. As she got fairly under way 
and moved majestically up the stream, there arose a deafening 
hurrah from ten thousand throats. The passengers returned the 
cheer, but Fulton, with flashing eyes and manly bearing, re¬ 
mained speechless. He felt this to be his long-sought hour of 
triumph. They were cheered all along the passage from every 



836 


MISCELLANEOUS CURIOSITIES. 


hamlet and town, and at West Point the whole garrison were 
out and cheered most lustily. At Newburg, the whole sur¬ 
rounding country had gathered, and the side-hill city swarmed 
with curious and excited multitudes. The boat reached Albany 
safely—150 miles in 32 hours, and returned in 30. The Cler¬ 
mont was a success, and Robert Fulton was famous. 

The Steamship u Great Eastern.” —June 28, 1860, arrived 
at New York the English iron steamship Great Eastern , J. Y. 
Hall, commander, being the largest vessel ever constructed 
since “ Noah’s Ark ” ; it was capable of carrying 10,000 sol¬ 
diers, besides her crew of 400. Her arrival had been expected, 
and great interest and excitement was caused upon the an 
nouncement. The wharves, buildings, adjoining streets, and, 
indeed, every available spot which afforded a view of the mam¬ 
moth steamer, was densely crowded with anxious spectators. 
The harbor and river were alive with all manner of craft to get 
a near view of the great and wonderful, world-renowned ship. 

The passage over the bar, which was considered a very critical 
undertaking, was conducted by Mr. Murphy, who silently, with 
a simple wave of the hand, indicating to the helmsman the 
course to be pursued, safely and skillfully guided this huge mon¬ 
ster of the waves over the dangerous bar and into the North 
River. Grandly and proudly she moved amid a sea of sails, gay 
with banners and streaming pennants, like a mighty leviathan 
in the midst of a school of flying fish. The booming of cannon, 

ringing of bells, and the shrill shrieking of hundreds of steam- 
whistles, together with the music of brass bands, and the chimes 
of Trinity Church playing “ Rule Britannia,” altogether made a 
scene long to be remembered by those who witnessed it. For 
many weeks after her arrival the Great Eastern was visited by 
tens of thousands, who were eager to inspect the marvellous 
structure. Her length was 680 feet, and she was of about 
20,000 tons burden ; 10,000 tons of iron were used in construct¬ 
ing her hull. The force used in moving the machinery of this 
immense ship would drive forty of the largest cotton mills, 
which give employment to over 30,000 operatives. The Great 
Eastern was used for laying the Atlantic cable, and proved to 
be of indispensable value. 

The Pacieic Railroad.— The completion of the Great Pacific 
Railroad May 10,1869, was the grandest event of the nineteenth 
century. Its length, exclusive of branches, is over 2,000 miles, 
and crosses nine distinct mountain ranges, which are tunneled 
in several places; also, many wonderful bridges were built, 
spanning chasms of fearful and precipitous depth. This great 
enterprise was begun in 1862, and completed in 1869. It was 
built by two separate companies; the eastern portion by the 
Union Pacific Company, which built the road to Ogden, and 


THE SHIP GREAT HARRY. 

The Great Harry was the ship in which Henry VIII. sailed to Finance to meet Fi’ancis I. 
on the memorable occasion of the “Field of the Cloth of Gold.” 

This picture represents Henry on board a large four-masted ship, with two round-tops 
on each mast. The King is standing on the main deck with attendants. The sails and 
pennants of the ship are of cloth of gold; the royal standard is flying on the four corners 
of the forecastle; and the ai'ms of England and France are depicted on the front of the 
forecastle, and also on the ship’s stern. Our engraving is copied from a large picture in 
the Naval Gallery at Greenwich, England. The foi’m of the ship seems very uncouth to 
those who are accustomed to the beautiful models of our modern sailing vessels—so elegant 
in form, so compact in structure, and so well fitted to encounter the storms and squalls of 
long voyages. Nevertheless the Great Harry was a wonder in her time, and is mentioned 
with much laudation by the writers of that early period in the Naval History of England. 

The Great Harry was rated at 1000 tons, and is set down as having 122 guns, but 
only 34 of these were such as would now be admitted into the rank of guns ; the rest were 
pieces of small calibre, the largest deserving no higher name than swivels, and all of them 
distributed about, so as to make it a very harmless but fierce-looking vessel. But though 
the Great Harry was the wonder and admiration of its day, it was but a fair-weather 
vessel, fitted only to make people stare, and to be the centi-e of a holiday picture. It was ill 
adapted to stand a rolling sea or a gale of wind; while a broadside from a modern ship of 
war might have sent it plunging to the bottom. Doubtless the then watermen of the old 
school often shook their heads at the theoretical folly of attempting to build a ship so high 
out of water; and as they passed it in their shallops, pulled rapidly away, lest the great 
tottering thing should fall over on them. It was but little used; lasted for thirty-eight 
years, and was accidentally burned at Woolwich, in 1553. 






























































TIIE PACIFIC RAILROAD. 


837 


the western part by the Central Pacific Company, which built 
it from San Francisco to that point. As the distance between 
them grew shorter, the competition and excitement grew more 
intense. About 25,000 men and 6,000 teams were employed 
along the route, and as they neared the point of junction every 
nerve was stretched, and the excitement almost equaled in in¬ 
tensity a race between continental giants. The eyes of the 
whole continent were fixed upon them, and their daily progress 
w r as reported over the wires, until, when the eventful 10th of 
May arrived, and the last rail was laid, and the last spike driven, 
thousands of anxious listeners were waiting at each end of the 
route for the signal when the last blow should be struck. There 
they stood, and could the wonderful telephone have had a devel¬ 
opment sufficient to have reverberated the sounds of the falling 
hammer, the picture would have been complete. But in their 
ignorance of this amazing and subsequent stride of science, they 
attached the "wires to the last rail, that each blow of the sledge 
should be recorded on every connecting'telegraph instrument 
between San Francisco and Portland, Me. Indeed, from Boston 
to Yew Orleans the wires were held in readiness to receive not 
only the message “ done,” but the very echo or vibration from 
the falling hammer. In San Francisco a telegraph wire w T as 
attached to a fifteen-inch gun; also to all the fire-bells in the 
city, which were rung simultaneously with the firing of the gun 
by electricity. All business in the city was suspended, and all 
classes united in a grand celebration. All over the State of 
California the excitement was at fever heat. In Yew York and 
Washington the interest was intense. Chicago celebrated the 
event on a magnificent scale ; the procession was very unique, 
and was over four miles long. The road from Omaha to San 
Francisco cost $165,000,000, aud required 110,000 tons of iron 
rails, 1,000,000 fish plates, 2,000,000 bolts, 15,000,000 spikes, 
3,500,000 cross-ties, besides millions of feet of timber not esti¬ 
mated, for the construction of bridges, culverts, and roads. By 
means of this wonderful highway the distance from Yew York, 
to San Francisco was reduced to seven days’ travel; from Yew 
York to Japan twenty-five days. 

Trestle Bridge on the Pacific Railroad. —Wooden bridges 
have taken a high rank in modern engineering, and for boldness 
in their planning, united with mechanical simplicity and perfec¬ 
tion, the United States enjoys the highest reputation. The 
traveler, the first time that he passes over them, feels a thrilling 
sensation of peril as he shudderingly gazes down into the abysses 
below. The following description will give a very good general 
idea of their construction. Spanning Dale Creek, a mountain 
stream near Sherman, is a trestle bridge 650 teet from one rocky 
bluff to another. High, light, and airy, 126 feet above the 
stream, it looks light as fairy frost-work, but its strength is 
enormous. 


S38 


GREAT SUTRO TUNNEL.-FLYING MACHINE. 


Not a single bit of the timber used in this bridge but what is 
at least twelve inches in diameter. The supporting pillars are 
banded together with ingeniously contrived iron plates. An¬ 
other wooden trestle bridge is at a place that, from its gloomy char¬ 
acter, has been named the Devil’s Gate. This is about ten miles 
from Salt Lake, where the Weber River rushes down a chasm 
in the Rocky Mountains. On the first opening of this bridge, 
the train passed over on a trestle bridge seventy-eight feet above 
the furious stream. A Government inspector thus reported of 
the spot: “ Should a train go down into this fearful gulf all 
who escaped being crushed would inevitably be drowned.” The 
bridge is a double trestle, one resting on the other, u the sup¬ 
porting timbers standing at an angle of about forty degrees, 
gradually narrowing from the base to the top. The upper tim¬ 
bers, among other means adopted to prevent their giving way, 
are secured by large ropes tied around them, and fastened to 
projecting rocks above.” Good trestle-work is supposed to last 
from fifteen to twenty years, and for viaducts it is ascertained to 
be much cheaper than embankments. Among famous trestle- 
bridges may be here mentioned that at Pittsburg, 1,172 feet 
long; the Portage Bridge on the Erie Railroad, 800 feet long, 
and so constructed that a single timber could be taken out, if 
needed. 

The Great Sutro Tunnel.— As this wonderful engineering 
feat is accomplished, we give a few facts relating to it. This 
tunnel is intended to render easy the work of mining in the 
Comstock lode, which had become unprofitably expensive. The 
mines had reached a depth of over 2,000 feet, and the yearly 
expense of getting rid of the water, reached nearly $3,000,000. 
Added to the expense was the fact that the temperature of the 
lower depths had become almost unendurable. The object of 
the tunnel from the side of the hill was to tap the mines some 
1,800 feet from the opening of the shafts, thus allowing the 
mines to be drained by natural flowage, and at the same time 
the heat would be lessened through the ventilation thus obtained. 
The ore would also be removed by this tunnel. The work has 
occupied about ten years, and has cost all of $3,000,000. 

Flying-Machine.— In the year 1833 a model flying-machine 
was constructed by Rufus Porter, of New Britain, Conn., who 
kept experimenting, until about fourteen years later he produced 
a model propelled by steam, which he exhibited at Washington 
and at the Merchants’ Exchange, New York, and a journal of 
the day declared “it made the circuit of the rotunda eleven 
times like a thing animated with life.” Still later he constructed 
a full working machine, but which he never completed because 
it was found impossible to procure a varnish or coating for the 
canvas covering which would prevent the leakage of the gases 


NEW MODE OF TELEGRAPHY. 


839 


to an extent that wholly destroyed the lifting* power of the bal¬ 
loon. The balloon was cigar-shaped, and a little below was sus¬ 
pended a car, conforming on a small scale to the shape of the 
balloon, which carried the motive power for propelling the whole, 
and was provided with a pair of screw propellers and a four¬ 
leaved rudder. In 1869 Mr. Porter’s principle was revived, 
with certain additions, at Shell Mound Lake, Cal., by Frederick 
Marriot, and operated by a small steam-engine. The apparatus 
worked well in a still atmosphere, but proved a failure in brisk 
winds. 

The Discovery of Gold in California. —In May, 1818, 
gold was discovered in California at Sutter’s Mill, near Sacra¬ 
mento, by James Marshall. The news soon spread over the 
State, and great excitement prevailed. All classes rushed to the 
mines. Ships were deserted by their crews. Soon the whole 
world was electrified by the report that a new Golconda had 
been discovered. Thousands rushed to the new gold fields from 
every State and from almost every civilized country. In a little 
over a year California had a sufficient number of inhabitants to 
entitle its admission as a State. The city of San Francisco 
grew up like “ Jonah’s Gourd.” Its streets were soon thronged 
with daring and reckless adventurers from all parts of the world. 
Gambling became the daily pastime of the idle and the success¬ 
ful miners, and murder was of almost daily occurrence. Vigi¬ 
lance committees were appointed, and for five years justice was 
administered in this manner with telling effect. In 1856 law 
and order was established, and for many years California flour¬ 
ished, and was the great El Dorado of the West in point of min¬ 
eral wealth, agriculture, and general prosperity. 


CHAP. XCI. 

miscellaneous curiosities —( Continued). 

New Mode of Telegraphy—The Telephone—The Photoplione 
—The Phonograph—Electric Light—Elevated Pailroads— 
Great Suspension Bridge, NY. City—Central Parle , N.Y. 
City—Egyptian Obelisk ( Cleopatra's Needle) Central Park , 
N. Y ; City—Mammoth Cave , Kentucky—Hot Springs of 
Arkansas. 

A New Mode of Optic Telegraphy. —The use of intermit¬ 
tent luminous signals in ships, lighthouses, etc., is now very 
general; and the common method is that of bringing a movable 
diaphragm before a steady source of light. Thus the light is 
not utilized during eclipse, and it has been estimated that in 
ordinary systems 65 per cent, of the light is lost (in light-houses 




840 


THE TELEPHONE.-THE PHOTOPHONE. 


sometimes 90 per cent.) M. Mercadier has lately proposed a new 
plan, the essence of which lies in varying the source of light, 
making it flash up to its maximum at one moment, and reduc¬ 
ing or extinguishing it at another. This can be done either by 
promptly varying a supply of oxygen to a low flame, or by varying 
the supply of combustible gas. M. Mercadier describes an ar¬ 
rangement of the former kind, in which he uses a simple petroleum 
lamp of M. Duboscq ; it has a round wick (which does not pass be¬ 
yond the containing cylinder), and in the center rises a thin verti¬ 
cal tube, debouching a little below the plane of the wick. This 
tube admits the oxygen coming from a reservoir. The mode of 
admission is by pressure with the finger on a key, like that of a 
Morse apparatus ; this has the effect of momentarily releasing a 
caoutchouc tube (by which the oxygen is conveyed) from the 
pressure of a clip. The flame then brightens. On taking the 
finger off, the supply of oxygen is stopped again, and the flame 
is reduced to very small size. This system, M. Mercadier says, 
has been adapted to apparatuses of optical telegraphy, and has 
given good results. He will shortly indicate how the same 
problem is solved with the electric light. 

The Telephone ; or, Articulating Telegraph.— In 1876 
the first working instrument of this nature was introduced to 
the public. Its real merits were shown and fully proven before 
a large audience, by Prof. Graham Bell, in the Boston Music 
Hall, where communication was had with Providence, forty-five 
miles away. It is now (1881) in practical and successful opera¬ 
tion over millions of miles, both in this and many foreign coun¬ 
tries. The Beil telephone conveys plain articulate speech many 
hundred miles on telegraph wires. The British Government, 
which has for some years added the whole electric telegraph to 
their Post-Office system, have now added the Bell telephone to 
that organization. It is one of the most important and useful 
of human inventions. 

The Piiotophone.— This remarkable invention is own sister 
to the telephone. It means, to talk by light. The idea upon 
which it is founded is this: 

Certain substances are sensitive to light, and change their elec¬ 
trical condition according to the amount of light that falls upon 
them. To understand this, you may observe that colored cloths 
fade in the sun, and certain chemicals change their color in a 
beam of light, as in taking a photograph. This is called the 
actinic effect of light. This is a new fact in nature, and upon it 
is founded the new apparatus for talking by light. 

The apparatus consists, first, of a transmitter for causing the 
sound of the voice to affect a beam of sunlight. This is a thin 
diaphragm of silvered mica arranged somewhat like a diaphragm 
of a telephone. A powerful beam of sunlight is directed ujion the 


841 


edison’s phonograph. 

fiont of this, and is reflected through two lenses to the receiving- 
station, which may be- several hundred feet, or metres, away. 
Lhe operator stands behind the mirror, and speaks against the 
back ot it. At the receiving-station is a reflector arranged to 
receive the beam ot light and concentrate it upon a curious sub¬ 
stance discovered a few years ago, and called celenium, and con¬ 
nected in a peculiar manner with a telephone. 

ISTow, it the operator speaks behind the mica mirror, the person 
holding the telephone to his ear hears every word that is said. 
To trace the curious changes the sound goes through, from one 
operator to the other, we must observe that the vibrations of the 
air move the mirror, and cause the beam of reflected light to 
vibrate. The vibrations of the light affect the electrical condition 
of the telephone; the electrical vibrations are transformed in the 
telephone back again into sounds. This truly wonderful inven¬ 
tion is so new that it is impossible to say what may result from 
it. This much has, however, been proved: the sound of the 
human voice and musical notes may be sent to a distance by 
means of a beam of sunlight or by the light of a lamp. 

Edison’s Phonograph. —The phonograph, or sound-recorder, 
is a device for permanently recording and faithfully reproducing 
at any time or place all kinds of sounds, including those of the 
human voice. The speaking phonograph was invented by Mr. 
Thomas A. Edison, and is a purely mechanical invention, no 
electricity being used. It is, however, somewhat allied to the 
telephone, in consequence of the fact that, like the latter, its 
action depends upon the vibratory motions of a metallic dia¬ 
phragm, capable of receiving from and transmitting to the air 
sound vibrations. When a person speaks into the mouth-piece 
of the instrument, which will cause the diaphragm to vibrate, 
and as the vibrations of the latter correspond with the move¬ 
ments of the air producing them, soft and yielding tinfoil will 
become marked along the line of the groove by a series of in¬ 
dentations of different depths, produced by a peculiar mechani¬ 
cal combination, varying with the amplitude of the vibrations of 
the diaphragm, or, in other words, with the inflections or modu¬ 
lations of the speaker’s voice. These inflections may therefore 
be looked upon as a sort of visible speech, which, in fact, they 
really are. If, now, the diaphragm is removed, and a cylinder 
turned, we have only to replace the diaphragm and turn in the 
same direction as at first to hear repeated all that has been 
spoken into the mouth-piece of the apparatus. A stylus by this 
means being caused to traverse its former path, and consequently 
rising and falling with the depressions in the foil, its motion is 
communicated to the diaphragm, and thence through the inter¬ 
vening air to the ear, where the sensation of sound is produced. 

Electric Light. —Since 1877 the subject of utilizing the re¬ 
cently discovered powers of electricity as an illuminating agent, 


842 


ELEVATED EAILEOADS. 


has occupied the attention and employed the skillful manipula¬ 
tion of leading inventors and other scientists. M. Jabloclikoff, 
an eminent .Russian, has received the credit of first producing a 
very much simplified form of lamp, in which, without using 
mechanical contrivances in the nature of clock-work, it is en¬ 
tirely possible to manage a number of lights, so far separate in 
their action that the going out of one of the lamps will not 
cause the rest to become extinct. This particular kind of lamp 
or candle, as it is sometimes termed, is produced by two rods of 
gas carbon, kept side by side by an asbestos holder, but slightly 
separated by a slight rod of some insulator, as glass or krolin. 
Copper tubes hold the carbons, and connected copper wires lead 
the current from the dynamo-electric machine used to produce 
the power. The ingenious and delicate mechanism would re¬ 
quire plans to give a non-scientist a proper idea of the operation. 
Edison and other eminent electricians have patents covering the 
same results by many different methods. Many public build¬ 
ings, including that vast edifice, the New York Post-Office, 
and a number of streets and private buildings in blew York 
City, are brilliantly illuminated by this process. It has been 
found in practice admirably fitted for the illumination of the 
lofty lanterns of light-houses, and for the flashing of signals 
to and from forts and other beleaguered places. It has also 
the valuable property of being used to light up the depths of 
the sea. (See page 793). 

Elevated Paileoads.— The first of these roads built in New 
York City was known as the Ninth Avenue Road. At first it 
was a good deal ridiculed, but improvement succeeded improve¬ 
ment, until its utility became acknowledged. It starts from 
Whitehall Street and runs through Greenwich Street and Ninth 
Avenue to Fifty-third Street, where it joins the Metropolitan 
(Sixth Avenue) road. This latter road also starts from White¬ 
hall Street, and running within a block or two of Broadway 
reaches the Sixth Avenue, along which it continues until it, 
reaches Fifty-ninth Street. It makes over two detours to gain 
Eighth and Ninth Avenues, and continues on to the Harlem 
Piver. On the east side of the city the Third and Second 
Avenue Poads run from the Battery and City Hall,and by trans¬ 
fer enable their passengers to reach different parts of Harlem 
Piver. These roads, notwithstanding they were very speedily 
erected, were strongly built, and are well equipped. 

In the construction of the elevated railroads the combination 
of solidity and lightness was an important object, and it is be¬ 
lieved that in each case the problem has been satisfactorily 
solved. The foundation for the supports are laid in concrete, 
stone, and brick-work. Four long rods pass up through the 
heavy foundation-stones, and around these is built up the brick¬ 
work, inclining gradually inward from the base to the top. The 


Elevated Railroad, New York City—View at Chatham Square. 






























































EAST RIVER SUSPENSION BRIDGE. 


$43 


rods extend several inches above the brick-work, and fit into 
holes at the tour cornel’s of the heavy iron castings in which are 
the sockets for the reception of the supporting columns. The 
castings are secured to the rods by means of screw nuts. The 
columns, fight in appearance, are calculated to bear a strain 
more than double that to which they will be subjected, so that 
the margin of safety is large. The columns are connected and 
strengthened by longitudinal and transverse bracings of iron. 
These in their turn aid in supporting the roadway of parallel iron 
bars. Across these bars are fastened the wooden ties, upon 
which are affixed the rails. The latter are very heavy and ot 
best quality. On both sides of each rail are strongly fastened 
heavy parallel timbers to prevent derailment. The engines and 
cars are so constructed as to admit of curves in the track with a 
radius of ninety feet; and for greater safety the outer rail on 
all curves is raised six inches. 

Some idea of the enormous business done on the Yew York 
elevated roads may be had by perusing the statistics of the Met¬ 
ropolitan “ L *' road on Sixth Avenue for one year. This road 
liaving been run on 313 week days, being closed on Sundays, 
15,060,401 passengers, or on an average of 50,000 per day. 
For one month the average was 52,803 per day. The re¬ 
ceipts, as verified, were 8l,213,S45.52, or about 84,000 per 
day, the average being 84,200. The fifteen million passen¬ 
gers have, on an average, paid eight cents fare. Had the road 
been running on Sundays over 2,000,000 more passengers, or 
17,000,000 in all, would have been carried, and the receipts 
would have been 8200,000 heavier. This little piece of road is 
only four and a half miles in length, and it is remarkable that 
81,250,000 should have been paid in twelve months. On this 
short road the trains have run 1,327,994 miles. Out of the 
fifteen million passengers carried not one has been killed or in¬ 
jured through any fault of the road. Estimating the saving ot 
time efiected by each of these fifteen million passengers, the 
total grows into something enormous. 

The East Eiver Suspension Bridge. — This enormous 
structure, the foundations of which were laid in 1870, con¬ 
nects the cities of Yew York and Brooklyn. It far surpasses 
in all the elements of greatness any similar erection. The 
central span is the widest in the world, and its height is so 
great that the largest ship afloat can pass under without striking 
her standing spars. The piers on the banks of either shore are 
truly colossal. The approaches on each side are vast viaducts 
of brick and granite. AYe give the principal dimensions of the 
different portions of the bridge : Single span across the water- 
wav, 1,595 feet; four cables for sustaining the road, each 
cable consists of 5,434 steel wires; strength of each cable, 
11,200 tons. Approach on Yew York side, 2,4924 feet; ap 


THE EGYPTIAN OBELISK. 


844 

proacli on Brooklyn side, 1,901 feet. Total length, 5,989 feet. 
Size of towers, at high-water line, 140x59 feet. Total height of 
towers, 277 feet; from high-water to roadway, 120 feet; high- 
water to centre of span, 135 feet; from roadway to top, 158 feet; 
width of bridge, 85 feet. There are tracks for steam cars, 
roadways for carriages, and walks for foot-passengers, and an 
elevated promenade commanding a view of extraordinary 
beauty and extent. The total cost of construction will be very 
little short of $13,000,000, including money paid for land, 
houses demolished, etc. It has taken ten years to build it, from 
1870 to 18S1. The designer was J. B. Boebling. 

Hew York Central Park. —This magnificent pleasure- 
ground equals any and surpasses most of a like nature. It 
covers eight hundred and forty-three acres. It is bounded by 
Fifth Avenue, 110th Street, Eighth Avenue and Fifty-ninth 
Street. The various reservoirs, lakes, and ponds cover about one 
hundred and eighty acres. There are some ten miles of carriage 
roads, about five and one-half miles of bridle paths, and twenty- 
seven and one-lialf miles of walks. There are very fine collec¬ 
tions of animals and birds about a building known as the Arsenal. 
The large lakes have many fine row-boats upon them. The 
Park has cost many millions, but never has money been more 
righteously expended; for here the people receive back at least 
some of the taxes that they have paid. The bridle paths for 
visitors on horseback pass through many beautiful and secluded 
glades and over breezy hills. The best way, however, of seeing 
the Park is to walk through it. There are many very fine 
bridges in brick and stone, and some rustic ones in wood. The 
Mall is a noble walk, beneath overarching trees. There are 
large reaches of meadow laid out for play-grounds. Statues of 
Shakespeare, Scott, Halleck, Burns, and a bust of Schiller. 
Several excellent groups in bronze also adorn the Central Park. 
The Belvidere, a high tower in the Gothic style, affords a noble 
outlook; while a gloomy cave gives a romantic cast to the 
gloomy glades that lead to it. Central Park owes its success in 
a great measure to the gratuitous exertions and admirable taste 
of August Belmont, the famous banker, and Gen. Strong, an 
equally well-known business merchant, both leading citizens of 
Hew York. 

The Egyptian Obelisk (Cleopatra’s Needle) in New York 
Central Park. —At noon on the 22d of January, 1881, the 
huge monolith (single stone) from the banks of the Nile was 
lowered to its final resting-place on the knoll in Central Park. 
Lieutenant-Commander Gorringe’s face was lighted up with 
smiles at the accomplishment of his arduous enterprise as the 
Heedle of Egypt swung into position and settled into its bed. 
About 11 o’clock all the officers of the Havy Yard and a strong 
force of sailors and marines, numbering over 300, were present. 

After defiling through the Eighty-second Street entrance and 


Brooklyn. Great Suspension Bridge Connecting New York City and Brooklyn. New York. 
















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































# 


THE EGYPTIAN OBELISK. 


845 


reaching the foot of the knoll on which the monolith was to be 
erected, the guard of honor halted, the sailors forming one side 
of a square on the east, and the marines on the north. Lieuten¬ 
ant-Commander Gorringe then gave directions to knock away 
all encumbrances, and be ready for lowering. A few minutes 
later a carriage drove up, and Secretary Wiliiam 31. Evarts and 
General Goff, the new Secretary of the Kavy, alighted. The 
sailors and marines presented arms, and the drums rolled and 
the band played. Fronting the obelisk were many [Masonic 
dignitaries. 

Over 5,000 people lined the snow-covered sides of the Knoll. 
At high noon Lieutenant-Commander Gorringe waved his 
handkerchief, down fell light supports and scaffolding, and the 
colossal stone revolved majestically on the apparatus to which it 
was attached. When the point swung round uutil it became 
vertical, and the base hung over the socket prepared for it, 
everybody cheered, the band struck up ‘ £ Hail Columbia/’ and 
the marines and sailors again presented arms. 

Less than five minutes sufficed to fix this stupendous yet deli¬ 
cate piece of work. The stranger from the burning sands of 
Egvpt had taken up permanent quarters on a hill in the Hew 
World. 

The following figures will be found interesting : 

Height of the obelisk from base to tip, 69 feet 2 inches. 

Base of th^ obelisk, square through its axis, 7 feet 8f inches; 
at the top, 5 feet 3 inches. 

Weight, 219J tons. 

Main body of the obelisk, 61 feet 7 inches in length. 

Pyramidon, 7 feet 7 inches in length. 

aSo two sides of the obelisk are equal in width. If it is cut 
through in sections it will be found to be a trapezium. 

The height of the pedestal is 6 feet 11 inches ; at the base it 
is 9 feet 3Inches square, and at the top 9 feet 1 inch square. 

The weight of the pedestal is 49 tons. 

The height of the foundation is 4 feet 10 inches. 

Height of the bottom step, 1 foot 54 inches; width, 1 foot 6 
inches. 

Height of the middle step, 1 foot 7 inches; width, 1 foot 2£ 
inches. 

Height of top step, 1 foot 94 inches. 

The base is 17 feet 8 inches square at the bottom, and 12 feet 
34 inches as the top. 

Its weight is 87j tons. 

Total height of the tip of the obelisk from the monticle on 
which the base stands, 80 feet 11 inches. 

Height from the eastern drive to the foundation, 12 feet 1 inch. 

Elevation of the site of the obelisk above mean high water, 
101 feet 6 inches : to the top of the obelisk, 194 feet 6 inches. 

Weight of the obelisk and its pedestal and foundation, 712,000 


846 


MAMMOTH CAYE OF KENTUCKY. 


According to the best authorities 3,746 years intervened be¬ 
tween the first erection of the obelisk and its removal to New 
York. Its builder, Thotmes III., is said to be identical with 
the Pharaoh who persecuted the Jews and was afterward over¬ 
whelmed with his host in the waters of the Ked Sea. During 
the existence of this latest ornament to Central Park, 125 gen¬ 
erations have walked over the surface of the globe, and its 
figured shaft recalls the days when Moses and Aaron stood 
before the king and commanded him to allow Israel to depart. 

This obelisk was presented to the City of New York by the 
ex-Khedive of Egypt, and the work of bringing it home was 
given to Lieutenant-Commander H. H. Gorringe, of the United 
States Navy. The express charges were paid by a wealthy 
New Yorker, believed to be Mr. William H. Yanderbilt. The 
machinery for moving the stone was all made in this country. 
It consists of a pair of iron trunnions and a pair of steel derricks. 
The stone was carried overland seven miles to the Government 
dock at Alexandria, and was put in the hold of the steamship 
Dessoug , a vessel of 1,600 tons. The vessel reached New York 
City July 20, 1880. The work of moving it across the city was 
done skillfully. (See page 571). 

Mammoth Cave of Kentucky.— It is like trying to describe 
the indescribable to give any full idea of this the most exten¬ 
sive cavern in the world. Think of a subterranean city 400 
feet under the surface, full of monuments, theaters, temples, 
domes, minarets, and every device of architecture that skill 
could frame and taste adorn. Imagine the streets extending 
among towering buildings for a hundred miles. A hush as silent 
as the tomb prevails. Slack, mysterious rivers, full of sightless 
fish, crawl darkly through the ebon caverns, while the exhala¬ 
tions of their silent tide cluster on roof and wall, and garland 
them with ornaments of cusp and alabaster. It would take too 
much space to attempt anything like a detail of this extraor¬ 
dinary place. At places are narrow chasms that admit the 
explorer with great difficulty; at other places the way grows 
wide, and the eyes are greeted with vast domes, from which are 
suspended huge chandelier-like forms, like purest alabaster; 
grand chambers that far excel in size and beauty the famed 
hall of Westminster ; while in other places you see facsimiles 
of great Gothic cathedrals, with their tall clustering shafts, pin¬ 
nacled altars, exquisitely delicate, as though from the hand of 
the most cunning artificer. Again you stand trembling on the 
edge of a chasm over 200 feet in depth, and by means of a torch 
thrown into the abyss reveal fresh wonders to the beholder; 
there runs a black river, full of eyeless fish. In another part of 
the Cave is seen what seems to be a colossal theater—tier rises 
above tier, till they reach the huge overhanging roof. One 
lonely passage has been explored clear fifty miles in one direc¬ 
tion. One river is nearly a mile across, and in some parts the 







\ 



Egyptian Obelisk, in Central Park, New York. 


#. 











IIOT SPRINGS OF ARKANSAS. 


847 


•dripping rock-roof is so low that the passengers in the ferry 
boat have to bow their heads to pass. In fact, no pen can 
describe, no pencil portray, the extent, the beauties, the horrors 
ofthis dark, mystical subterranean abode—for abode it has been 
at times. In the part named Audubon’s Avenue one sees the 
shells of several cottages, erected in 1842. It was at that time 
very generally thought that the equal temperature of the Cave 
would greatly relieve, if not entirely cure, consumptive patients. 
The pleasing theory was, however, gainsaid by the result. 
Many were injured, not benefited by their dwelling in this haunt 
of Cimmerian blackness. 

The Hot Springs of Arkansas. —The State of Arkansas 
has a most diversified surface and variety of soil and climate. 
In the northern section of the State all the productions of the 
Eastern States are successfully cultivated; apples, for instance, 
are said to surpass in excellence those grown anywhere else. 
While in other parts of the State cotton and the products of 
some tropical countries flourish. Large forests of pine, oak, 
cherry, and cedar clothe the mountains, and in the lowlands 
cottonwood grows to a great size. But the most famous natural 
features of Arkansas are the Springs, situated about 60 miles 
southwest from Little Hock, and six miles from the Washita 
River. The Hot Springs Talley is about 700 yards long 
and 70 yards wide; with a high mountain rising on either 
side. The springs are 35 in number. These springs range 
in temperature from that of the coldest well water to 160° 
Faerenheit. So near are some of these springs of opposite 
temperature that a person can stand in one place and at the 
same time dip his hands in fountains of such different degrees 
that the hand has to be quickly taken from one on account of 
the heat, from the other on account of the cold. Tens of thou¬ 
sands of invalids have visited these springs in search of health. 
They have b een proved excellent for many complaints, and are 
reported to be exceedingly efficacious in rheumatic affections, 
chronic gout, stiff joints, and in diseases produced by injudicious 
use of mercury. Overlooking Hot Springs Creek is a hilly ridge, 
250 feet high, composed of beautiful novaculite of chalcedonis 
whiteness, of the aged mill-stone grit, differing from the ordi¬ 
nary sand stone by being heated by hot alkaline water. The 
curative effects of the springs is attributed to the chemical pro¬ 
portions of different articles held in solution and the varied 
temperatures of the water. There are many wonderful things 
in the vicinity of the Hot Springs. Hear them is an inexhaust¬ 
ible hill of oil-stone, said to be better than any other in the 
world. This stone is found in many different degrees of fine¬ 
ness. So abundant is magnetic iron in some parts that it 
seriously interferes with the use of the compass in surveying 
land. In Pike County there is a mountain of pure alabaster, 
white as snow. (See page 496). 


APPENDIX 

TO THE 

CONTAINING 

CURIOUS EXPERIMENTS, 

AND 

AMUSING RECREATIONS , 

WHICH MAY BE PERFORMED WITH EASE, AND AT A SMALL 

EXPENSE. 

—►►►•••««— 


A Person having an even Number of Counters in one Hand, 
and an odd Number in the other , to tell in which Hand each 
of them is. 

Desire the person to multiply the number in his right 
hand by three, and the number in his left by two. 

Bid him add the two products together, and tell you whe¬ 
ther the sum be odd or even. 

If it be even, the even number is in the right hand ; but if 
it be odd, the even number is in the left hand. 

Example I. 

No. in right hand. No. in left hand. 

18 7 

3 2 


64 54 14 

14 


No in right hand. 


7 

3 


21 


68 sum of the products. 
Example II. 

No. in left hand. 
18 
2 
36 

21 36 


67 sum of the produ~~. 


A P P K N D1X. 


849 


A Person having fixed on a Number in his Mind , to tell him what 

Number it is. 

Bid him quadruple the number thought on, or multiply it 
by 4; and having done this, desire him to add 6, 8, 10, or any 
even number you please, to the product; then let him take 
the half of this sum, and tell you how much it is; from which, 
if you take away half the number you desired him at first 
to add to it, there will remain the double of the number 


thought on. Example. 

Suppose the number thought on is . 5 

The quadruple of it is . 20 

8 added to the product is .28 

And the half of this sum . 14 

4 taken from this leaves . 10.— 


Therefore 5 was the number thought on. 


Another Method of discovering a Number thought on. 

After the person has fixed on a number, bid hirn double it, 
and add 4 to that sum; then let him multiply the whole by 5, 
and to that product add 12; desire him also to multiply this 
sum by 10, and after having deducted 302 from the product, 
to tell you the remainder, from which, if you cut off the 
last two figures, the number that remains will be the one 
thought on. Example. 


Let the number thought on be . 7 

Then the double of this is . 14 

And 4 added to it makes . 18 

This multiplied by 5 is. 90 

And 12 added to it is . 102 

And this multiplied by 10 is . 1020 

From which deducting . 302 

There remains . 718,— 


which, by striking off the last two figures, gives 7,—the num¬ 
ber thought on. 


To tell the Number a Person has fixed upon , without asking him 

any Questions. 

The person having chosen any number in his mind, from 1 
to 15, bid him add one to it, and triple the amount. Then, 

If it be an even number, let him take the half of it, and 
triple that half; but if it be an odd number, he must add 1 to 
it, and then halve it, and triple that half. 

In like manner let him take the half of this number, if it 
be even, or the half of the next greater, if it be odd; and 
triple that half. ' 

















APPENDIX. 


850 


Again, bid him take the half of this last number, if even* 
or of the next greater, if odd; and the half of that half in the 
same way; and by observing at what steps he is obliged to 
add 1 in the halving, the following table will shew the number 


thought on: 

1 — 0—0 

2 — 0—0 

3—0—0 

1 — 2—0 

1—3—0 

1— 2—3 

2— 3—0 
0 — 0—0 


— 4—8 
—13— 5 

— 3 -11 

— 2—10 
— 8—0 

— 6—14 

— 1—9 
—15— 7 


Thus, if he be obliged to add 1 only at the first step, or 
halving, either 4 or 8 was the number thought on; if there 
were a necessity to add 1 both at the first and second steps* 
either 2 or 10 was the number thought on, &c. 

And which of the two numbers is the true one may always 
be known from the last step of the operation; for if 1 must 
be added before the last half can be taken, the number is in 
the second column, or otherwise in the first, as will appear 


from the following examples: 

Suppose the number chosen to be > .. 9 

To which, if we add . 1 

The sum is . 10 

Then the triple of that number is . 30 

1. The half of which is. 15 

The triple of 15 is . 45 

2. And the half of that is . 23 

The triple of 23 is . 69 

3. The half of that is . 35 

And the half of that is . 18 


From which it appears, that it was necessary to add 1 both 
at the second and third steps, or halvings; and therefore, by 
the table, the number thought on is either 1 or 9. And as the 
last number was obliged to be augmented by 1 befuie the half 
could be taken, it follows also, by the above rule, that the num¬ 
ber must be in the second column ; and consequently it is 9. 

Again, suppose the number thought on to be .... 6 


To which, if we add . 1 

The sum is. 7 

Then the triple of that number is . 21 

1. The half of which is. 11 

The triple of 11 is .. 33 

2. And the half of that is. 17 

The triple of 17 is . 51 

3. The half of that is . 26 

And the half of that half is . 13 





















I 


APPKND1X. 851 

From which it appears, that it was necessary to add 1 at 
all the steps, or halvings, 1,2, 3, therefore, by the table, the 
number thought on is either 6 or 14. 

And as the last number required no augmentation before 
its half could be taken, it follows also, by the above rule, that 
the number must be in the first column; and consequently 
it is 6. 


A curious Recreation , usually called—The Blind Abbess and her 

Nuns . 

A blind abbess visiting her nuns, who were twenty-four in 
number, and equally distributed in eight cells, built at the 
four corners of a square, and in the middle of each side, 
finds an equal number in every row, containing three cells. 
At a second visit, she finds the same number of persons in each 
row as before, though the company was increased by the 
accession of four men. And coming a third time, she still 
finds the same number of persons in each row, though the 
four men were then gone, and had each of them carried away 
a nun. 

Fig. 1 . Fig. 2. Fig. 3. 


3 3 3 


2 5 2 


4 1 4 

3 3 


5 5 


1 1 

3 3 3 

i 


2 6 2 


4 1 4 


Let the nuns be first placed as in fig. 1, three in each cell; 
then when the four men have got into the cells, there must 
be a man placed in each corner, and two nuns removed thence 
to each of the middle cells, as in fig. 2, in which case there 
will evidently be still nine in each row ; and when the four 
men are gone, with the four nuns with them, each corner cell 
must contain four nuns, and every other cell one, as in fig. 3; 
it being evident, that in this case also, there will still be nine 
in a row, as before. 


Any Number being named, to add a Figure to it, which shall make 

it divisible by 9. 

Add the figures together in your mind which compose the 
number named; and the figure which must be added to 
this sum, in order to make it divisible by 9, is the one re¬ 
quired. 

Suppose, for example, the number named was 8654; you 
find that the sum of its figures is 23; and that 4 being added 
to this sum will make it 27 ; which is a number exactly divi¬ 
sible by 9 










852 


APPENDIX. 


You therefore desire the person who named the number 
8654, to add 4 to it; and the result, which is 8658, will be 
divisible by 9, as was required. 

This recreation may be diversified, by your specifying, 
before the sum is named, the particular place where the 
figure shall be inserted, to make the number divisible by 9; 
for it is exactly the same thing, whether the figure be put 
at the end of the number, or between any two of its digits. 


A Person having made choice of several Numbers, to tell him 
what ISlumber will exactly divide the Sum oj those which he 
has chosen. 

Provide a small bag, divided into two parts; into one of 
which put several tickets, numbered 6, 9, 15, 36, 63, 120, 
213, 309, or any others you please, that are divisible by 3, 
and in the other part put as many different tickets marked 
with the number 3 only. 

Draw' a handful of tickets from the first part, and, after 
slewing them to the company, put them into the bag again; 
and having opened it a second time, desire any one to take 
out as many tickets as he thinks proper.. 

When he has done this, open privately the other part of 
the bag, and tell him to take out of it one ticket only. 

You may then pronounce, that this ticket shall contain 
the number by which the amount of the other numbers 
is divisible; for, as each of these numbers is some mul¬ 
tiple of 3, their sum must evidently be divisible by that 
number. 

This recreation may also be diversified, by marking the 
tickets in one part of the bag with any numbers which are 
divisible by 9, and those in the other part of the bag with the 
number 9 only; the properties of both 9 and 3 being the 
same; or if the numbers in one part of the bag be divisible by 
9, the other part of the bag may contain tickets marked both 
with 9 and 3, as every number divisible by 9 is also divisible 
by 3. 


To find the Difference between any two Numbers, the greater oj 

which is unknown. 

Take as many 9’s as there are figures in the less number, 
and subtract the one from the other. 

Let another person add that difference to the larger num¬ 
ber; and then, if he take away the first figure of the amount, 
and add it to the remaining figures, the sum will be the differ¬ 
ence of the two numbers, as was required. 

Suppose, for example, that Matthew, who is 22 years of 




APPENDIX. 853 

age, tells Henry, who is older, that he can discover the 
differ ence of their ages. 

He privately deducts 22, his own age, from 99, and the 
difference, which is 77, he tells Henry to add to his age, and 
to take away the first figure from the amount. 

Then if this figure, so taken away, be added to the remain¬ 
ing ones, the sum will be the difference of their ages ; as, for 
instance : 

The difference between Matthew’s age and 99, is .... 77 
To which Henry adding his age. .35 


The sum will be. 112 

And 1, taken from 112, gives. 12 

Which being increased by. 1 


Gives the difference of the two ages. 13 

And, this added to Matthew’s a°-e. 22 

• ° 

Gives the age of Henry, which is.. 35 


A Per son striking a Figure out of the Sum of two given Numbers, 

to tell him ichat that Figure was. 

Such numbers must be offered as are divisible by 9; such, 
for instance, as 36, 63, 81, 117, 126, 162, 207, 216, 252, 261, 
306, 315, 360. and 432. 

Then let a person choose any two of these numbers, and 
after adding them together in his mind, strike out any one ol 
the figures he pleases, from the sum. 

After he has done this, desire him to tell you the sum of 
the remaining figures ; and that number which you are obliged 
to add to this amount, in order to make it 9, or 18, is the 
one he struck out. 

For example, suppose he chose the numbers 126 and 252, 
the sum of which is 378. , 

Then, if he strike out 7 from this amount, the remaining 
fio-ures, 3 and 8, will make 11 ; to which 7 must be added to 
make 18. 

If he strike out the 3, the sum of the remaining figures, 7 
and 8, will be 15; to which 3 must be added, to make 18; 
and so in like manner, for the 8. 


By knowing the last Figure of the Product oj two Numbers , to 

tell the other Figures. 

If the number 73 be multiplied by each of the numbers in 
the following arithmetical progression, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21 
24 27 the products will terminate with the nine digits, in 
35. 5 M 












APPENDIX. 


854 

this order, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1; the numbers themselves 
beinp- as follows, 219, 438, 657, 876, 1095, 1314, 1533, 1752, 
and 1971. 

Let therefore a little bag be provided, consisting of two 
partitions, into one of which put several tickets, marked with 
the number 73; and into the other part, as many tickets num¬ 
bered 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, and 27. 

Then open that part of the bag which contains the number 
73, and desire a person to take out one ticket only; after 
which, dexterously change the opening, and desire another 
person to take a ticket from the other part. 

Let them now multiply their two numbers together, and tell 
you the last figure of the product, and you will readily deter¬ 
mine, from the foregoing series, what the remaining figures 
must be. 

Suppose, for example, the numbers taken out of the bag 
were 73, and 12; then, as the product of these two numbers, 
which is 876, has 6 for its last figure, you will readily know 
that it is the fourth in the series, and that the remaining 
figures are 87. 


A curious Recreation with a Hundred Numbers, usually called 

the Magical Century. 

If the number 11 be multiplied by any one of the nine digits, 
the two figures of the product will always be alike, as appears 
from the following example :— 

11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 

123456789 


11 22 33 44 55 66 77 88 99 

Now, if another person and yourself have fifty counters 
apiece, and agree never to stake more than ten at a time, you 
may tell him, that if he will permit you to stake first, you will 
always undertake to make the even century before him. 

In order to this you must first stake one, and remembering the 
order of the above series, constantly add to what he stakes as 
many as will make one more than the numbers 11, 22, 33, &c. 
of which it is composed, till you come to 89; after which, 
the other party cannot possibly make the even century him¬ 
self, or prevent you from making it. 

If the person who is your opponent have no knowledge of 
numbers, you may stake any other number first, under 10, 
provided you afterwards take care to secure one of the last 
terms, 56, 67, 78, &c.: or you may even let him stake first, 

provided you take care afterwards to secure one of these 
numbert. 




hppen lux. 


855 


This recreation may be performed with other numbers; but, 
in order to succeed, you must divide the number to be attained, 
by a number which is an unit greater than what you can stake 
each time; and the remainder will then be the number you 
first stake. Suppose, for example, the number to be attained 
is 52, and that you are never to add more than six ; then 
dividing 52 by 7, the remainder, which is 3, will be the num¬ 
ber you must stake first; and whatever the other stakes, you 
must add as much to it as will make it equal to 7, the num 
ber by which you divided ; and so on. 




A Person in Company having pr ivately put a Ring on one oj 
his Jingers, to Name the Person , the Hand , the Finger, and 
even the Joint on which it is placed. 

Desire a third person to double the number of the order in 
which the wearer of the ring stands, and add 5 to that num¬ 
ber, then multiply that sum by 5, and to the product add 10. 
Let him then add 1 to the last number, if the ring be on the 
right hand, and 2 if on the left, and multiply the whole by 
10 : to this product he must add the number of the finger, 
beginning with the thumb, and multiply the whole again hy 
10. Desire him then to add the number of the joint; and 
lastly, to increase the whole by 35. 

This being done, he is to declare the amount of the whole, 
from which you are to subtract 3535; and the remainder will 
consist of four figures, the first of which will give the place in 
which the person stands, the second the hand, 1 denoting the 
right, and 2 the left hand, the third number the finger, and 
the fourth the joint. 

Example. 


Suppose the person stands the second in order, and has 
put the ring on the second joint of the little finger of the left 


hand : 

Double the order is 4 
Add. 5 

9 

Multiply by. 5 

45 

Add. 10 

55 

Number for left hand ^2 

57 

Multiply by,. H? 


Number of finger 

570 

5 

Multiply by. 

575 

10 

Number of joint 

5750 

.. 2 

Add. 

5752 
. 35 

Subtract. 

5787 

..3535 


2252 















APPENDIX. 


S56 

Hence it will appear that the first 2 denotes the second 
person in order, the second 2 the left hand, 5 the little finger, 
and 2 the second joint. 

To make i Deaf Man hear the Sound of a Musical Instrument. 

It must be a stringed instrument, with a neck of some 
length, as a lute, a guitar, or the like; and before you begin 
to play, you must by signs direct the deaf man to take hold 
with his teeth of the end of the neck of the instrument; fo* 1 
then, if one strikes the strings with the bow one after another, 
the sound will enter the deaf man’s mouth, and be conveyed 
to the organ of hearing through a hole in the palate, and thus 
the deaf man will hear with a great deal of pleasure the sound 
of the instrument, as has been several times experienced ; nay, 
those who are not deaf may make the experiment upon them¬ 
selves, by stopping their ears so as not to hear the instrument, 
and then holding the end of the instrument in their teeth, 
while another touches the strings. 


When two Vessels or Chests are like one another , and of equal 
Weight, being filled with different Metals , to distinguish the 
one from the other. 

This is easily resolved, if we consider that two pieces of 
different metals, of equal weight in air, do not weigh equally 
in water, because that of the greatest specific gravity takes 
up a lesser space in water; it being a certain truth, that any 
metal weighs less in water than in air, by reason of the water, 
the room of which it fills ; for example, if the water w'eighs a 
pound, the metal will weigh in that water a pound less than 
in the air: this gravitation diminishes more or less, according 
as the specific gravity of the metal is greater than that of the 
water. 

We will suppose, then, two chests perfectly like one an¬ 
other, of equal weight in the air, one of which is full of gold, 
and the other of silver; we weigh them in water, and that 
which then weighs down the other must needs be the gold 
chest, the specific gravity of gold being greater than that of 
silver which makes the gold lose less of its gravitation in 
water than silver. We know by experience, that gold loses 
in water about an eighteenth part only, whereas silver loses 
near a tenth part; so that if.each of the two chests weighs in 
the air, for example, 180 pounds, the chest that is full of gold 
will lose ip. the water ten pounds of its weight; and the chest 
that is full of silver will lose eighteen : that is, the chest full 
of gold will weigh 170 pounds, and that of silver only 162. 

Or, il you will, considering that gold is of a greater specific 
gravity than silver, the chest full of gold, though similar and 




APPENDIX. 857 

of equal weight with the other, must needs contain a less 
bulk, and consequently it contains the gold. 


To find the Burden of a Ship at Sea, or in a River. 

It is a certain truth, that a ship will carry a weight equal to 
that of a quantity of water of the same bulk with itself; 
subtracting from it the weight of the iron about the ship, foi 
the wood is of much the same weight with water; and so, if 
it were not for the iron, a ship might sail full of water. 

The consequence of this is, that, however a ship be loaded, 
it will not totally sink, as long as the weight of its cargo is 
less than that of an equal bulk of water: now, to know this 
bulk or extent, you must measure the capacity or solidity of 
the ship, which we here suppose to be 1000 cubical feet, and 
multiply that by 73 pounds, the weight of a cubical foot of 
sea-water; then you have in the product 73,000 pounds for 
the weight of a bulk of water equal to that of the ship; so 
that in this example, we may call the burden of the ship 
73,000 pounds, or 36|- tons, reckoning a ton 2,000 pounds, 
that being the weight of a ton of sea-water; if the cargo of 
this ship exceeds 36J tons, she will sink; and if her loading 
is just 73,000 pounds, she will swim very deep in the water 
upon the very point of sinking; so that she cannot sail safe 
and easy, unless her loading be considerably short cf 73,000 
pounds weight; if the loading come near to 73,000 pounds, as 
being, for example, just 36 tons, she will swim at sea, but 
will sink when she comes into the mouth of a fresh water 
river; for this water being lighter than sea-water will be 
surmounted by the weight of the vessel, especially if that 
weight is greater than the weight of an equal bulk of the same 
water. 


To Measure the Depth of the Sea . 

Tie a great weight to a very long cord, or rope, and let it 
fall into the sea till you find it can descend no further, which 
will happen when the weight touches the bottom of the sea; 
if the quantity or bulk of water, the room of which is taken 
up by the weight, and the rope, weighs less than the weight 
and rope themselves ; for if they weigh more, the weight would 
cease to descend, though it did not touch the bottom of the 

sea. • ii i r 

Thus one may be deceived in measuring the length ot a rope 

let down into the water, in order to determine the depth of 

the sea; and therefore, to prevent mistakes, you had best tie 

to the end of the same rope another weight heavier than the 

former, and if this weight does not sink the rope deeper than 




858 


APPENDIX. 


the other did, you may rest assured that the length of the 
rope is the true depth of the sea; if it does sink the rope 
deeper, you must tie a third weight, yet heavier, and so on, 
till you find two weights of unequal gravitation, that run just 
the same length of the rope, upon which you may conclude, 
that the length of the wet rope is certainly the same with the 
depth of the sea. 


Method of Melting Steel, and causing it to Liquefy . 

Heat a piece of steel in the fire, almost to a state of fusion, 
then holding it with a pair of pincers or tongs, take in the 
other hand a stick of brimstone, and touch the piece of steel 
with it: immediately after the contact, you will see the steel 
melt and drop like a liquid. 


How to dispose two little Figures, so that one shall light a Candle , 

and the other put it out. 

Take two little figures of wood or clay, or any other mate¬ 
rials you please, only taking care that there is a little hole at 
the mouth of each : put in the mouth of one a few grains of 
bruised gunpowder, and a little bit of phosphorus in the mouth 
of the other, taking care that these preparations are made 
beforehand. 

Then take a lighted wax candle, and present it to the mouth 
of the figure with the gunpowder, which, taking fire, will put 
the candle out; then present your candle, having the snuff 
still hot, to the other figure; it will immediately light again 
by means of the phosphorus. 

You may propose the same effects to be produced by two 
figures drawn on a wall with a pencil or coal, by applying 
with a little starch, or water, a few grains of bruised gunpow¬ 
der to the mouth of one, and a bit of phosphorus to the mouth 
of the other. 


The Camera Obscura, or Dark Chamber. 

We shall here give a short description of this optical inven 
tion ; for though it is very common, it is also very pleasing: 
but every one knows not how to construct it. 

Make a circular hole in the shutter of a window, from whence 
there is a prospect of the fields, or any other object not toe 
near: and in this hole place a convex glass, either double or 
single, whose focus is at the distance of five or six feet: the 
distance should not be less than three feet; if it be, the 
images will be too small, and there will not be sufficient room 
for the spectators to stand conveniently ; on the other hand. 





APPENDIX. 


859 


the focus should never be more than fifteen or twenty feet, for 
then the images would be obscure, and the colouring faint; 
the best distance is from six to twelve feet:—take care that 
no light enters the room but by this glass : at a distance from 
it, equal to that of its focus, place a pasteboard, covered with 
the whitest paper; this paper should have a black border, to 
prevent any of the side rays from disturbing the picture, let 
it be two feet and a half long, and eighteen or twenty inches 
high ; bend the length of it inwards to the form of part of a 
circle, whose diameter is equal to double the focal distance of 
the glass : then fix it on a frame of the same figure, and put 
it on a moveable foot, that it may be easily fixed at that exact 
distance from the glass where the objects paint themselves to 
the greatest perfection : when it is thus placed, all the objects 
that are in the front of the window will be painted on the 
paper in an inverted position ; this inverted position of the 
images may be deemed an imperfection, but it is easily reme¬ 
died; for if you stand above the board on which they are 
received, and look down on it, they will appear in their natu¬ 
ral position ; or if you stand before it, and, placing a common 
mirror against your breast in an oblique direction, look down 
in it, you will there see the images erect, and they will receive 
an additional lustre from the reflection of the glass : or place 
two lenses in a tube that draws out: or, lastly, if you place a 
larore concave mirror at a proper distance before the picture, 
it will appear before the mirror in the air, and in an erect 
position, with the greatest regularity, and in the most natural 
colours. 

If you place a moveable mirror without the window, by 
turning it more or less, you will have on the paper all the 
objects that are on each side of the window. 

There is another method of making the dark chamber, which 
is by a scioptric ball, that is, a ball of wood, through which a 
hole is made, in which hole a lens is fixed ; this ball is placed 
in a wooden frame, in which it turns freely round : the frame 
is fixed to the hole in the shutter, and the ball by turning 
about answers, in great part, the use of the mirror on the 
outside of the window : if the hole in the window be no 
bigger than a pea, the objects will be represented without any 
lens. 

If instead of placing the mirror without the window, you 
place if in the room, and above the hole, (which must then be 
made near the top of the shutter,) you may receive the repre¬ 
sentation on a paper placed horizontally on a table ; and draw 
at your leisure all the objects that are there painted.. 

Nothincr can be more pleasing than this recreation, espe¬ 
cially when the objects are strongly enlightened by the sun ; 
and not only land prospects, but a sea-port, when the watei 


APPENDIX. 


860 

is somewhat agitated, or at the setting of the sun, presents a 
very delightful appearance. 

This representation affords the most perfect model for 
painters, as well for the tone of colours, as that gradation 
of shades occasioned by the interposition of the air, which 
has been so justly expressed by some modern painters. 

It is necessary that the paper have a circular form, for 
otherwise, when the centre of it was in the focus of the glass, 
the two sides would be beyond it, and consequently the 
images would be confused: if the frame were contrived of 
a spherical figure, and the glass were in its centre, the repre¬ 
sentation would be still more accurate. If the object without 
be at the distance of twice the focal length of the glass, the 
image in the room will be of the same magnitude with th<=> 
object. 

The lights, shades, and colours in the camera obscura, 
appear not only just, but, by the images being reduced to a 
smaller compass, much stronger t'nan in nature; add to this, 
that these pictures exceed all others, by representing the 
moti:n of the several objects: thus we see the animals walk, 
run, or fly, the clouds float in the air, the leaves quiver, the 
waves roll, 8cc. and all in strict conformity to the laws of 
nature. The best situation for a dark chamber is directly 
north, and the best time of the day is noon. 


To shew the Spots in the Sun's Disk , by its image in the Camera 

Obscura. 

Put the object-glass of a ten or twelve feet telescope into the 
scioptric ball, and turn it about till it be directly opposite the 
sun: when the sun is directly opposite the hole, the lens will 
itself be sufficient; or by means of the mirror on the outside 
of the window', as in the last recreation, in the focus of the 
lens, and you will see a clear bright image of the sun, of 
about an inch diameter, in wffiich the spots on the sun’s 
surface will be exactly described. 

As this image is too bright to be seen with pleasure by 
naked eye, you may view it through a lens, whose focus i : 
or eight inches diameter, which, at the same time that it 
prevents the light from being offensive, will, by magnifying 
both the image and the spots, make them appear to greater 
advantage. 


To magnify small Objects by means of the Suns Hays let into 

a dark Chamber. 

Let the rays of light that pass through the lens in the 
shutter be thrown on a large concave mirror properly fixed 




APPENDIX. 


861 


m &. frame; then take a slip, or thin plate of glass, and 
sticking any small object on it, hold it in the incident rays, 
at a little more than the focal distance from the mirror, and 
you will see, on the opposite wall, amidst the reflected rays, 
the image of that object, very large, and extremely clear and 
bright. This experiment never fails to give the spectator the 
highest satisfaction. 


To cut a Looking-glass , or piece oj Crystal, let it be ever so 
thick , without the help of a Diamond , in the same shape as the 
Mark of the Drawing made on it with Ink. 

This remarkable operation unites utility with amusement; 
for being in the country, or in a place where there is no glazier 
to be had, the following means will answer the purpose 
without their help. 

Take a bit of walnut-tree, about the thickness of a candle, 
and cut one of its ends to a point; put that end in the fire, 
and let it burn till it is quite red: while the stick is burning, 
draw on the glass or crystal, with ink, the design or outline 
of the form in which you mean to cut it out: then take a file, 
or bit of glass, and scratch a little the place where you mean 
to begin your section; then take the wood red-hot from the 
fire, and lay the point of it about the twentieth part of an 
inch, or thickness of a guinea, from the marked place, taking 
care to blow always on that point, in order to keep it red; 
following the drawing traced on the glass, leaving, as before, 
about the twentieth part of an inch interval every time that 
you present your piece of wood, which you must take care to 
blow often. 

After having followed exactly the outlines of your drawing, 
to separate the two pieces thus cut, you need only pull them 
up and down, and they will divide. 


By the means of two plain Looking-glasses, to make a Face appear 

under different forms. 

Having placed one of the two glasses horizontally, raise the 
other to about right angles over the first; and while the two 
glasses continue in this posture, if you come up to the per¬ 
pendicular glass, you will set your face quite deformed and 
imperfect; for it will appear without forehead, eyes, nose, 
or ears, and nothing will be seen but a mouth and a cnin 
boldly raised: do but incline the glass ever so little from the 
perpendicular, and your face will appear with all its parts, 
excepting the eyes and the forehead ; stoop a little more, and 
you will see two noses and four eyes; and then a little fuither, 
end you will see three noses and six eyes;—continue to incline 

5N 




APPENDIX. 


862 

it still a little more, and you will see nothing but two noses, 
two mouths, and two chins; and then a little further again, 
and you will see one nose and one mouth; at last incline 
a little further, that is, till the angle of inclination comes to 
be 44 degrees, and your face will quite disappear. 

If you incline the two glasses, the one towards the other, 
you will see your face perfect and entire; and by the different 
inclinations, you will see the representation of your face, 
upright and inverted, alternately. 


To know which of tico different Waters is the lightest , without 

any Scales. 

Take a solid body, the specific gravity of which is less than 
that of water, deal, or fir-wood, for instance, and put it into 
each of the two waters, and rest assured that it will sink 
deeper in the lighter than in the heavier water; and so, by 
observing the difference of the sinking, you will know' which 
is the lightest water, and consequently the wholesomest for 
drinking. 


To knoio if a suspicious Piece of Money is good or bad. 

If it be a piece of silver that is not very thick, as a crown, 
or half a crown, the goodness of which you want to try; take 
another piece of good silver, of equal balance with it, and tie 
both pieces with thread or horse hair to the scales of an exact 
balance, (to avoid the wetting of the scales themselves,) and 
dip the two pieces thus tied, in water; for then, if they are of 
equal goodness, that is, of equal purity, they will hang in 
equilibrio in the water as well as in the air: but if the piece 
in question is lighter in the water than the other, it is cer¬ 
tainly false, that is, there is some other metal mixed with it, 
that has less specific gravity than silver, such as copper; if it 
is heavier than the other, it is likewise bad, as being mixed 
with a metal of greater specific gravity than silver, such as 
lead. 

If the piece proposed is very thick, such as that crown of 
gold which Hiero, king of Syracuse, sent to Archimedes, to 
know if the goldsmith had put into it all the eighteen pounds 
of gold that he had given him for that end; take a piece of 
pure gold of equal weight with the crown proposed, viz. 
eighteen pounds; and without taking the trouble of weighing 
them in water, put them into a vessel full of water, one 
after another, and that whi'di drives out most water, must 
necessarily be mixed with another metal of less specific 
gravity than gold, as taking up more space, though of equal 
weight. 




APFEN DIX. 


863 


To held a Glass full of Water with the Mouth downwards , so 
that the Water shall not run out. 

Take a glass full of water, cover it with a cup that is a little 
hollow, inverting the cup upon the glass; hold the cup firm 
in this position with one hand, and the glass with the other ; 
then with a jerk turn the glass and the cup upside down, and 
so the cup will stand upright, and the glass will be inverted, 
resting its mouth upon the interior bottom of the cup: this 
done, you will find that part of the water contained in the 
glass will run out by the void space between the bottom of 
the cup, and the brim of the glass; and when that space is 
filled, so that the w’ater in it reaches the brim of the glass, all 
passage being then denied to the air, so that it cannot enter 
the glass, nor succeed in the room of the water, the water 
remaining in the glass will not fall lower, but continue 
suspended in the glass. 

If you would have a little more water descend into the cup, 
you must, with a pipe or otherwise, draw the water out of the 
cup, to give passage to the air in the glass; upon which, 
part of the water will fall into the glass till it has stopped up 
the passage of the air afresh, in which case no more will come 
down ; or, without sucking out the water in the cup, you may 
incline the cup and glass so that the water in the cup shall 
quit one side of the brim of the glass, and so give passage to 
the air, which will then suffer the water in the glass to 
descend till the passage is stopped again. 

This may likewise be resolved by covering the brim ol the 
glass that is full of water, with a leaf of strong paper, and 
then turn the glass as above; and without holding your hand 
any longer upon the paper, you will find it as it were glued 
for some time to the brim of the glass, and during that time 
the water will be kept in the glass. 

The Mysterious Watch. 

Desire any person to lend you his watch, and ask if he 
thinks it will or will not go when it is laid on the table: if he 
says it will, place it over the end of a magnet, and it will 
presently stop ; then mark with chalk, or a pencil, the precise^ 
point where you placed the watch, and, moving the position of 
the magnet, give the watch to another person, and desire him 
to make the experiment ; in which he not succeeding, give it 
to a third person, at the same time replacing the magnet, and 
lie will immediately perform the experiment. 

To make a Glass of Water appear to boil and sparkle. 

Take a glass nearly full of water, or other liquor, and 
setting one hand upon the foot of it to hold it fast, turn 





864 


A I* 1’ L N D I X 


slightly one of the fingers of your other hand upon the brim 
or edge of the glass, (having before privately wet your finger,) 
and so passing softly on, with your finger pressing a little, 
then the glass will begin to make a noise, the parts of the 
glass will sensibly appear to tremble with notable rarefaction 
and condensation, the water will shake, seem to boil, cast 
itself out of the glass, and leap out by small drops, to the 
great astonishment of the observers, if they are ignorant of 
the cause, which is only the rarefaction of the parts of the 
glass, occasioned by the motion and pressure of the finger. 


How to make a Cork fly out of a Bottle. 

Put a little chalk or pounded marble into a phial, and pour 
on some water, with about a third part of sulphuric acid, and 
put in a cork: in a few seconds, the cork will be sent off with 
great violence. 


To produce Gas Light , on a small Scale. 

Take an ordinary tobacco pipe, and nearly fill the bowl 
with small coals, and stop the mouth of the bowl with any 
suitable luting, as pipe-clay, or the mixture of sand and com¬ 
mon clay, or, as clay is apt to shrink, of sand and beer, and 
place the bowl in a fire between the bars of a grate, so that 
the pipe may stand nearly perpendicular. In a few minutes, 
if the luting be good, the gas will begin to escape from the 
stem of the pipe, when, if a piece of lighted paper or candle 
be applied, it will take fire and burn for several minutes with 
an intense light. When the light goes out, a residuum of 
useful products will be found in the bowl. 


Thunder Powder• 

Take separately, three parts of good dry saltpetre, two 
parts of dry salt of tartar, and pound them well together in a 
mortar; then add thereto one part, or rather more, of flour 
of brimstone, and take care to pound and mix the whole per¬ 
fectly together: put this composition into a bottle with a 
glass stopper, for use. 

Put about two drams of this mixture in an iron spoon, over 
a moderate fire, but not in the flame; in a short time it will 
melt, and go off with an explosion like thunder or a loaded 
cannon. 


To tell , by the Dial of a Watch, at what hour any Person intends to rise. 

Let the person set the hand of the dial to any hour he 
pleases, and tell you what hour that is, and to the number of 






APPENDIX. 


805 

that hour you add, in your mind, 12. After this, tell him to 
call the hour the index stands at that which he has fixed 
upon; and by reckoning backwards from this number to the 
former, it will biing him to the hour required. 

Example. 

Suppose the hour at which he intends to rise be 8, and that 
he has placed the hand at 5. 

Then, adding 12 to 5, you bid him call the hour at which 
the index stands, the number on which he thought; and by 
reckoning back from this number to 17, it will bring him to 
8, the hour required. 


The following Experiment shews the Power ojAttraction. 

If we take two pieces of lead, as two musket or pistol balls, 
and with a knife smooth two plane surfaces, and press them 
together, they will firmly adhere. 

Two plates of metal made very smooth, when rubbed with oil 
and put together, will so firmly adhere, that it will require 
a great force to separate them. 

If two pieces of wood, or of glass, be wetted with water, 
and placed together, the one may be lifted up by means of 
the other. Boys often have a piece of leather on the end of 
a string, which they wet and put on a stone, and thereby lift 
it up. 

If we take a small tube of glass with a narrow bore, and put 
it in water, the fluid will rise higher within the tube than in 
the vessel. The narrower the tube is, the higher the water 
rises. This is called Capillary Attraction. If we put two 
pieces of glass together, and place the lower edge in water, it 
will rise between them, as it does in the capillary tubes. This 
experiment may be made more pleasing, by putting a shilling 
or a piece of paper between the two pieces of glass at one 
end. The water will then rise in a curve line, called an 
hyperbola, higher and higher as it recedes from the shilling 
or piece of paper, and the pieces of glass get nearer to each 
other. 

Place a balance equally poised, so that one scale may be 
nade to touch water in a vessel; considerable weight must be 
put in the other scale, to make it rise up. Put three or four 
bits of cork to float in a basin of water; they will gradually 
draw nearer to each other, and the more rapidly as the dis¬ 
tance diminishes. 

• — — • 

Experiments to shew the Power oj Repulsion. 

Dip a ball in oil and put it in water; a ditch will be formed 
all round it. Pour water on oiled paper, and it will run off. 



866 


APPENDIX. 


Sprinkle water on a dusty floor, it rolls over it in globules 
Sprinkle it upon a floor that has been swept, and this will not 
be the case, as it then comes in contact with the wood, and 
is diffused over it. 

We may observe that rain water stands in globules on 
the leaves of cabbages. If we blow up soap-bubbles, and 
’fet them fall on the carpet, they will not for some time burst. 
Let them fall on the table, or any smooth surface, and they 
’vill burst instantly. 

If we pour as much water into a cup as it will possibly 
hold, we shall see the water above the level of the sides, if the 
edge be dry, but otherwise we shall not. 

Lay a very fine needle, or a piece of tinfoil, on the surface 
of water, and it will float, until it become wet, when it 
sinks. 

Lay a piece of gold on mercury, and it will float on the 
surface; but if depressed below the surface, it will sink to the 
bottom, like the needle on water. 


Experiments respecting the Centre of Gravity. 

The centre of gravity is that part of a body, round which 
all its parts are so equally balanced, that, if it be supported, 
the whole body will be so too. 

Take a book, and find, by trial, under what part the finger 
must be placed to keep the book from falling; that point is 
the centre of gravity. 

Take a rod, or stick, and find that place about the middle 
of it, under which the finger being placed, it will be balanced ; 
that is the centre of gravity. The moment the centre of 
gravity ceases to be supported, the whole body falls. 

Move a piece of board to the edge of a table, and gradually 
farther and farther ofF it; the instant the centre of gravity gets 
beyond the edge of the table, the board falls. 

Run the point of a knife much slanting into the same board, 
it may then be brought much farther over the edge of the 
table than it could before, as the knife, leaning the way of the 
table, brings the centre of gravity that way. 

Take a bottle, with a cork in it; stick in the middle of the 
cork a needle, with the point upwards ; then take another cork, 
and with a knife make a slit in one of its ends, in which place 
a shilling so far as to make it fast; then take two forks, or 
penknives, and stick one on each side the cork, slanting a 
little downwards; then place the edge of the shilling on the 
point of the needle, and it will rest secure. It may be made 
to revolve, with great rapidity, on the point of the needle, 
without falling off. 



APPENDIX. 


867 


The following Experiment shews the Power of Steam. 

Put a little water in a bottle, and cork it securely, covering 

it wki seamg wax; then put the bottle into a kettle of water, 

ana let it boil a short time, and the steam will force out the 
cork. 


Diminution oj Heat by Evaporation. 

Pour w ater on a piece of writing-paper, and hold it over a 
candle; it will boil without burning the paper. 

Water may be boiled in an egg-shell on the fire. 


Experiment to ascertain the Strength of Spirits of Wine. 

It is a common practice for apothecaries, in order to ascer¬ 
tain if spirit ot wine be sufficiently strong, to pour some into 
a cup upon some gunpowder, and then to set fire to it. If 
the spirit be sufficiently strong, after burning down to the 
gunpowder, it will make it go off’; but if too much water has 
been poured in, that will not take place, as, after the spirit 
is consumed, there will still be water enough to keep the 
powder wet. 


7o ascertain the Strength of Brine. 

To ascertain the strength of brine for salting meat, it is 
usual to put an egg in the boiling water, and gradually put in 
salt until the e^o; be made to swim. 


fhe following Experiments shew the Pressure and Elasticity 

of Air. 

Put an empty bottle with a cork in it near the fire; the cork 
will be driven out. 

Get a vessel of hot water, and put a phial into it, with the 
mouth downwards; the expanded air will bubble out. Let 
the water cool, or pour cold water on the phial, of which the 
mouth has not been drawn above the surface of the water, and 
as the air is now cooled, and occupies less space, a consider¬ 
able part of the bottle will be filled with water. 

Boil a little water in a glass phial over a candle for a few 
minutes; then invert the mouth of the phial in water, and, as 
it cools, the air will contract, and water will be forced up the 
bottle, bj the external air, to occupy the vacant space. 

Lay a weighty book on a bladder, and blow into it with a pipe, 
and the book will be raised. Increase the weight on the bladder 
very much indeed, and you may still raise it as before. 


/ 






A I* P li N D I X . 


868 

A bladder filled with air may be compressed, and the mo¬ 
ment the force is removed, it will recover its size. If thrown 
on the ground it will rise like a ball. 

Take a cup, and burn a few pieces of paper in it, the heat 
will expand the air in it. Invert the cup now m a saucer of 
water, and, as the enclosed air cools, it will return to its 
former density, and leave a vacuum, and the pressure of the 
external air will force a great deal of water up into the cup. 
If this experiment be performed with a large drinking-glass, 
the w r ater may be seen to rise in the glass. 

The pressure of the air may be very sensibly felt, by putting 
the hole of a common bellows over the knee, and then at¬ 
tempting to raise the upper part of it. 

Boil water in a glass phial over a candle for a few minutes, 
then suddenly removing it, tie a piece of wetted bladder over 
the mouth, making it fast with a string; the pressure of the 
air will stretch the bladder, if it do not burst it. 

Get a glass vessel, as a common tumbler, if no better be at 
hand, and put a piece of w'etted bladder over the mouth, press¬ 
ing; it down in the middle, and then tie it firm with a string;: 
then lay hold of the bladder in the middle, and try to pull it 
straight, or level with the rest, and the pressure of the external 
air will not permit it. 

Do exactly the same as before, except that the vessel must 
be nearly full of water. Turn the vessel upside-down, and 
the bladder will still continue as it was placed, the pressure 
of the air overcoming- the weight of the water. 

Though air be capable of compression, it makes a resistance, 
and that very considerable. The ball of an air-gun has been 
burst asunder by overcharging it. If bottles are filled too 
much, they may be burst in attempting to cork them, from 
the air between the cork and the liquor being too much con¬ 
densed. / 

Put a common wine-glass, with the mouth downwards, into 
water; and to whatever depth it may be plunged, the air will 
not allow much water to rise into it, as may be seen by the 
inside of the glass not being wet. If a bit of cork float inside 
of the glass, it will point out to the eye still more clearly how 
high the water rises. This experiment, though so very simple 
will illustrate the nature of the diving-bell. 


Experiments respecting Sound. 

Hold a tumbler sideways, and sprinkle a little dust, oi 
powder of any sort, on it; then strike the glass, and make it 
sound :—the dust keeps dancing about whilst the sound con¬ 
tinues; stop the sound, and the dust is at rest. 

The sound of a watch laid upon a long table, or upon ? 



A 1* r li N D i X . 


869 

plank of woe d, will be heard much farther than it otherwise 
would. 

When a vessel on the fire begins to boil, let a communica¬ 
tion be made between it and the ear, by means of the poker, 
and the sound is more distinctly heard. 

Tie a string round the end of a poker, and then, winding 
one end of the string round the fore-finger of the one hand, 
and the other end of the string round the fore-finger of the 
other; put the fingers into the ears, and make the poker strike 
against a table, or any other object, and it will sound like the 
bell of a church. 

Tie a string round the end of a poker, as before, and hold 
the string with your teeth ; when the poker is made to strike 
against any object, as in the last experiment, the same kind 
of sound will be transmitted through the teeth. 

Make a watch touch your teeth, and you will hear its beat¬ 
ing more distinctly. 

When a pitchfork is struck, in order to pitch a tune, its end 
is put on the table, and a greater sound is produced. If 
the pitchfork, after being struck, be held to the teeth, its 
sound is still more distinct. 

Having shut up both ears with cotton very closely, put 
your fingers on the teeth of a person who speaks to you, and 
you will hear his voice. 


Electrical Experiments . 

If a piece of sealing-wax be rubbed briskly against the 
sleeve of your coat, or any other woollen substance, for some 
time, and then held within an inch or less of hair, feathers, 
bits of paper, or other light bodies; they will be attracted, 
that is, they will jump up, and adhere to the wax. If a tube 
of glass, or small phial, be rubbed in a similar manner, it will 
answer much better. The bottle thus rubbed becomes elec¬ 
tric; and when the operation is performed in a dark room, 
small flashes of divergent flame, ramified somewhat like trees 
bare of leaves, will dart into the air, from many parts of the 
surface of the tube, to the distance of six or eight inches, at¬ 
tended with a crackling noise; and sometimes sparks will fly 
along the tube to the rubber at more than a foot distant. 

Cut two bits of cork into the shape and size of a common 
pea. With a needle, draw a thread through each of the corks, 
so that they may be made to hang at the ends of the threads 
with a knot below them. Let the other ends of the threads 
be inserted in the notch of a small piece of wood, about a 
foot long, and an inch broad, and the thickness of a common 
match. Lay the piece of wood over two wine-glasses, a few 
inches asunder so that the end of it, in which the threads 

5 0 



870 


APPENDIX. 


are, may project over the edge of the glass nearest it, and the 
corks may be in contact one with another Take another 
wine-glass, and, having rubbed it briskly with a piece of 
flannel, or upon the skirt or sleeve of a woollen coat, hold its 
mouth to within about an inch of the corks, and they will 
suddenly start asunder, and continue so for some time. 

Lav a pocket-watch upon a table, and take a common 
tobacco-pipe, and place it on the face of the watch so that it 
may balance thereon ; then, after rubbing a wine-glass, as 
described in the former experiment, bring it to within an inch 
of the smaller end of the tobacco-pipe, and by moving the 
glass gently round in an horizontal circular track, you will 
cause the pipe to turn round on the watch-glass, as the needle 
turns on its centre in a mariner’s compass. 


A curious Experiment made by Mr. Symtner, on the Electricity 

of Silk Stockings. 

This gentleman having frequently observed, that on putting- 
off his stockings in the evening, they made a crackling or 
snapping noise, and that in the dark they emitted sparks of 
fire, was induced to examine on what circumstances these 
electrical appearances depended. After a considerable num¬ 
ber of observations, directed to this point, he found that it 
was the combination of white and black which produced 
the electricity, and that the appearances were the strongest 
when he wore a white and a black stocking upon the same 
leg. These, however, discovered no signs of electricity while 
they were upon the leg, though they were drawn backwards 
and forwards upon it several times; but the moment they 
were separated, they were both of them found to be highly 
electrified, the white positively, and the black negatively; 
and when they were held at a distance from each other, they 
appeared inflated to such a degree, that they exhibited the 
entire shape of the leg. 

When two black or two white stockings were held togethei, 
they would repel one another to a considerable distance ; and 
when a white and black stocking w r ere presented to each 
other, they would be mutually attracted, and rush together 
with great violence, joining as close as if they had been so 
many folds of silk ; and in this case their electricity did not 
seem to have been in the least impaired by the shock of 
meeting, for they would be again inflated, attract, repel, and 
rush together, as before. 

When this experiment was , ^.formed with two black stock¬ 
ings in one hand, and tw-o white ones in the other, it exhibited 
a still more curious spectacle. The repulsion of those of the 
same colour, and the attraction of those of different colours. 



APPENDIX. 871 

threw them into an agitation, and made each of them catch 
at the opposite colour in a way that was very amusing. 

What was also very remarkable in these experiments with 
a white and black stocking, was, the power of electrical cohe¬ 
sion which they exhibited ; Mr. Symmer having found, that 
when they were electrified, and allowed to come together, they 
frequently stuck so close to each other, that it required a 
weight of sixteen or seventeen ounces to separate them, and 
this in a direction parallel to their surfaces. 

\\ hen one of the stockings was turned inside-out, it required 
twenty ounces to separate them ; and by having the black 
stockings new dyed, and the white ones washed, and whitened 
in the fumes of sulphur, and then putting them one within 
the other, it required three pounds three ounces to separate 
them. 

Trying this experiment with stockings of a more substan¬ 
tial make, he found that, when the white stocking was put 
within the black one, so that its outside was contiguous to 
the inside of the other, they raised near nine pounds ; and 
when the white stocking was turned inside-out, and put 
w’ithin the black one, so that their rough surfaces were con¬ 
tiguous, they raised fifteen pounds, which was ninety-two 
times the weight of the stockings. And, in all these cases, 
he found that pressing them together with his hands contri¬ 
buted much to strengthen the cohesion. 

Wh en the white and black stockings were in cohesion, and 
another pair, more highly electrified, were separated from 
each other, and presented to the former, their cohesion would 
be dissolved, and each stocking of the second pair would 
catch hold of, and carry away with it, that of its opposite co¬ 
lour; but if the degree of electricity of both pairs were equal, 
the cohesion of the former would be weakened, but not dis¬ 
solved, and all the four would cohere together in one mass. 

Mr. Symmer also observed, that white and black silk, when 
electrified, not only cohered with each other, but they would 
also adhere to bodies with broad, and even polished, surfaces, 
though those bodies were not electrified. This he discovered, 
by throwing accidentally a stocking out of his hand, which 
stuck to the paper-hangings of the room, and which, in 
another experiment of this kind, continued hanging there 
nearly an hour. 

Having stuck up the black and white stockings in this 
manner, he came with another pair of stockings, highly elec¬ 
trified, and applying the white to the black, and the black to 
the white, he carried them off from the wall, each of them 
hanging to that which had been brought to it. The same 
experiment also held with the painted boards of the room, 
and likewise witn the looking-glass, to the smooth surface of 


APPENDIX. 


872 

which, the white and black stockings appeared to adhere more 
tenaciously than to either of the former. 


To suspend a Ring by a Thread that has been burnt. 

The thread having been previously soaked in chamber lye, 
or common salt and water, tie it to a ring, not larger than a 
wedding-ring. When you apply the flame of a candle to it, 
though the thread burn to ashes, it will yet sustain the ring. 


Chemical Illuminations, 

Put into a middling-sized bottle, with a short wide neck, 
three ounces of oil or spirit of vitriol, with twelve ounces of 
common water, and throw into it, at different times, an ounce 
or two of iron filings. A violent commotion will then take 
place, and white vapours will arise from the mixture. If a taper 
be held to the mouth of the bottle, these vapours will inflame, 
and produce a violent explosion ; which may be repeated as 
long as the vapours continue. 


To make the Appearance of a Flash of Lightning when any out 
enters a Room icith a lighted Candle. 

Dissolve camphor in spirit of wine, and deposit the vessel 
containing the solution in a very close room, where the spirit 
of wine must be made to evaporate by strong and speedy 
boiling. If any one then enters the room with a lighted 
candle, the air will inflame; but the combustion will be so 
sudden, and of so short duration, as to occasion no danger. 


The Fiery Fountain, 

If twenty grains of phosphorus, cut very small, and mixed 
with forty grains of powdered zinc, be put into four drachms 
of water, and two drachms of concentrated sulphuric acid 
be added thereto, bubbles of inflamed phosphuretted hydrogen 
gas will quickly cover the whole surface of the fluid in suc¬ 
cession, forming a real fountain of fire. 


A Lamp that will burn Twelve Months without replenishing 

Take a stick of phosphorus, and put it into a large dry 
phial, not corked, and it will afford a light sufficient to dis¬ 
cern any object in a room, when held near it. The phial 
should be kept in a cool place, where there is no great current 
of air, and it will continue its luminous appearance for more 
than twelve months. 







APFEN D1X. 


>•70 
) i o 


The Magic Oracle. 

Get six blank cards, and write on them figures, or number®, 
exactly according to the following patterns. 


No. I 


15 


23 

9 





17 






19 


3 




13 


1 


27 


21 


5 


29 


47 


7 


31 


45 


11 


33 


43 


0 


35 


41 


55 


25 


39 


53 


0 


37 


0 


0 




49 


0 






51 





59 

0 


57 


No. II. 


$3 


19 

7 





14 





18 


3 



15 


2 


35 

22 


6 


34 



10 


31 


46 

11 


30 


43 



27 


42 


55 

26 


39 


54 



38 


0 


0 



50 


0 





51 




47 

0 

0 


59 

0 


68 


No. III. 

14 

13 7 

21 4 37 

23 5 36 47 

20 6 31 46 60 

22 12 30 45 0 55 

15 29 44 0 0 

28 39 54 0 

38 0 0 

52 0 


53 


874 


APPENDIX. 


No. IV. 


25 


27 


42 


27 

12 





14 





15 


10 



U 


8 


41 

26 


9 


40 



11 


31 


46 

13 


30 


45 



29 


44 


0 

28 


43 


57 



42 


0 


24 



56 


0 





58 




No. V. 

22 


0 


0 


56 

No. VI. 


47 

0 

0 






38 







40 


34 





39 


32 


49 



41 


35 


48 


55 

43 


37 


47 


54 



33 


46 


53 


0 

36 


45 


52 


0 



44 


51 


57 


0 



50 


0 


0 





56 


0 







58 





60 

0 





24 


17 






26 


16 


49 




23 


18 


48 


55 


25 


20 


31 


54 


60 


21 


30 


53 


0 


19 


29 


52 


58 


0 


28 


51 


57 


0 




50 


0 


0 




68 


60 

0 


59 


59 


You deliver the cards to a person, and desire him to think 
of any number from one to sixty; he is then to look at the 
cards, and say in which cards the number he thought of 
is to be found; and you immediately tell him the number 
thought of. 


APPENDIX. 


875 


Explanation. 

This surprising and ingenious recreation is done by means 
of a key number. There is a key number in every card, viz. 
the last but one in the second row from the top. From this 
explanation the reader will perceive that the key numbers are 
1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32. Now whatever number is fixed on, from 
1 to 60, will be readily found by privately adding together 
the key numbers of the cards that contain the number thought 
on. For instance, suppose a person thinks of number 43 ; he 
looks at the cards, and gives you No. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, as cards 
which contain the number thought on : you expertly perceive 
that the key numbers are 1, 2, 8, 32; which numbers added 
together make 43, the number thought on. Suppose he 
thinks of No. 15, he gives you No. 1, 2, 3, 4: the key num¬ 
bers are 1, 2, 4, 8; which added, make just 15; and so of all 
numbers from 1 to 60. 

This recreation may be varied many ways; as, telling the 
age of a person, &c.; but this is left to the ingenious reader’s 
taste and application. 


Cheap and Easy Method of constructing a Voltaic Pile. 

Mr. Mitchell, in his useful little work on natural philosophy, 
proposes the following cheap and easy method of construct¬ 
ing a Voltaic Pile. Zinc is one of the cheapest of metals, and 
may be easily melted, like lead. Let the student cast twenty 
or thirty pieces, of the size of a penny-piece, which may 
easily be done in moulds made in clay. Let him then get as 
many penny-pieces, and as many pieces of paper, or cloth cut 
in the same shape, and these he must dip in a solution of salt 
and water. In building the pile, let him place a piece of zinc, 
wet paper, (the superabundant water being squeezed out,) after 
which the copper; then zinc, paper, copper, 8tc. until the 
whole be finished. The sides of the pile may be supported 
with rods of glass, or varnished wood, fixed in the board on 
which it is built. The following experiment may then be 
performed :— 

Having wetted both hands, touch the lower part of the pile 
with one hand, and the upper part with the other, constant 
little shocks of electricity will be felt until one hand be 
removed. If the hand be brought back, a similar repetition of 
shocks will be felt. Put a basin of water near the pile, and 
put the left hand into it, holding a wire, one end of which 
touches the top of the battery or pile; then put the end of a 
silver spoon between the lip and the gum, and with the other 
end of the spoon touch the lower part of the pile; a strong 
shock is felt in the gum and in the hand. Take the left hand 
from the water, but still keep hold of the wire, and then 



APPENDIX. 


876 

perform the last experiment in the same manner, and a shock 
will be felt in the gum only. Hold a silver spoon in one 
hand, and touch with it the battery at the lower part, then 
touch the upper part with the tongue; the bitter taste will be 
extreme. 

In performing the above experiments, if, instead of the two 
ends of the pile, the one end and the middle of it be touched, 
the sensations will not be nearly so strong. If the student 
be desirous of having still more sensible proofs of the effect 
of galvanism, let him hold a wire to the top of the battery, 
and let him place one end of a silver spoon to the lower part, 
and the other end within his mouth, so as to touch the gums; 
a severe set of shocks will be felt. In performing this expe¬ 
riment, move the spoon to the roof of the mouth, and a strong 
sensation will be felt. Let the end of the spoon be run up 
the nose so as to touch the cartilaginous bone ; shocks like 
the stabs of a needle will be felt. Let the end of the spoon 
be put under the eye-brow, close to the ball of the eye ; a 
sensation will be felt like the burning of red-hot iron, but 
which ceases the instant the spoon is removed. 


Magnetical Experiments. 

The magnetic attraction will not be destroyed by interpos¬ 
ing obstacles between the magnet and the iron. 

Lay a small needle on a piece of paper, and put a magnet 
under the paper; the needle may be moved backwards and 
forwards. 

Lay the needle on a piece of glass, and put the magnet 
under the glass; it will still attract the needle. The same 
effects will take place if n board be interposed between the 
magnet and the iron. This property of the magnet has afforded 
the means of some very amusing deceptions. 

A little figure of a man has been made to spell a person’s 
name. The hand, in which was a piece of iron, rested on a 
board, under which a person, concealed from view, with a 
powerful magnet, contrived to carry it from letter to letter, 
until the word was made up. 

The figure of a goose or swan, with a piece of iron concealed 
about the head, is set to float in water. A rod, with a con¬ 
cealed magnet at the end, is presented to the bird, and it 
swims after it. The effect is still more amusing, when some 
food is put on the end of the rod. 

The figure of a fish is thrown into the water, with a small 
magnet concealed in its mouth. Of course, if a baited hook 
be suspended near it, the magnet and iron, by mutual attrac¬ 
tion, will bring the fish to the bait. 

Put a piece of iron in one scale of a balance, and an equal 



APPENDIX. 


877 

weight in the other scale ; bring a magnet under the scale 
which contains the iron, and it will draw it. down. Reverse 
this experiment, and put the magnet in the scale, and balance 
it; bring the iron under it, and it will draw down the 
magnet. Suspend a magnet by a string, and bring a piece of 
iron near it, and it will attract. 

If a magnet suspended by one string, and a piece of iron 
suspended by another, be brought near one another, they 
will mutually attract each other, and be drawn to a point 
between. 

Suspend a magnet nicely poised by a thread, and it will 
point north and south, the same end pointing invariably the 
same way. 

Rub a fine needle with a magnet, and lay it gently on the 
surface of the water; it will point north and south. Rub 
various needles with the magnet, and run them through small 
pieces of cork, and put them to swim in water; they will all 
point north and south, and the same end will invariably 
point the same way. This mode of finding the north is some¬ 
times of the utmost service at sea, when the compass is 
destroyed. 

Opposite poles attract; poles of the same name repel. Take 
two magnets, or two needles rubbed with the magnet, and 
bring the north and south poles together, and they attract. 

Bring the north poles near each other, and they repel. 
Bring the south poles near each other, and they repel. Rub 
a needle with a magnet, and run it through a piece of cork, 
and put it to float in water. Hold a north pole of a magnet 
near its north pole, and it will keep flying away to avoid it. 
It may be chased from side to side of a basin. On the other 
hand, an opposite pole will immediately attract. 

Rub four or five needles, and you may lift them up as in a 
string, the north pole of one needle adhering to the south pole 
of another. 

Put a magnet under a piece of glass, and sprinkle iron- 
filings on it; they will arrange themselves in a manner that 
will be very surprising. At each pole will be a vast abundance 
standing erect, and there will be fewer and fewer as they 
recede,°until there are scarcely any in the middle. If the 
iron-filings are sprinkled on the magnet itself, they will arrange 
themselves in a manner very striking. 

Lay a needle exactly between the north and south pole, it 
will move towards neither. 


Artificial Coruscations. 

There is a method of producing artificial coruscations, or 
sparkling fiery meteors, which will be visible not only in the 

5 P 



APPENDIX. 


878 

dark but at noon-day, and that from two liquors actually cold. 
Fifteen grains of solid phosphorus are to be melted in about 
a drachm of water: when this is cold, pour upon it about two 
ounces of oil of vitriol; let these be shaken together, and 
they will at first heat, and afterwards they will throw up fiery 
balls in great numbers, which will adhere like so many stars 
to the sides of the glass, and continue burning for a consider¬ 
able time ; after this, if a small quantity of oil of turpentine 
is poured in, without shaking the phial, the mixture will of 
itself take fire, and burn very furiously. The vessel should 
be large, and open at the top. Artificial coruscations may 
also be produced by means of oil of vitriol and iron, in the 
following manner:—Take a glass body capable of holding 
three quarts ; put into it three ounces of oil of vitriol and 
twelve ounces of water; then warming the mixture a little, 
throw in, at several times, two ounces or more of clean iron- 
filings ; upon this, an ebullition and white vapours will arise ; 
then present a lighted candle to the mouth of the vessel, and 
the vapour will take fire, and will afford a bright illumination, 
or flash like lightning. Applying the candle in this manner 
several times, the effect will always be the same ; and some¬ 
times the fire will fill the whole body of the glass, and even 
circulate to the bottom of the liquor; at others, it will only 
reach a little way down its neck. The great caution to be 
used in this experiment is, in making the vapour of a proper 
heat; for, if too cold, few vapours will arise; and, if made 
too hot, they will come too fast, and only take fire in the neck 
of the glass, w ithout any remarkable coruscation. 


To make an Egg enter a Phial without breaking. 

Let the neck of a phial be ever so strait, an egg will go 
into it without breaking, if it be first steeped in very strong 
vinegar, for in process of time the vinegar does so soften it, 
that the shell will bend and extend lengthways without break¬ 
ing : and when it is in, cold water thrown upon it will recover 
its primitive hardness, and, as Cardan says, its primitive 
figure. 


Light produced by Friction, even under Water . 

Rub two pieces of fine lump sugar together in the dark; 
the effect is produced, but in a much greater degree, by tw T o 
pieces of silex, or quartz: but that which affords the strongest 
light of any thing, is a white quartz* from the Land’s End, 

* The white pebbles found on the banks of the Mersey, although not a 
pure quartz, answer the purpose perfectly well. It is singular, that the 
friction is invariably accompanied by a strong sulphuieous smell. 





t 



DIAGRAMS OF EXPERIMENTS 











































































































































































■ 




' 




































APPENDIX. 879 

considerable quantities of which are brought to Bristol, and 
enter into the composition of china ware. By means of two 
pieces of such quartz, pretty forcibly rubbed together, you 
may distinguish the time of the night by a watch : but, vvhat 
is more suiprising, the same effect is produced equally strong 
v lubbing the pieces of quartz together under w'ater. 


Rosin Bubbles. 

The following account of a simple and curious experiment 
is extracted from a letter written by Mr. Morey, of Oxford, 
New Hampshire, to Dr. Silliman, the editor of the American 
Journal of Science and Arts. 

* If the end of a copper tube, or of a tobacco-pipe stem, be 
dipped in melted rosin, at a temperature a little above that of 
boiling water, taken out and held nearly in a vertical position, 
and blown through, bubbles will be formed of all possible 
sizes, from that of a hen’s egg down to sizes which can 
hardly be discerned by the naked eye; and from their silvery 
lustre, and reflection of the different rays of light, they have 
a pleasing appearance. Some that have been formed these 
eight months, are as perfect as when first made. They gene¬ 
rally assume the form of a string of beads, many of them 
perfectly regular, and connected by a very fine fibre ; but the 
production is never twice alike. If expanded by hydrogen 
gas, they would probably occupy the upper part of the room. 

“ The formation of these bubbles is ascribed to a common 
cause, viz. the distention of a viscous fluid by one that is 
aeriform; and their permanency, to the sudden congelation 
of the rosin thus imprisoning the air by a thin film of solid 
matter, and preventing its escape.” 


A curious Hydraulic Experiment , called the Magical Bottle. 

Take a small bottle, (see Plate) AB, Fig.9, the neck of which 
must be very narrow, and provide a glass vessel, CD, the 
height of which exceeds that of the bottle about two inches; 
fill the bottle, by means of a small funnel, with red wine, and 
place it in the vessel CD, which is to be previously filled with 
w r ater. Then, if the bottle be uncorked, the wine will pre¬ 
sently come out of it, and rise in form of a small column, to 
the surface of the water; and at the same time the water 
entering the bottle, will supply the place of wine ; for water 
being specifically heavier than wine, it will consequently sub¬ 
side to the lowest place, while the other naturally rises to the 
top. 

A similar effect will be produced, if the bottle be filled with 
water, and the vessel with wine, for the bottle being placed 




APPENDIX. 


880 

in the vessel, in an inverted position, the water will descend 
to the bottom of the vessel, and the wine will rise in the hot* 
tie The same effect may also be produced by any other 
liquors, the specific gravities of which are considerably 
-different. 


Another Hydraulic Experiment, called the Miraculous Vessel. 

Take a tin vessel of about six inches in height, and three 
in diameter, having a mouth of only a quarter of an inch 
wide, and in the bottom of the vessel make a number of small 
holes, of a size sufficient to admit a common sewing needle. 

Plunge the vessel into water, with its mouth open, and 
when it is full, cork it, and take it out again ; then, as long 
as the vessel remains corked, no water will come out of it; 
but as soon as it is uncorked, the water will immediately issue 
from the small holes at the bottom. It must be observed, how¬ 
ever, that if the holes at the bottom of the vessel be more 
than one-sixth of an inch in diameter, or if they be too 
numerous, the experiment will not succeed ; for, in this case, 
the pressure of the air against the bottom of the vessel will 
not be sufficient to confine the water. 


A curious Hydraulic Experiment, called Tantalus's Cup. 

Take a glass, or any other vessel, (see Plate) ABCD, fig. 10. 
which has a small bent pipe, EFG, open at each end, running 
through the middle of it; then, if water or wine be poured into 
the glass, it will continue in it till the tube is full up to the bend 
F, which should be a little lower than the upper edge of the 
glass; but if, after this, you continue to pour more liquor 
into it, it will endeavour, as usual, to rise higher in the glass, 
but not finding room for a farther ascent in the tube, it will 
descend through the part EG, and run out at the end G, as 
long as you continue to put it in. To those who are unac¬ 
quainted with the nature of the syphon, the effect may perhaps 
appear something more extraordinary, if the longest branch 
of the tube be concealed in the handle of the cup. 

This is called the cup of Tantalus, from its resemblance to 
an experiment of the same kind, by placing an upright image 
in the cup, and disposing the syphon in such a manner 
that, as soon as the water rises to the chin of the image, it 
will begin to run out through the longest leg, in the same 
manner as from the cup above-mentioned. 

A curious Chemical Experiment , called the Tree of Diana. 

Make an amalgam, without heat, of two drachms of leaf 
«il ver with one drachm of quicksilver. Dissolve this amalgam 







APPENDIX. 


881 

of two ounces, or a sufficient quantity, of pure nitrous acid 
of i moderate strength : dilute the solution in about a pound 
and a hall ol distilled water, agitate the mixture, and preserve 
it for use in a glass bottle with a ground stopper. When you 
would make your tree, put into a phial the quantity of an 
ounce of the above preparation, and add to it about the size of 
a pea of amalgam of gold or silver, as soft as butter: the 
vessel must then be left at rest, and soon afterwards small 
filaments will appear to issue out of the ball of amalgam, which 
quickly increase, and shoot out branches in the form of 
shrubs. 

A metallic arborisation, somewhat similar, may be produced 
in the following manner:—Dissolve a little sugar of lead in 
water, and fill a phial with the solution. Pass a wire through 
the cork, and affix to the upper part of the wire a small bit of 
silver, or zinc, in such a manner that it may be immersed in 
the solution not far from its surface. Set the phial in some 
place where it may remain undisturbed, and in about twenty- 
four hours you will perceive the lead beginning to shoot round 
the wire: this process will continue going on slowly, till you 
have a beautiful metallic tree. If you have a wide-mouthed 
phial, or glass jar, the experiment may be pleasingly diversi¬ 
fied, by arranging the wire in various forms. 


A remarkable Experiment, called Prince Ruperds Drops. 

Take up a small quantity of the melted matter of glass with 
a tube, and let a drop of it fall into a vessel of water. This 
drop will have a small tail, which, being broken, the whole 
substance of the drop will burst, with great violence, into a fine 
powder, and give a little pain to the hand, but do no hurt to it. 

It is a remarkable circumstance in this experiment, that the 
bulb, or body, will bear the stroke of a hammer, without 
breaking; but when the tail is broken, the above-mentioned 
effect is produced. If the drop be cooled in the air, the same 
effect will not take place; and if it be ground away on a 
stone, nothing extraordinary appears; but if it be put into 
the receiver of an air-pump, and then broken, the effect will 
be so violent as to produce light. 


How to make Sympathetic Inks of various Kinds. 

By sympathetic inks, are meant those kinds of liquors, with 
which if any characters be written, they will remain invisible, 
till some method is used to give them a colour. 

The first class of these inks consists of such as become 
visible by pas-sing another liquor over them, or by exposing 
them to the vapour of that liqv> r. 




APPENDIX. 


The second, of those which do not appear so long as they 
are kept close, but soon become visible on being exposed to 
the air. 

The third, of such as become apparent by strewing or sift¬ 
ing some very fine powder over them. 

The fourth, of those which do not become visible till they 
are exposed to the fire, or heated. 

The fifth, like the fourth, of such as appear by heat, but 
disappear again when the paper becomes cold, or has had a 
sufficient time to imbibe the moisture of the air. 

Sympathetic Inks of the First Class. —Put some litharge into 
strong distilled vinegar, and let it stand for twenty-four hours; 
then strain it off, and, after it is quite settled, put it into a 
bottle closely corked, and preserve it for use. Having done 
this, put into a pint bottle two ounces of quicklime, one 
ounce of orpiment in powder, and as much water as will rise 
two or three fingers , breadth above them; and when the 
solution is made, pour the liquid gently off, and let it stand in 
the sun for two or three days, observing to turn it five or six 
times each day. 

When these liquors are ready for use, any letters written 
by the first, being exposed to the vapours of the second, will 
quickly become visible; and if you would have them disap¬ 
pear again, you must draw a sponge, or pencil, dipt in aqua¬ 
fortis, or spirit of nitre, over them: and if, after this, you would 
have them appear again, stay till the paper is quite dry, and 
then pass the vivifying liquor, made of the solution of orpi¬ 
ment, over them, as before. 

Another Ink oj this Class. —Dissolve bismuth in the nitrous 
acid, and any letters written with this ink will become quite 
black, by being exposed to the vapour of liver of sulphur, 
which is of so penetrating a nature, that it will act upon 
the ink through a quire of paper, or even the slight partition 
of a room. 

A Sympathetic Gold Ink of the Second Class. —Put as much 
gold into a small quantity of aqua-regia as will dissolve it, 
and then dilute it with two or three times as much distilled 
water. 

Also dissolve, in a separate vessel, fine pewter in aqua- 
regia; and when it is well saturated, add to it an equal quan¬ 
tity of distilled water. 

Then, if any characters be written with the solution of gold, 
put them in the shade till they become quite dry, and they 
will not appear for the first seven or eight hours, but if you 
dip a pencil, or small fine sponge, in the solution of pewter, 
and draw it lightly over the invisible characters, they will pre¬ 
sently appear of a purple colour. 

The purp e colour of these letters may be effaced again bv 


A P 1> E N D I X . 


883 

wetting them with aqua-regia, and may be produced a second 
time, by passing the solution of pewter over them as before. 

A Sympathetic Ink oj the Second Class. —Dissolve fine silver 
in aqua-tortis, and add some distilled water to the solution, 
in the same manner as in the gold ink ; then, whatever is 
written with this ink, will remain invisible for three or four 
months, if it be kept close from the air; but if it be exposed 
to the sun, it will appear in about an hour, of a gray colour, 
like that of a slate. 

Sympathetic Inks oj the Third Class, —or such as become 
visible by having any fine powder strewed over them,—may 
be composed of the glutinous and colourless juice of any 
vegetable, the milk of animals, and several other sub¬ 
stances. 

Sympathetic Inks of the Fourth Class— are made by diluting 
acid of vitriol with about three times its weight of common 
water, or as much as will prevent it from corroding the paper. 
The juice of lemons, or onions, will answer the same purpose; 
but either of them requires more heat than the first, and will 
not keep so long. 

A Green Ink of the Fifth Class. —Take zaffre in powder, and 
let it remain dissolved in aqua-regia for twenty-four hours; 
after w hich pour the liquor off clear, and, adding to it as much 
common water, keep it in a bottle well corked. Then, if any 
characters be w'ritten with this ink, and exposed to the fire, 
or strong rays of the sun, they will appear of a lively green. 

It is the peculiar property of this ink, that as soon as the 
paper becomes cold again, the letters will disappear; and this 
alternate appearance and disappearance may be repeated a 
great number of times, provided the heat be not too great. 


Other Sympathetic Inks. 

A Yellow Ink of this kind may be made, by steeping the 
flowers of marigolds seven or eight days in clear distilled 
vinegar, and then pressing them out, and keeping the liquor 
well corked in a bottle for use. 

For a Red invisible Ink ,—takt ...e pure spirit of vitriol, oi 
that of nitre, and add to it eight or ten times as much water, 
according as you would have it more or less red. 

For a Green Ink of this sort, —dissolve salt of tartar, the 
clearest and driest you can procure, in a sufficient quantity of 
river water; and for a Violet sympathetic Ink , express the juice 
of lemons, and keep it in a bottle well corked. 

Then, if any characters be written with one of these inks, 
they will appear in their proper colours, the paper having been 
dipped in the following liquor. 

Take a sufficient quantity of the flowers of pansies, or 



APPENDIX. 


884 

common violets, and after adding some water to them, strain 
the liquor through a cloth, and keep it in a bottle for use. 


A Sympathetic Ink which appears by being wetted ic»th Water . 

Mix alum with a sufficient quantity of lemon juice; then, 
if any letters or characters be written with this mixture, they 
will be invisible till they are wetted with water, which will 
make them appear of a grayish colour, and quite transparent. 

Or, you may write with a strong solution of roch-alum only, 
and when the writing is dry, pour a small quantity of water 
over it, and it will appear of a white colour, like that of the 
paper before it was wetted. 

Also all saline liquors,^such as vitriolic, nitrous, and marine 
acids, diluted with water, the liquor of fixed vegetable alkalis, 
and even vinegar, will produce the same effect. 

If a little aqua-fortis be mixed with the water, the writing 
will dry well, and not run out of its form when the paper is 
A-etted. 


A curious Recreation with Sympathetic Ink , called the Book oj 

Fate. 

Make a book, consisting of seventy or eighty leaves, and 
in the cover at the end of it, let there be a case which opens 
next to the back, that it may not be perceived. At the top 
of each right-hand page, write any question you please ; and 
at the beginning of the book, let there be a table of those 
questions, w'ith the number of the pages in which each is to 
be found. Then write with common ink on separate papers, 
each about half the size of the pages, the same questions that 
are in the book ; and under each of them, write the answer 
with the ink made with the litharge of lead, or the solution 
of bismuth. 

Soak a double paper in the vivifying ink, made of quick¬ 
lime and orpiment, or the liver of sulphur; and just before 
you make the experiment, place it in the case that is in the 
cover of the book. 

Having done this, deliver some of the papers on which the 
questions are written, to the company ; and after they have 
chosen such as they wish to have answered, let them put 
them into those leaves where the same questions are con¬ 
tained; then shutting the book fora few minutes, the sulphu¬ 
reous spirit, with which the paper in the cover of the book 
is impregnated, will penetrate the leaves, and make the 
answer visible, which will be of a brown colour, and more 
or less deep, in proportion to the time the book has been 
closed. 




APPEN DIX. 


885 


A curious Recreation, called the Transcolor at ed Writing. 

AVrite on a paper, with a violet-coloured liquor, as many 
letters or words as you please, and ask any person which he 
will choose to have the writing,—yellow, green, or red. When 
he has made his choice, have a sponge ready with three sides, 
which you can easily distinguish, and dip each of its sides 
in one ot the three sympathetic inks; then draw the side of 
the sponge which corresponds to the colour the person has 
chosen, over the writing, once only, and it will directly 
change to the colour required. 


An Experiment with Sympathetic Ink, called the Oracular Tetters. 

Write on several slips of paper different questions, and 
such as may be answered by the name of some person: for 
example. Who is the merriest man in company?— Answer, 
Mr. ### . To whom will Miss be married?— Answer, To 
Mr. These questions are to be written in the sympa¬ 

thetic ink of the fourth class, and exposed to the fire, and the 
answers written in the same ink, and left invisible. The 
papers are then to be folded in the form of letters, and in 
such a manner, that the part where the name is written shall 
be directly under the seal; in which case, the heat of the 
wax will make it visible. Then, if the letter be given to the 
person who requires the answer, he will find it plainly 
written. 


An Experiment with Sympathetic Ink, called Winter changed to 

Spring. 

Take a print which represents winter, and trace over the 
trees, plants, and ground, with the green sympathetic ink ; 
observing to make some parts deeper than others, according 
to their distance. When those parts are dry, paint the other 
objects in their natural colours; then put the print into a 
glazed frame, and cover the back of it with a paper, pasted 
over its border only. When this print is exposed to the heat 
of a moderate fire, or to the warm rays of the sun, all the 
grass and foliage will turn to a pleasing green ; and if a yellow 
tint be given to some parts of the print, before the sympathetic 
ink be drawn over it, the green will be of different shades, 
and the scene, that a minute before represented Winter, will 
now be changed into Spring. When this print is placed in 
the cold. Winter will appear again, and be again driven away 
by the warm rays of the sun ; and this alternate change of 
seasons may be repeated as often as you please, provided the 
print be not made too hot. 

5 Q 




886 


appendix. 


A remarkable Experiment , called the Revivified Rose, 

Take a rose that is quite faded, and throw in some common 
sulphur in a chafing-dish of hot coal. Hold the rose over the 
fumes, and it will become quite white; then dip it into a 
basin of water, and giving it to any one, tell him to put it 
into his box or drawer, and after locking it, to give you the 
key. About five or six hours afterwards, return him the key, 
and when he unlocks his drawer, instead of the white rose he 
put into it, he will find one perfectly red. 


How to Write on Glass by means of the Rays of the Sun. 

Dissolve chalk in aqua-fortis, to the consistence of milk, 
and add to it a strong solution of silver; keep this liquor in a 
glass decanter, well stopped, and cutting out from a paper 
the letters you wish to appear, paste it on the decanter, and 
place it in the sun, in such a manner, that its rays may pass 
through the spaces cut out of the paper, and fall on the sur¬ 
face of the liquor; then will that part of the glass through 
which the rays pass be turned black, while that under the 
paper will remain white; but particular care must be taken 
that the bottle be not moved during the time of the opera¬ 
tion. 


To produce different Colours, by pouring a colourless Liquor 

into a clean Glass. 

Take a strong solution of quicksilver, made with spirit of 
nitre; dilute it with water, and pour it into a hot glass, rinsed 
in strong spirit of sea-salt, and it will instantly become co¬ 
loured. Or, if a solution of silver, made with spirit of nitre, 
considerably diluted, be poured into a glass, prepared in the 
manner above-mentioned, it will produce the same effect. 
And if you pour hot water upon new-made crocus metallorum , 
and put it into a clean glass, rinsed with any acid, it will pro¬ 
duce an orange colour. 

O 


To produce a Colour which appears and disappears by the 

Influence of the Air. 

Put into a decanter some volatile spirit, in which you have 
dissolved copper filings, and you will have a fine blue tinc¬ 
ture ; and if the bottle be stopped, the colour will soon return 
again ; and this experiment may be repeated a considerable 
number of times. 





APPEN lA. 


887 


To turn a colourless Liquor Black, by addins a White Powder 

to it. 

Put a hot weak pellucid infusion of galls intv a glass, and 
throw into it a grain of the vitriol of iron, calcined to white¬ 
ness and considerably heated ; then, as it falls to the bottom, 
it will make a black cloud, which will uniformly diffuse itself 
through the transparent liquor, and gradually turn it black. 

, e . sa [ n f e j\ ect may also be produced by the addition of a 
little vitriol of iron calcined to a yellow colour, or by the col- 
cothar of vitriol calcined to redness. 

The black liquor, produced as above, may be rendered 
pellucid again, by pouring the liquor hot into a glass rinsed 
with the pure acid of vitriol. And to make this transparent 
liquor black again, pour to it as much hot oil of tartar per 

deliquium as will saturate the acid, which has attracted the 
metallic matter. 


Freezing Mixture . 

In the time of snow, a freezing mixture may easily be made, 
v mixing a little snow and common salt in a basin near the 
fire. If water in an iron cup or phial be put into this mixture, 
it will immediately be frozen ; and if pounded ice and common 
salt be added, it will have a still more powerful effect. 


Experiments icith the Microscope. 

They who possess this amusing instrument, may easily per 
form with it a variety of pleasing experiments ; among others, 
the following :—Leave some vinegar exposed in a saucer, for a 
few days, to the open air; then place a drop of it, by means of 
a clean pen, or a camel’s hair brush, on the transparent object- 
plate of the microscope; and if the object-plate be properly 
illuminated from below, you will observe in this drop of 
liquor animals resembling some small eels, which are in con¬ 
tinual motion. 

If you slightly bruise some pepper-corns, and infuse them 
in water for a few days, and then expose a drop of it to the 
microscope, a number of animals of a different kind will be 
visible. These are of an oblong shape, and, like the others, 
in continual motion, going backwards and forwards in all di¬ 
rections, turning aside when they meet each other, or when 
their passage is stopped by some obstacle. 

In otner infusions, as in that of new hay, differently shaped 
animalcules will be found. When the drop in which they 
swim, and w’hich to them is like a pond, becomes diminished 
Dy evaporation, they gradually retire towards the middle, 




appendix. 


888 

where they accumulate, and at length perish when entirely 
deprived of moisture. Previously to this, they appear in great 
distress, writhe their bodies, and endeavour to escape from 
that state of uneasiness which they evidently feel. 

If the smallest quantity or drop of sulphuric acid be put 
into a drop of the infusion which swarms with these insects, 
they immediately throw themselves on their backs, and expire ; 
sometimes losing their skin, which bursts, and suffers small 
particles of air to escape. 

Those who wish to be furnished with microscopic eels, at 
all seasons, may have them in common paste, such as the 
bookbinders commonly use. It should neither be too stiff, 
nor too watery. Expose it to the air, and prevent its harden¬ 
ing or becoming mouldy on the surface, by beating it well 
together, when it has that tendency. After some days it will 
become sour; and then, if examined attentively by a micro¬ 
scope, multitudes of exceedingly small, long, and slender 
animalcules will be visible; these will grow larger, till they 
are of sufficient size to be seen by the naked eye. A drop or 
two of vinegar should now and then be poured on the paste ; 
and sometimes, to prevent its being dry, a little vinegar and 
water. By this means microscopic eels may be had all the 
year. They must be applied to the microscope upon any flat 
surface, after having first put on it a very small drop of water 
for them to swim in. These are very entertaining objects 
when examined by any kind of microscope, but particularly 
the solar one, by which the motions of their intestines may 
very plainly be distinguished ; and when the water is nearly 
dried away, and they are on the point of expiring, their 
mouths may be seen opening to a considerable width. 

If some of the dust of the puff-ball be examined w’ith the 
microscope, it appears to consist of perfectly round globules, 
of an orange colour, the diameter of which is only about the 
one-fiftieth part of the thickness of a hair, so that each of 
this giain is but the part of a globulff, equal in dia¬ 

meter to the breadth of a hair. 

The farina of flowers is found to be regularly or uniformly 
organized in each kind of plant. In the mallow, for example, 
each grain is an opaque ball, covered over with small points. 
The farina of the tulip, and of most of the liliaceous kind of 
flcwers, bears a striking resemblance to the seeds of the 
cucumber : that of the poppy is like grains of barley. 

There are certain plants, the leaves of which seem to be 
pierced with a multitude of small holes. Of this kind is the 
St. John’s Wort. If a fragment of this be viewed with a good 
microscope, the supposed holes are found to be vesicles, 
contained in the thickness of the leaf, and covered with an 
exceedingly thin membrane; and these are thought to be the 


APFEN D1X. 


889 

receptacles which contain the essential \nd aromatic oil pecu¬ 
liar to the plant. The view exhibited by those plants which 
have down, such as borage, nettles, &.c. is exceedingly curious. 
When examined by a microscope, they appear to be covered 
with spikes. Th ose of borage ar^, for the most part, bent so 
as to form an elbow ; and though really so close, they appeal* 
by the microscope, to be at a considerable distance from each 
other. The entire appearance is very similar to that of the 
skin of a porcupine. 

ihere are two kinds of sand, viz. the calcareous and the 
vitreous : the former, examined with a microscope, resembles 
large irregular fragments of rock ; but the latter appears like 
so many rough diamonds. Tn some instances, the particles 
of sand seem to be highly polished and brilliant, like an 
assemblage of diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. 

Charcoal is a fine object for the microscope : it is found to 
be full of pores, regularly arranged, and passing through its 
whole length. 

Those who wish to observe the circulation of the blood, by 
means of the microscope, may readily obtain the desired sa¬ 
tisfaction. An object employed chiefly for this purpose is the 
delicate transparent membrane which unites the toes of the 
frog; another object is the tail of the tadpole. If this mem¬ 
brane be extended, and fixed on a piece of glass illuminated 
below, the motion of the blood in the vessels will be distinctly 
visible ; the appearance resembles a number of small islands, 
with a rapid current flowing between them. 

Take a small tadpole, and, having wrapped its body in a 
piece of moist cloth, place its tail on the object-plate of the 
microscope, and enlighten it below, and you will see very 
distinctlv the circulation of the blood ; which in some of the 
vessels proceeds by a kind of undulation, and in others with 
a uniform motion. The former are thought to be the arteries 
in which the blood moves, in consequence of the alternate 
pulsation of the heart; the latter are said to be the veins. 
The circulation of the blood may be seen also in the legs and 
tails of shrimps. The transparent legs of small spiders, and 
those of bugs, will also afford the means of observing the 
circulation of the blood to very great advantage. The latter 
are said, by Mr. Baker, to exhibit an extraordinary vibration 
of the vessels, which he never saw any where else. Very 
small fish are good objects for this purpose; but the most 
curious of all spectacles of this kind, is that exhibited by the 
mosentery of a living frog, applied in particular to the solar 
microscope. 

If you take off'a small piece of the epidermis, or scarf skin, 
of the hand, by means of a sharp razor, and place it on the 
object-plate of the microscope, you will see it covered with a 


390 


APPENDIX. 


multitude of small scales, so exceedingly minute, that, accord 
ing to Leuwenhoek, a grain of sand would cover two hundred 
of them. These scales are arranged like those on the back of 
fishes, like the tiles of a house, each in part covering the 
other. To ascertain the form of these little scales, scrape the 
skin with a penknife, and put this dust into a drop of water, and 
it will be seen that these scales, small as they are, have, in gene¬ 
ral, five planes, and that each consists of several strata. Under¬ 
neath these scales are the pores of the epidermis, which, when 
the former are removed, may be distinctly seen, apparently 
like small holes, pierced with an exceedingly fine needle. In 
the length of an inch, twelve hundred have been counted, so 
that, in a surface equal to a square inch, there are fourteen 
thousand ; and as there are one hundred and forty-four inches 
in a square foot, the number of pores in a square foot of sur¬ 
face would be more than two millions ; and as the surface of 
the human body is reckoned at fourteen feet, the number of 
pores in its surface, through which there is a perpetual perspi¬ 
ration going on, must be more than twenty-eight millions. 

The hairs of animals, seen through a microscope, appear 
to be organized bodies : they are composed of long, slender, 
hollow tubes; some seem to be composed of several small 
hairs, covered with a common bark; others are hollow 
throughout. The bristles of a cat’s whisker, when cut trans¬ 
versely, exhibit the appearance of a medullary part, which 
occupies the middle, like the pith in the twig of the elder- 
tree. A human hair, cut in the same manner, shews a variety 
of vessels in very regular figures. Hair taken from the head, 
the eyebrows, the nostrils, the beard, the hand, &c. appear 
unlike, as well in the roots as in the hairs themselves, and 
vary as plants do of the same genus, but of different species. 
Those of the hedgehog contain a kind of real marrow, which 
is whitish, and formed of radii meeting in a centre. A split 
hair appears like a stick shivered with beating. 

Nothing can be more curious than the appearance exhibited 
by mouldiness, when viewed through a microscope. If looked 
at by the naked eye, it seems nothing but an irregular tissue 
of filaments; but the magnifying-glass shews it to be a forest 
of small plants, which derive their nourishment from the moist 
substance which serves them as a base. The stems of these 
plants may be plainly distinguished, and sometimes the 1 
buds, some shut, and some open. They have much similarity 
to mushrooms, the tops of which, when they come to matu¬ 
rity, emit an exceedingly fine dust, which is their seed. 

Upon examining the edge of a very keen razor with a mi¬ 
croscope, it will appear as broad as the back of a thick knife, 
rough, uneven, full of notches and furrows. An exceedingly 
small need e resembles a rough iron bar. But the sting of a bee. 


APPENIIX 


891 

Been through the same instrument, exhibits every where a 
polish exceedingly beautiful, without the least flaw, blemish, 
or inequality, and ends in a point too fine to be discerned. 

A small piece of exceedingly fine lawn, appears, through a 
microscope, like a hurdle or lattice, and the threads them¬ 
selves seem coarser than the yarn with which ropes are made 
for anchors. But a silkworm’s web appears perfectly smooth 
and shining, and every where equal. 

The smallest dot that can be made with a pen, appears, 
when viewed by the microscope, an irregular spot, rough, 
jagged, and uneven. But the little specks on the wings or 
bodies of insects, are found to be most accurately circular. 

A microscope will prove the most boasted performances of 
art to be ill-shaped, rugged, and uneven. The finest minia¬ 
ture paintings appear before this instrument as mere daubings, 
plastered on with a trowel, entirely void of beauty, either in 
the drawing or the colouring. The most even and beautiful 
varnishes and polishings will be found to be mere roughness, 
full of gaps and flaws. Thus sink the works of art, before the 
microscopic eye. But the nearer we examine the w’orks of 
God, even in the least of his productions, the more sensible 
shall we be of his wisdom and power. Apply the microscope 
to any, the most minute of his works, nothing is to be found 
but beauty and perfection. If we examine the numberless 
species of insects that swim, creep, or fly around us, what 
proportion, exactness, uniformity, and symmetry, shall we 
perceive in all their organs! what a profusion of colouring! 
azure, green, and vermilion, gold, silver, pearls, rubies, and 
diamonds; fringe and embroidery on their bodies, wings, 
heads, and every other part! how high the finishing, how 
inimitable the polish, we every where behold! 

Their wings, all glorious to behold! 

Bedeck’d with azure, jet, and gold, 

Wide they display : the spangled dew 
Reflects their eyes and various hue. Gay. 

The most perfect works of art betray a meanness, a poverty, 
an inability in the workman; but the works of nature plainly 
prove, that “ the hand which formed them was divine.” 


Amusing Experiments with the Thermometer. 

A thermometer is amusing in a room, to enable us to know 
with accuracy the real degree of heat, as our own feelings are 
so very deceptive. According to their state of health at the 
time, different persons will give a different judgment on the 
subject. After hot weather, a day which is not very cold, 
will yet feel so to us, and after cold weather we shall be ready 
to think a day warm, which is not so severe as the preceding 



APPENDIX 


892 

In winter, a thermometer in a sitting room enables us to regu¬ 
late its heat. Too great warmth produced by a fire is injuri¬ 
ous to health, as it relaxes the strength, and consumes the 
pure oxygenous air, so necessary for respiration. 

Experiments will shew how differently the feelings of dif¬ 
ferent individuals may be affected by the same degree of 
heat. 

Let one person go out into the cold air in winter for a few 
minutes, and let another sit by a warm fire ; then introduce 
both into a room without a fire : the person from the cold will 

feel it warm, and the other will feel it cold. 

* «* 

A much more entertaining experiment will shew, that what 
will be cold to the one hand, will be warm to the other. Pour 
warm water into one basin, cold water into a second, and a 
mixture of hot and cold water into a third ; then put the one 
hand into the cold water, and the other into the warm, for 
two minutes, and after that put both hands into the luke¬ 
warm water, and to the one hand it will feel cold, and to the 
other hot. 


THE BAROMETER. 

Rules for judging of and predicting the State of the Weather 

by the Barometer. 

The rising of the mercury presages, in general, fair weather, 
and its falling, foul weather, as rain, snow, high winds, and 
storms. 

When the surface of the mercury is convex, or stands 
higher in the middle than at the sides, it is a sign the mercury 
is then in a rising state ; but if the surface be concave, or 
hollow in the middle, it is then sinking. 

In very hot weather, the falling of the mercury indicates 
thunder. 

In winter, the rising presages frost; and in frosty weather, 
if the mercury falls three or four divisions, there will be a 
thaw. But in a continued frost, if the mercury rises, it will 
certainly snow. 

When wet weather happens soon after the depression of the 
mercury, expect but little of it; on the contrary, expect but 
little fair weather, when it proves fair shortly after the mercury 
has risen. 

In wet weather, when the mercury rises mucn and high, 
and so continues for two or three days before the bad weather 
is entirely over, then a continuance of fair weather may be 
expected. 

In fair weather, when the mercury falls much and low, and 
thus continues for two or three days before the rain comes, 
then a deal of wet may be expected, and probably high winds. 



APPENDIX. 


893 


The unsettled motion of the mercury denotes unsettled 
weather. 

ihe words engraved on the scale are not so much to be 
attended to, as the rising and falling of the mercury ; for if it 
stands at much rain, and then rises to changeable, it denotes 
fair weather, though not to continue so long as if the mercury 
had risen higher. 

If the mercury stands at fair, and falls to changeable, bad 
weather may be expected. 

In winter, spring, and autumn, the sudden falling of the 
mercury, and that for a large space, denotes high winds and 
storms; but in summer it presages heavy showers, and often 
th under. It always sinks very low for great winds, though 
not accompanied with rain; but it falls more for wind and 
rain together, than for either of them alone. 

If, after rain, the wind change into any part of the north, 
with a clear and dry sky, and the mercury rise, it is a certain 
sign of fair weather. 

After very great storms of wind, when the mercury has been 
low, it commonly rises again very fast. 

In settled fair vyeather, except the mercury sink much, 
expect but little rain. 

In a wet season, the smallest depression must be attended 
to; for when the air is much inclined to showers, a little 
sinking in the barometer denotes more rain. And in such a 
season, if it rise suddenly fast and high, fair weather cannot 
be expected to last more than a day or two. 

The greatest heights of the mercury are found upon easterly 
and north-easterly winds; and it may often rain or snow, the 
wind being in these points, while the barometer is in a rising 
state, the effects of the wind counteracting its influence. But 
the mercury sinks for wind as well as rain in all other points 
of the compass. 


New Method of Preserving Birds.—(From the Annual Register.) 

When I receive a bird fresh taken, (says the author,) I open 
the venter, from the lower part of the breast-bone down to 
the a nus, with a pair of scissars, and extract all the contents. 
This cavity I immediately fill up with the following mixture, 
and then bring the wound together by a suture, so as to pre¬ 
vent the stuffing from coming out. The gullet or passage I 
fill, from the beak down to where the stomach .ies, with the 
mixture finer ground, which must be forced down a little 
at a time, by the help of a quill or wire: the head I open 
near the root of the tongue, with the scissars., and, after hav¬ 
ing turned out the brains, I fill the cavity with the sama 
mixture. 

5 R 



APPENDIX 


894 

The bird being thus filled, must now be hung up by the legs 
to dry for two days, to let the spice settle; after which it may 
be placed in a frame to dry, in the same attitude as we 
usually see it when alive. In this frame it must be held up 
by two threads, the one passing from the anus to the lower 
part of the back, and the other through the eyes : the ends 
of these threads are to brace the bird up to its proper attitude, 
fasten them to the side of the frame, and place it on a chip 
pill-box. It will now require no other support than a pin 
through each foot, fastened into the box: it must remain a 
month or two to dry. The eyes must be supplied by propor¬ 
tional glass beads, fixed in with strong gum-water. 

The mixture is: common salt, one pound ; alum, powdered, 
four ounces; ground pepper, two ounces; all blended toge¬ 
ther. 


To take the Impression of the Wings of a Butterfly in all their 

Colours. 

Kill it without spoiling; cut off the body close to the 
wings, which contrive to spread in a flying position ; then 
take a piece of white paper, wash part of it with thick gum- 
water; when dry, lay it on a smooth board, with the wings 
on the gum-water; lay another paper over this, press both 
very hard, let them remain under pressure for an hour; after¬ 
wards take off the wings of the butterfly, and you will find a 
perfect impression of them, with all their various colours, 
remaining on the paper. Draw, between the wings of the im¬ 
pression, the body of the butterfly, and colour it after life. 


To take the Impression of a Leaf of any Tree, Plant, or Shrub , 

with all its Veins. 

Having put the intended leaf into a book for a few minutes, 
which will cause it to lie very flat, you must have a pair of 
balls, somewhat of the shape of those used by printers ; have 
them covered with kid-skin, that being the best leather for 
the purpose. These balls may be made to any size. Ycra 
must then procure some lamp-black, ground or mixed with 
drying oil, and having put a small quantity on one of the balls, 
spread it all over with the other till they are both black ; then 
laying the leaf on one of them, place the other over it, and 
press both very hard together. When the leaf is sufficiently 
black, take it off the ball, and place it between a sheet of 
white paper. Press it gently with your hand, the heat and 
pressure of which will cause it to receive an accurate delinea¬ 
tion of all its veins. 




APPENDIX. 


895 

Instead of black, any other colour may be used. Verdigris 
makes a pleasant green; and by adding yellow ochre, or 
Prussian blue, you may approach the original tint of the leaf, 
and your impression will almost equal that of nature. 


Curious Experiments respecting Colours. 

The following curious and useful remarks on the different 
degrees of heat imbibed from the sun’s rays, 8cc. by cloths of 
different colours, were extracted from “ Experiments and Ob¬ 
servations,” by that famous American philosopher and politi¬ 
cian, Dr. B. Franklin. 

e * First, let me mention an experiment you may easily make 
yourself. Walk but a quarter of an hour in your garden when 
the sun shines, with a part of your dress white, and a part 
black; then apply your hand to them alternately, and you 
will find a very great difference in their warmth. The black 
will be quite hot to the touch, the white still cool. 

“Another. Try to fire paper with a burning-glass. If it 
be white, you will not easily burn it; but if you bring the 
focus to a black spot, or upon letters written or printed, the 
paper will immediately be on fire under the letters. 

“Th us fullers and dyers find thatblack cloths, of equal thick¬ 
ness with white ones, and hung out equally wet, dry in the 
sun much sooner than the white, being more readily heated by 
the sun’s rays. It is the same before a fire; the heat of 
which sooner penetrates black stockings than white ones, and 
is apt sooner to burn a man’s shins. Also beer much 
sooner warms in a black mug set before the fire, than in a 
white one, or in a bright silver tankard. 

“ My experiment was this : I took a number of little square 
pieces of broad cloth from a tailor’s pattern-card, of various co¬ 
lours. There was black, deep blue, lighter blue, green, purple, 
red,yellow, white,andother colours,orshades of colours. I laid 
them all out upon the snow in a bright sunshiny morning. In 
a few hours, (I cannot now be exact as to the time,) the black 
being warmed most by the sun, was sunk so low as to be 
below the stroke of the sun’s rays; the dark blue almost as 
low, the lighter blue not quite so low as the dark, the other 
colours less as they were lighter; and the quite white remained 
on the surface of the snow, not having entered it at all. 

“ What signifies philosophy that does not apply to some 
use? May we not learn from hence, that black cloths are not 
so fit to wear in a hot sunny climate, or season, as white ones; 
because, in such clothes the body is more heated by the sun 
when we walk abroad, and are at the same time heated by the 
exercise, which double heat is apt to bring on putrid dan¬ 
gerous fevers?—that soldiers and seamen, who must march 



A P r E N D 1 X . 


89 6 

and labour m the sun, should, in t»he East or West Indies, 
have a uniform of white?—that summer hats for men or 
women, should be white, as repelling that heat which gives 
head-achs to many, and to some the fatal stroke that the 
French call the coup de solid ?—that the ladies’ summer 
hats, however, should be lined with black, as not reverberat¬ 
ing on their faces those rays which are reflected upwards from 
the earth or water?—that the putting a white cap of paper or 
linen, within the crown of a black hat, as some do, will not 
keep out the heat, though it would if placed without?—that 
fruit-walls being blackened, may receive so much heat from the 
sun in the day-time, as to continue warm, in some degree, 
through the night, and thereby preserve the fruit from frosts, 
or forward its growth?—with sundry other particulars, of less 
or greater importance, that will occur from time to time to 
attentive minds?” 


Thirty Soldiers having deserted, so to place them in a Ring , that 
you may save any Fifteen you please, and it shall seem the 
Effect of Chance. 

This recreation is usually proposed thus: Fifteen Christians 
and fifteen Turks being in a ship at sea, in a violent tempest, 
it was deemed necessary to throw half the number of persons 
overboard, in order to disburden the ship, and save the rest; 
to effect this, it was agreed to be done by lot, in such a man¬ 
ner, that the persons being placed in a ring, every ninth man 
should be cast into the sea, till one half of them were thrown 
overboard. Now, the pilot, being a Christian, was desirous 
of saving those of his own persuasion : how ought he there¬ 
fore to dispose the crew, so that the lot might always fall 
upon the Turks ? 

This question may be resolved by placing the men accord¬ 
ing to the numbers annexed to the vowels in the words of 
the following verse :— 

Po-pu-le-am Jir-gam Ma-ter Re-gi-na fe-re-bat, 

4521 3 1 12 231221 

from which it appears, that you must place four of those you 
would save first; then five of those you would punish. After 
this, two of those to be saved, and one to be punished ; and 
so on. When this is done, you must enter the rrng, and 
beginning with the first of the four men you intend to save, 
count on to nine; and turn this man out to be punished ; then 
count on, in like manner, to the next ninth man, and turn 
him out to be punished ; and so on for the rest. 

It is reported that Josephus, the author of the Jewish His¬ 
tory, escaped the danger of death by means of this problem; 



APPENDIX. 


897 

for being governor of Joppa, at the time that it was taken by 
Vespasian, he was obliged to secrete himself with thirty or 
forty of his soldiers in a cave, where they made a firm reso¬ 
lution to perish by famine rather than fall into the hands of 
the conqueror; but being at length driven to great distress, 
they would have destroyed each other for sustenance, had not 
Josephus persuaded them to die by lot, which he so ordered, 
that all of them were killed except himself and another, whom 
he might easily destroy, or persuade to yield to the Romans. 


Three Persons having each chosen , privately , one out of three 
Things,—to tell them which they have chosen. 

Let the three things, for instance, be a ring, a guinea, and 
a shilling, and let them be known privately to yourself by the 
vowels a, e, i, of which the first, a, signifies one, the second, 
e, two, and the third, i , three. 

Then take 24 counters, and give the first person 1, which 
signifies a, the second 2, which represents e, and the third 3, 
which stands fori; then, leavingthe other counters upon the 
table, retire into another room, and bid him who has the 
ring take as many counters from the table as you gave him; 
he that has the guinea, twice as many, and he that has the 
shilling four times as many. 

This being done, consider to whom you gave one counter, 
to whom two, and to whom three ; and as there were only 
twenty-four counters at first, there must necessarily remain 
either 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, or 7, on the table, or otherwise they 
must have failed in observing the directions you gave them. 

But if either of these numbers remain, as they ought, the 
question may be resolved by retaining in your memory the 
six following words :— 

Salve certci anima semita vita quies . 

1 2 3 5 6 7 

As, for instance, suppose the number that remained was 5 
then the word belonging to it is semita; and as the vowels in 
the first two syllables of this word are e and i, it shews, ac¬ 
cording to the former directions, that he to whom you gave 
two counters has the ring; he to whom you gave three coun 
ters, the gold; and the other person, of course, the silver, it 
being the second vowel which represents 2, and the third 
which represents 3. 


How to part an Eight Gallon Bottle of Wine equally between iivo 
Persons, using onlq two other Bottles , one oj Five Gallons, 
and the other of Three. 

This question is usually proposed in the following manner : 




898 


APPENDIX. 


A certain person having an eight-gallon bottle filled with ex 
cellent wine, is desirous of making a present of half of it to 
one of his friends ; but as he has nothing to measure it out 
with, but two other bottles, one of which contains five gallons, 
and the other three, it is required to find how this may be 
accomplished? 

In order to answer the question, let the eight-gallon bottle 
be called A, the five-gallon bottle B, and the three-gallon 
bottle C ; then, if the liquor be poured out of one bottle into 
another, according to the manner denoted in either of the 
two following examples, the proposed conditions will be an¬ 
swered. 



A Quantity of Eggs being broken, to find how many there utit 
without remembering the Number. 

An old woman, carrying eggs to market in a basket, met 
an unruly fellow, who broke them. Being taken before a 
magistrate, he was ordered to pay for them, provided the 
woman could tell how many she had ; but she could only 
remember, that in counting them into the basket by twos, 
by threes, by fours, by fives, and by sixes, there always re¬ 
mained one; but in counting them in by sevens, there were 
none remaining. Now, in this case, how was the number to 
be ascertained ? 

This is the same thing as to find a number, which being 
divided by 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, there shall remain 1, but being 
divided by 7 there shall remain nothing; and the least num¬ 
ber, which will answer the conditions of the question, is found 
to be 301, which was therefore the number of eggs the old 
woman had in her basket. 


To find the least Number of Weights, that will weigh from One 

Pound to Forty. 

This problem may be resolved by the means of the geome¬ 
trical progression, 1,3,9, 27, 81, &c. the property of which 
is such, that the last sum is twice the number of all the rest. 




APPENDIX. 


899 

and one more; so that the number of pounds being forty, 
which is also the sum of 1, 3, 9, 27, these four weights will 
answer the purpose required. Suppose it was required, for 
example, to weigh eleven pounds by them: you must put 
into one scale the one-pound weight, and into the other the 
three and nine-pound weights, which, in this case, will weigh 
only eleven pounds, in consequence of the one-pound weight 
being in the otherscale; and therefore, if you put any substance 
into the first scale, along with the one-pound weight, and it 
stands in equilibrio with the three and nine in the other scale, 
you may conclude it weighs eleven pounds. 

In like manner, to find a fourteen-pound weight, put into 
one of the scales the one, three, and nine-pound weights, and 
into the other that of twenty-seven pounds, and it will evi¬ 
dently outweigh the other three by fourteen pounds ; and so 
on for any other weight. 


To break a Stick which rests upon two Wine Glasses, without 

injuring the Glasses. 

Take a stick, (see Plate,) AB. fig. 1, of about the size of a 
common broomstick, and lay its two ends, AB, which ought 
to be pointed, upon the edges of two glasses placed upon two 
tables of equal height, so that it may rest lightly on the edge 
of each glass. Then take a kitchen poker, or a large stick, 
and give the other a smart blow, near the middle point c, and 
the stick AB will be broken, without in the least injuring the 
glasses : and even if the glasses be filled with wine, not a 
drop of it will be spilt, if the operation be properly performed. 
But on the contrary, if the stick were struck on the under¬ 
side, so as to drive it up into the air, the glasses woul i be 
infallibly broken. 


A Number of Metals being mixed together in one Mass, to find 

the Quantity of each of them. 

Vitruvius, in his Architecture, reports, that Hiero, king 
of Sicily, having employed an artist to make a crown of pure 
gold, which was designed to be dedicated to the gods, sus¬ 
pected that the goldsmith had stolen part of the gold, and 
substituted silver in its place: being desirous of discovering 
the cheat, he proposed the question to Archimedes, desiring 
to know if he could, by his art, discover whether any other 
metal were mixed with the gold. This celebrated mathema¬ 
tician being soon afterwards bathing himself, observed, that 
as he entered the bath, the water ascended, and flowed out of 
it; and as he came out of it, the water descended in like man¬ 
ner: from which he inferred that if a mass of pure gold, 




APTEN DI <. 


900 


silver, or any other metal, were thrown into a vessel of water, 
the water would ascend in proportion to the bulk of the 
metal. Being intensely occupied with the invention, he 
leaped out of the bath, and ran naked through the streets, 
crying, “ I have found it, I have found it!” 

The way in which he applied this circumstance to the solu¬ 
tion of the question proposed was this: he procured two 
masses, the one of pure gold, and the other of pure silver, 
each equal in weight to the crown, and consequently of une¬ 
qual magnitudes; then immersing the three bodies separately 
in a vessel of water, and collecting the quantity of water 
expelled by each, he was presently enabled to detect the 
fraud, it being obvious, that if the crown expelled more water 
than the mass of gold, it must be mixed with silver or some 
baser metal. Suppose, for instance, in order to apply it to 
the question, that each of the three masses weighed eighteen 
pounds; and that the mass of gold displaced one pound of 
water, that of silver a pound and a half, and the crown one 
pound and a quarter only: then, since the mass of silver dis¬ 
placed half a pound of water more than the same weight of 
gold, and the crown a quarter of a pound more than the gold, 
it appears, from the rule of proportion, that half a pound is 
to eighteen pounds, as a quarter is to nine pounds; which was, 
therefore, the quantity of silver mixed in the crown. 

Since the time of Archimedes, several other methods have 
been devised for solving this problem ; but the most natural 
and easy is, that of weighing the crown both in air and water, 
rnd observing the difference. 


To make a mutual Exchange of the Li 

using any other 


without 



Take two bottles, which are as nearly equal as possible, 
both in neck and belly, and let one be filled with oil, 
and the other with water; then clap the one that is full 
of water dexterously upon the other, so that the two necks 
shall exactly fit each other; and as the water is heavier than 
the oil, it will naturally descend into the lower bottle, and 
make the oil ascend into its place. In order to invert the 
bottle of water without spilling the contents, place a bit of 
thin writing paper over the mouth of the bottle ; and when 
you have placed the bottle in the proper position, draw out 
the paper quickly and steadily. 

How to make a Peg that will exactly fit Three different Holes. 

Let one of the holes be circular, the other square, and the 
third an oval; then it is evident, that any cylindrical body. 




APPENDIX. 


901 

of a proper size, may be made to pass through the first hole 
perpendicularly; and if'its length be just equal to its diame¬ 
ter, it may be passed horizontally through the second, or 
square hole; also, it the breadth of the oval be made equal 
to the diameter of the base of the cylinder, and its longest 
diameter equal to the diagonal of it, the cylinder, being put 
in obliquely, will fill it as exactly as any of the former. 


I o place 1 hree Sticks, or Tobacco Pipes, upon a Table, in such 
a manner that they may appear to be unsupported by any 
thing but themselves. 

Take one of the sticks, or pipes, (see Plate,) AB, fig. 2, and 
place it in an oblique position, with one of its ends, B, resting 
on the table ; then put one of the other sticks, as CD, across 
this in such a manner that one end of it, D, may be raised, and 
the other touch the table at C. Having done this, take the 
third stick E, and complete the triangle with it, making one 
of its ends E rest on the table, and running it under the 
second, CD, in such a manner that it may rest upon the first, 
AB; then will the three sticks, thus placed, mutually support 
each other; and even if a small weight be laid upon them, it 
will not make them fall, but strengthen, and keep them firmer 
in their position. 


How to prevent a heavy Body from falling, by adding another 
heavier Body to it on that side towards which it inclines. 

On the edge of a shelf, or table, or any other horizontal 
surface, lay a key, (see Plate,) CD, fig. 3, in such a manner, 
that, being left to itself, it would fall to the ground ; then, in 
order to prevent this, take a crooked stick DFG, with a weight, 
H, at the end of it; and having inserted one end of the stick 
in the open part of the key, at D, let it be so placed, that the 
weight H may fall perpendicularly under the edge of the tabic, 
and the body by these means will be effectually prevented 
from falling. 

The same thing may be done by hanging a weight at the 
end of a tobacco-pipe, a stick, or any other body; the best 
means of accomplishing which will be easily known by a few 
trials. 


To make a false Balance , that shall appear perfectly just when 
empty, or when loaded with unequal Weights. 

Take a balance, (see Plate,) DCE, fig. 4, the scales and 
arms of which are of such unequal weights and lengths, that 
the scale A may be in proportion to the scale B, as the length 





APPENDIX. 


902 

of the arm CE is to the length of the arm CD ; then will the 
two scales be exactly in equilibrio about the point C; and the 
same will be the case, if the two arms CD, CE, are of equal 
length, but of unequal thickness, provided the thickness of 
CD is to that of CE, as the weight of the scale B is to that 
of A. 

For example; suppose the arm CD is equal to three ounces, 
and the arm CE to two, and that the scale B weighs three 
ounces, and the scale A two ; then the balance, in this case, 
will be exactly true when empty; and if a weight of two 
pounds be put into the scale A, and one of three pounds into 
B, they will still continue in equilibrio. But the fallacy in 
this, and all other cases of the same kind, may be easily 
detected, in shifting the weights from one scale to the other. 


How to lift up a Bottle with a Straw , or any other slight 

Substance. 


Take a straw, (see Plate,) AB, fig. 5, which is not broken or 
bruised, and bend one end of it into a sharp angle ABC; then 
if this end of the straw be put into the bottle, so that the 
bent part of it may rest against either of its sides, you may 
take the other end in your hand, and lift up the bottle by it 
without breaking the straw; and this will be the more easily 
done, according as the angular part of the straw approaches 
nearer to that which comes out of the bottle. 


How to make a Cone, or Pyramid, move upon a Table without 
Springs, or any other artificial Means. 

Take a cone, or pyramid, of paper, or any other light sub¬ 
stance, and put a beetle, or some such small insect, privately 
under it; then, as the animal will naturally endeavour to free 
itself from its captivity, it will move the cone towards the 
edge of the table, and as soon as it comes there, will imme¬ 
diately return for fear of falling; and by moving backwards 
and forwards in this manner, will occasion much diversion to 
those who are ignorant of the cause. 


To make a Pen, which holds One Hundred Sheep, hold double the 
Number, by only adding two Hurdles more. 

In the first pen, or that which holds one hundred sheep, 
the hurdles must be so disposed, that there shall be only one 
at the top and bottom, and the rest in equal numbers on each 
side; then it is obvious, that if one hurdle more be placed 
at each end, the space enclosed must necessarily be double 
the former and consequently will hold twice the number of 
sheep. 





APPENDIX. 


903 


An ingenious Recreation, called the Two Communicative Busts. 

lake two heads of plaster of Paris, and place them on 
pedestals on the opposite sides of a room. Then take a tin 
tube, of an inch in diameter, and let it pass from the ear of 
one head through the pedestal, and under the floor, to the 
mouth of the other, observing, that the end of the tube which 
is next the ear of one head, should be considerably larger 
than that which comes to the mouth of the other. 

1 he whole being so disposed that there may be no suspicion 
of a communication, let any person speak with a low voice 
into the ear of one bust, and the sound will be distinctly heard 
by any one who shall place his ear to the mouth of the other; 
and if there be two tubes, one going to the ear, and the other 
to the mouth of each head, two persons may converse toge¬ 
ther, by applying their mouth and ear reciprocally to the 
mouth and ear of the busts, without being heard by any other 
persons in the room. 


Another Recreation of the same kind, called the Oracular Head. 

PI ace a bust on a pedestal in the corner of a room, and let 
there be two tubes, one of which goes from the mouth, and 
the other from the ear of the bust, through the pedestal and 
floor, to an under apartment. 

Then if a person be placed in the under room, by applying 
his ear to one of the tubes as soon as a proper signal is given, 
he will hear any question that is asked, and can immediately 
return an answer; and if wires be contrived to go from the 
under jaw and eyes of the bust, they may be made to move 
at the same time, and by these means appear to deliver the 
answer. 

It was by a contrivance of this kind, that Don Antonio de 
Moreno so much astonished the celebrated Knight of the Woe¬ 
ful Countenance, and his facetious squire Sancho Panza, by 
resolving certain doubts proposed by the former concerning 
his adventures in the cave of Montesinos, and the disenchant¬ 
ment of my lady Dulcinea. 


IIow to make a Piece of Metal, or any other heavy Body, swim 
upon the Surface of Water, like a Cork 

The specific gravity of water is inferior to tha of metals, 
and consequently water, absolutely speaking, cannot support 
a ball of iron or lead; but if this ball be flattened, and beat 
out to a very thin plate, it will, if put softly upon still water, 
be prevented from sinking, and will swim upon its surface 
like ar.y light substance. In like manner, if a fine steel needle. 




APPENDIX 


904 

which is perfectly dry, be placed gently upon some still water 
in a vessel, it will float upon the surface without sinking. 

But if you would have a metallic body of large dimensions 
to swim upon water, you must reduce it into a thin concave 
plate, like a kettle; in which case, as the air it contains, to¬ 
gether with the body itself, weighs less than the same bulk 
of water, it cannot possibly sink; as is evident from large 
copper boats, or pontoons, by which whole armies have .fre¬ 
quently passed over rivers without danger. 

If this concave metallic vessel be placed upon the water 
with its mouth downwards, it will swim as before, and the 
contained air will keep the bottom of it from being wet; for 
that the water will not rise into any hollow vessel which is 
immersed into it, may be made evident thus :—Take a glass 
tumbler, and plunge it into water with its mouth downwards, 
and you will find, when you take it out, that the inside of the 
vessel is perfectly dry, so that if a live coal were put there, 
it would not be extinguished. 


A curious Experiment , to prove that Tiuo and Two do not make 

Four. 

Take a glass vessel with a long narrow neck, which, being 
filled with water, will hold exactly a quart; then put into this 
vessel a pint of water, and a pint of acid of vitriol, and you 
will presently perceive, that the mixture will not fill the vessel, 
as it did when a quart of water only was put into it. The 
acid of vitriol must be put in gradually, by little and little at 
a time, mixing each portion with the water before you add 
more, by shaking the bottle, and leaving its mouth open, 
otherwise the bottle will burst. The mixture in this case also 
possesses a considerable degree of heat, though the two ingre¬ 
dients of themselves are perfectly cold ; and this phenomenon 
is not to be accounted for, by supposing that the acid of 
vitriol is received into the pores of the water, for then a small 
portion of it might be absorbed by the water, without aug¬ 
menting its bulk, which is known not to be the case; but the 
very form of the bodies in this experiment is changed, there 
being, as Dr. Hooke, who first noticed the fact, observes, an 
actual penetration of dimensions. Chemistry also furnishes a 
number of other instances, which shew that two bodies, 
when mixed together, possess less space than when they are 
separate. 


An ingenious Method of Secret Writing, by means of corre¬ 
sponding Spaces. 

Take two pieces of pasteboard, or stiff paper, out of which 
cut a number of oblong figures, at different distances from 




APPENDIX. 


905 


gach other, as in the following example. Keep one of these 
pieces for yourself, and give one to your correspondent; and 
when you are desirous of sending him any secret intelligence, 
lay the pasteboard upon a sheet of paper of the same size, 
and in the spaces which are cut out, write what you would 
have him only to understand, and fill up the intermediate 
parts of the paper with something which makes with these 
words a different sense. Then, when your correspondent 
receives this letter, by applying it to his pasteboard, he will 
be able to comprehend your meaning. 

Example. 


1 shall be | much obliged to you, as reading | alone | 


engages my attention | at | present, if you will send me any 
of the | eight | volumes of the Spectator; I hope you will 
excuse | this | freedom, but for a winter’s | evening | I 


| don’t | know a better entertainment. If I | fail J to return 


it soon, never trust me for the time to come. 


A curious Experiment, which depends on an Optical Illusion . 

On the bottom of the vessel, (see Plate,) A1BD, fig. 6, place 
three pieces of money, as a half-crown, a shilling, and a six¬ 
pence ; the first at E, the second at F, and the third at G. 
Then let a person be placed with his eye at H, so that he can 
see no farther into the vessel than I; and tell him, that by 
pouring water into the vessel, you will make him see three 
different pieces of money, which he may observe are not 
poured in with the water. 

For this purpose, desire him to keep himself steady in the 
same position, and, pouring the water in gently, that the 
pieces of money may not be moved out of their places, when 
it comes up to K, th e piece G will become visible to him; 
when it comes up to L, he will see the two pieces G and F; 
and when it rises to M, all the three pieces will become visi¬ 
ble : the cause of which is owing to the refraction of the rays 
of light, in their passage through the water; for while the 
vessel is empty, the ray HI wiil proceed in a straight line; 
but in proportion as it is filled with water, the ray will be bent 
into the several directions NG, OF, PE, and by these means 
the pieces are rendered visible. 


A curious Experiment, of nearly the same kind as the last, called 

Optical Augmentation. 

Take a large drinking-glass, of a conical figure, and having 
put a s filling into it, fill the glass about half full with water • 

























906 


APPENDIX. 


then place a plate on the top of it, and turn it quickly over, 
so that the water may not get out. This being done, look 
through the glass, and you will now perceive a piece of money 
of the size of half-a-crown ; and somewhat higher up, another 
piece of the size of a shilling. But if the glass be entirely 
filled with water, the large piece at the bottom only will be 
visible. 

This phenomenon is occasioned by your seeing the piece 
through the conical surface of the water, at the side of the 
glass, and through the flat surface at the top of the water, at 
the same time; for the conical surface dilates the rays, and 
makes the piece appear larger, while the flat surface only 
refracts them, and occasions the piece to be seen higher up 
in the glass, but still of its natural si*e. 


Another curious Experiment , called Optical Subtraction. 

Against the wainscot of a room fix three small pieces of 
paper, as A, B, C, fig. 7, (see Plate,) about a foot and a half or 
two feet asunder, at the height of your eye; and placing your¬ 
self directly before them, about five times the distance from 
them that the papers are from each other, shut one of your 
eyes, and look at them with the other, and you will then see 
only two of those papers, suppose A and B; but alterin g the 
position of your eye, you will now see the third, and one of 
the first, suppose A ; and by altering its position a second 
time, you will see B and C, but in neither case all three of 
them together. 

The cause of this phenomenon is, that one of the three 
pencils of rays, which come from these objects, falls on the 
optic nerve at D, whereas, to produce distinct vision, it is 
necessary that the rays of light fall on some part of the retina 
E, F, G, H. 

From this experiment, the use of having two eyes may be 
easily perceived; for he that has only one can never see three 
objects placed in this position ; or all the parts of one object, 
of the same extent, without altering the situation of his eye. 


An Optical Experiment, shewing how to produce an Artificial 

Rainbow. 

In any room which has a window facing the sun, suspend £. 
glass globe, filled with water, by a string which runs over a 
pulley, so that the sun’s rays may fall directly upon it; then 
drawing the globe gradually up, when it comes to the height 
of about forty degrees above the horizon, you will see, by 
placing yourself in a proper situation, the glass tinged with 
a purple colour; and by drawing it gradually higher up, the 



APPENDIX. 


907 

other prismatic colours, blue, green, yellow, and red, will 
successively appear; but after this they will all vanish, till 
the globe is raised to about fifty degrees, when they will again 
be seen, but in an inverted order, the red appearing first, and 
the blue, or violet, last; and when the globe comes up to 
httle more than fifty-four degrees, they will entirely vanish. 

these appearances serve to illustrate the phenomena of 
natuial rainbows, of which there are generally two, the one 
being about eight degrees above the other, and the order of 
their colours inverted, as in this experiment; the red being 

the uppermost colour in the lower bow, and the violet in the 
other. 


Ail artificial Rainbow may also be produced as follows. 

Take some water in your mouth, and turn your back to the 
sun ; then if it be blown forcibly out against some dark or 
s.iady place, you will see the drops formed by the beams of 
the sun into an apparent rainbow, which, however, soon 
vanishes. 


A. curious 


Optical Illusion , 


produced by means of a Concave 
Mirror. 


Take a glass bottle, (see Plate,) ABC, fig. 8, and fill it with 
water to the point B; leave the upper part, BC, empty, and 
cork it in the common manner; place this bottle opposite a 
concave mirror, and beyond its focus, so that it may appear 
reversed ; then if you place yourself still farther from the 
mirror, the bottle " ill appear to you in the situation a b c. 

And in this apparent bottle it is remarkable, that the water, 
which, according to the laws of catoptrics, and all other ex¬ 
periments of this kind, should appear at a b, appears, on the 
contrary, at b c, the part a b seeming to be entirely empty. 

And if the bottle be inverted, and placed before the mirror, 
as in the under part of the figure, its image will appear in its 
natural erect position, but the water, which is in reality at b c , 
will appear at a b. 

And if, while the bottle is inverted, it be uncorked, and the 
water suffered to run gently out, it will appear, that while the 
part BC is emptying, the part a b in the image is filling; and 
if, when the bottle is partly empty, some drops of water fall 
from the bottom A, towards BC, it seems in the image as if 
there were formed at the bottom of the part a b bubbles of air 
arising from a to b, which is the part that seems full. 

The circumstances most remarkable in this experiment, are, 
first, not only to see an o )ject where it is no*, but alsc where 
its image is not; and, secondly, that of two objects, vhich 




APTENDIX. 


908 

are really in the same place, as the surface of the bottle and 
the water it contains, the one should be seen at one place, 
and the other at another; and also that the bottle should be 
seen in the place of its image, and the water where neither it 
nor its images are. 

It is, however, to be noted, that if any coloured liquor be 
put into the bottle instead of water, no such illusion will take 

is one phenomenon more of this kind, which ought 
not to be omitted ; for though it be common enough, it is also 
extremely pleasing, and easy to be performed. 

If you place yourself before a concave mirror, at a proper 
distance, your figure will appear inverted ; and if you stretch 
out your hand towards the mirror, you will perceive another 
hand, which seems to meet and join it, though imperceptible 
to the touch. 

And if, instead of your hand, you make use of a drawn 
sword, and present it in such a manner that its point may be 
directed towards the focus of the rays reflected by the mirror, 
another sword will appear, and seem to encounter that in your 
hand. But it is to be observed, that to make this experiment 
succeed well, you must have a mirror of at least a foot in 
diameter, that you may see yourself in part; and if you have 
a mirror large enough to see your whole person, the illusion 
will be still more striking. 


place 

Th 


How to make a violent Tempest, bp means of artificial Rain 

and Hail. 

Make a hollow cylinder of wood, very thin at the sides, 
about eight or ten inches long, and two or three feet in dia¬ 
meter. Divide its inside into five equal partitions, by means 
of boards of about six inches wide; and let there be a space 
between them and the wooden circle, of about one-sixth ot 
an inch ; observing, that the boards are to be placed obliquely 
to each other. 

This being done, put into the cylinder four or five pounds 
of leaden shot, of a size that will easily pass through the 
opening left for this purpose; then turn the cylinder on its 
axis, and the sound of the machine, when in motion, wiL 
represent that of rain, which will increase with the velocity 
of the motion; and if a larger sort of shot be.used, it will 
produce the sound of hail. 


Magic Square . 

This, in arithmetic, is a square figure made up of numbers 
m aiithrt.etical proportion, so disposed in parallel and equal 




APPEN D1X. 


909 


ranks, that the sums ot each row, taken either perpendicu¬ 
larly, honzontally, or diagonally, are equal: tnus—- 


Natural Square. 


1 

2 ' 

* 3 

4 

5 

CO 

7 

8 

9 


Magic Square. 


to 

_ 

' 1 

CO 

9 

5 

1 

4 

CO j 

QO 


Magic squares seem to have been so called, from their bein^ 
used in the construction of talismans. 

Take another instance :— 


Natural Square. Magic Square. 


fi 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

i 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 

'21 

22 

23 

24 

25 


16 

14 

8 

2 

25 

3 

22 

20 

11 

9 

15 

6 

4 

23 

17 

24 

18 

12 

10 

1 

7 

5 

21 

19 

13 


where every row and diagonal in the magic square, makes just 
the sum 65, being the same as the two diagonals of the 
natural square. 

It is probable that these magic squares were so called, both 
because of this property in them, viz. that the ranks in every 
direction make the same sum, which appeared extremely surpris¬ 
ing, especially in the more ignorant ages, when mathematics 
passed for magic; and because also of the superstitious opera¬ 
tions they were employed in, as, the construction of talis¬ 
mans, &c.; for, according to the childish philosophy of those 
days, which ascribed virtues to numbers, what might not be 
expected from numbers so seemingly wonderful? The magic 
square was held in great veneration among the Egyptians, and 
the Pythagoreans their disciples, who, to add more efficacy 
and virtue to this square, dedicated it to the then known 
seven planets, divers ways, and engraved it upon a plate of the 
metal that was esteemed in sympathy with the planet. The 
square, thus dedicated, was enclosed by a regular polygon, 
inscribed into a circle, which was divided into as many equal 
parts as there were units in the side of the square; with the 
names of the angels of the planet, and the signs of the zodiac 
written upon the void spaces between the polygon and the 
circumference of the circumscribed circle. Such a talisman, 

5 T 






































































APPKNDIX. 


910 

or metal, they vainly imagined would, upon occasion, befriend 
the person who carried it about him. To Saturn, they attri¬ 
buted the square of 9 places, or cells, the side being 3, and 
the sum of the number in every row 15 : to Jupiter, the square 
of 16 places, the side lpeing4, and the amount of each row 34* 
to Mars, the square of 25 places, the side being 5, and the 
amount of each row 65 : to the Sun, the square with 36 places, 
the side being 6, and the sum of each row 111: to Venus, the 
square of 49 places, the side being 7, and the amount of each 
row 175: to Mercury, the square with 64 places, the side 
being 8, and the sum of each row 260: and to the Moon, the 
square of 81 places, the side being 9, and the amount of each 
row 369. Finally, they attributed to imperfect matter, the 
squaie with 4 divisions, having 2 for its side: and to God, the 
square of only one cell, the side of which is also an unit, 
vhich, multiplied by itself, undergoes no change. 


MORAL AND PHYSICAL 

THERMOMETER; 

OR, A 

SCALE OF THE PROGRESS 

or 

TEMPERANCE and INTEMPERANCE. 


sii 


Liquors, with their Effects in their usual Order. 


0 

ID- 

20 — 

30— 

40— 


50- 


60- 


70- 


70— 


Water. 

CO— 


Milk and Water 

50— 


Small Beer. 

40— 


Cider and Perry 

30— 


Wine 

20— 


Porter . T T r T T T t 

10— 


Strong Beer ... 


TEMPERA NCE. 

Health, Wealth. 

Serenity and Composure of Mind. 
Reputation, Long Life, and Happiness. 
Cheerfulness and Contentment. 
Strength, Vigour, and Nourishment,— 
when taken only at Meals, and in 
moderate quantities. 


© 


Punch . 

Toddy & Crank, 

{ Grog, & Bran- 
^ dy and Water, 

Flip and Shrub, 

/'Bitters infus- 
\ ed in Spirits, 

< Usquebaugh, 
f Hysteric 
UWater. 

/'Gin, Aniseed, 
) Brandy, Rum, 
\ and Whiskey, 
Cin the Morning 

c Ditto, during 
} the Day and 
C. Night. 


INTEMPERANCE. 

^ Vices. Diseases. 

Idleness; 


Peevishness; 
Quarrelling; 
Fighting; 
Lying; 
Swearing; 
Obscenity; 
Swindling; 
Perjury; 

Burglary; 

Murder; 

5 L 


Punishments 


Sickness; 
Puking; and 
Tremors of the 
Hands in the 
Morning; 
Bloatedness; 
InllamedEyes; 
Red Nose and 
Face; 

Sore &swelled 
Legs; 
Jaundice; 
Pains in the 
Limbs and 
Burning in the 
Palms of the 
Hands & Soles 
of the Feet; 
Dropsy; 
Epilepsy; 
Melancholy; 
Madness; 
Palsy; 
Apoplexy; 
Dratt). 


Debt; 

Black Eyes; 
Rags; 

Hunger; 

Hospital; 
Poor-house 
Jail, 

Whipping; 

The Hulks; 

Botany Bay, 
<PalIoiM 



























































INDEX 


A.bderites, or, inhabitants of Abdera, curious 
account of, 4? 

Abstinence, wonders of, 67 
Act of faith, 638 

Adansonia ; or, African calabash tree, 378 
Adroitness, wonderful instances of, 54 
Agnesi, Maria Gaetana, account of, 120 
Agrigentum, in Sicily, ruins of, 540 
Air, its pressure and elasticity, 867 
Alarm bird, 243 

Alexandria, buildings and library of, 549 
Alhambra, 559 
Alligators, 164 

American natural history, 182 
Andes t 415 
Androides, 701 

Anger, surprising effects of, 82 
Animalcules, 357 

Animal generation, curiosities respecting, 139 
Animals, formation of, 142 
Animals, preservation of, 144 
Animals, destruction of, 150 
Animal reproductions, 154 
Animals and plants, winter sleep of, 808 
Animals, remarkable strength of affection in, 
_ 184 

Animals, surprising instances of sociality in, 
.185 

Animals, unaccountable faculties possessed by 
some, 187 

Animals, remarkable instances of fasting in, 
. *89 

Animal flower, 392 

Anthropophagi, or men-eaters, account of, 75 

Ants, curiosities of, 290 

Ants, green, 311 

Ants, white, or termites, 301 

Ant, lion ? 312 

Ants, visiting, 312 

Aphis, curiosities respecting, 33 

Aqueducts, remarkable, 795 

Ark of Noah, 582 

Artificer, unfortunate, 745 

Artificial figure to light a candle, 858 

Asbestos, 402 

Athos, mount, 423 

Attraction, examples of, 865 

Augsburg, curiosities of, 576 

Aurora borealis, 684 

Automaton, description of, 700 

B 

Babylon, 557 

Bacon flitch, custom at Dunmow Essex, 605 
Balbeck, ancient ruins of, 538 
Bannian tree, 374 
Baptism, a curious one, 642 
Baratier, John Philip, premature genius of, 125 
Barometer, rules for predicting the weather by 
it, 892 

Bastile, the destruction of, 821 
Beards, remarks concerning, 31 
Beaver, description of, 156 
Beavers, habitations of the, 158 
Beetle, the, 347 
Bee, the honey, 265 

Bees, wild, curiosities of. Clothier Bee, Car¬ 
penter Bee, Mason Bee, Upholsterer Bee, 
Leaf-cutter Bee, 277, 278, 279, 280 
Bees, account of an idiot-boy and, 283 
Bees, Mr. Wildman’s curious exhibitions of, ex¬ 
plained, 283 


Bells, baptism of, 659 

Benefit of clergy, origin and history of, 623 

Benzine, 835 

Bird of Paradise, 230 

Bird, singular account of one inhabiting a vol¬ 
cano in Guadalope, 246 
Bird-catching fish, 196 
Bird-catching, curious method of, 260 
Birds, method of preserving, 893 
Birds, hydraulic, 713 
Birds, song of, 261 
Birds’ nests, 251 

Bisset, Samuel, the noted animal instructor, 

12 I 

Bletonism, 95 

Blind persons, astonishing acquisitions made 
by some, 46 

Blood, circulation of, 24 
Blunders, book of, 761 
Boa Constrictor, 217 
Boat-fly, 342 

Body, combustion of the, 97 
Body, human, curiosities of the, 13 
Bolea, Monte, 418 

Books, curious account of the scarcity of, 757 
Borrowdale, 458 
Bottles, to uncork, 836 
Boverick’s curiosities, 713. 

Bowthorpe oak, 382 
Bread-fruit tree, 372 
Bread, old, curious account of, 807 
Bridge, great trestle, 837 
Bridge, great suspension, 843 
Brown, Simon, and his curious dedication to 
Queen Caroline, 108 
Bunzlau curiosities, 714 

Buonaparte, principal events in the life of, 126 
Burning spring in Kentncky, 493 
Burning and hot springs, 494, 495, 496, 497 
Burning, extraordinary cures by, 792 
Burning-glasses, 717 
Bustardj the great, 243 
Butterflies, beauty and diversities of, 344 
Butterflies, to take an impression of their 
wings, 894 

C 

Camera obscura, to make, 858 
Candiac, John Lewis, account of, 113 
Candlemas-day, 632 
Cannon, extraordinary, 807 
Cards, origin of, 767 
Carrier, or courier pigeon, 244 
Carthage, ancient grandeur of, 542 
Case, John, celebrated quack doctor, 113 
Catching a hare, curious custom respecting, 
601 

Caterpillar, 219 
Caterpillar-eaters, 220 
Cathedral, the Cologne, 820 
Cave, the Mammoth, of Kentucky, 846 
Cave of Fingal, 452 
Cave near Mexico, 457 
Celluloid, 834 
Centaurs and Lapithae, 785 
Chameleon, particulars respecting, 175 
Changeable flower, 387 
Cheese-mite, curiosities respecting, 358 
Chemical illuminations, 870 
Chick, formation of, in the egg, 249 
Child, extraordinary arithmetical powers of a, 
88 

Chiltern hundreds, 634 



9U 


INDEX. 


China, great wall of, 579 

Chinese, funeral ceremonies of the, 610 

Christmas-boxes, origin of, 633 

Cinchona, or Peruvian bark, curious effects of, 

39 ° 

Cleopatra’s barge, 822 
Clepsydra, 706 

Clock-work, extraordinary pieces of, 704 
Clouds, electrified, terrible effects of, 656 
Coal-pit, visit to one, 469 
Cocoa-nut tree, 371 
Coins of the kings of England, 814 
Coinage and coins of the United States, 816 
Cold, surprising effects of extreme, 659 
Colossus, 570 

Colours, experiments on, 895 
Colours, incapacity of distinguishing, 56 
Combustion of the human body by the im¬ 
moderate use of spirits, 97 
Common house-fly, curiosities of the, 337 
Company of Stationers, singular custom annu¬ 
ally observed by the, 766 
Conscience, instances of the power of, 84 
Cormorant, 242 
Coruscations, artificial, 875 
Cotton wool, curious particulars of a pound 
weight of, 391 

Countenance, human, curiosities of the, 18 
Creeds of the Jews, 775 
Crichup Linn, 797 
Crocodile, 163 

Crocodile, fossil, curiosity of, 165 
Cuckoo, curiosities respecting, 240 
Curfew bell, why so called, 635 
Curious historical fact, 744 

D 

Dancer, Daniel, account of, 104 
Dajak, inhabitants of Borneo, curious funeral 
ceremonies of, 612 

Deaf, to make the, perceive sounds, 856 
Deaths, poetical, grammatical, and scientific, 
_ 73 

Death-watch, 347 

Diamond mine, on the river Tigitonhonha, in 
the Brazilian territory, 460 
Diamond, wonderful, 405 
Diana, temple of, at Ephesus, 554 
Dimensions, etc., of some of the largest trees 
growing in England, 382 
Diseases peculiar to particular countries, 789 
Dismal swamp, 798 
Dog, remarkable, 194 
Dog, curious anecdotes of a, 195 
Dogs, sagacity of, 193 
Dreams, instances of extraordinary, 70 
Dwarfs, extraordinary, 40 

E 

Eagle, the golden, 237 
Ear, curious structure of the, 22 
Earl of Pembroke, curious extracts from the 
will of an, 773 

Earthquakes and their causes, 499 

Eating, singularities of different nations in, 595 

Eclipses, 676 

Eddystone rocks, 797 

Egg, to soften an, 851 

Electricity, illumination by, 793 

Electrical light, 841 

Electrical experiments, 869 

Elephant, account of an, 168 

Elephant, docility of the, 170 

Elwes, John, account of, 104 

English ladies turned Hottentots, 744 

Ephemeral flies, 343 

Ephesus, temple of Diana at, 554 

Escurial, 577 

Etna, 443 

Extraordinary custom, 601 
Eye, curious formation of the, 20 


F 

Fact, the most extraordinary on record, 744 

Fairy rings, 667 

Falling stars, 681 

Faquirs, travelling, 740 

Fasting, extraordinary instances of, 65, 824 

Fata, Morgana, 665 

Feasts, among the ancients of various nations, 
614 

Female beauty and ornaments, 596 

Fiery fountain, 872 

Fire-balls, 655 

Fire of London, 748 

Fire-fly, the, 323 

Fire, perpetual, 806 

Fishes, air bladder in, 201 

Fishes, respiration in, 202 

Fishes, shower of, 203 

Flea, account of a, 325 

Flea, on the duration of the life of a, 328 

Florence statues, 579 

Fly, the common house, 337 

Fly, the Hessian, 336 

Fly, the May, 340 

Fly, the vegetable, 341 

Fly, the boat, 342 

Flying, artificial, 716 

Flying machine, the, 838 

Fountain trees, 375 

Freezing, astonishing expansive force of, 661 

Friburg, curiosities of, 575 

Friendship, curious demonstrations of, 594 

Fright, or terror, remarkable effects of, 82 

Frog, the common, 160 

Frog-fish, 196 

Frosts, remarkable, 533 

Flower, the animal, 392 

Fruits, injuries from swallowing the stones of, 
79i , 

Funeral ceremonies of the ancient Ethiopians, 
609 

Fungi, 39s 

G 

Galley of Hiero, 584 

Galvanism, 689 

Gardens, floating, 580 

Gardens, hanging, 558 

Garter, origin of the order of the, 623 

Gas lights, miniature, 864 

Gauts, or Indian Appenines. 421 

Giants, curious account of, 39 

Giant’s causeway, 590 

Gipsies, 732 

Glaciers, 529 

Glass, ductility of, 720 

Glass, to cut, without a diamond, 861 

Glass, to write on, by the sun’s rays, 866 

Glow worm, the, 319 

Gnat, the, 347 

Gold, remarkable ductility and extensibility of, 
721 

Gold, discovery of, 839 

Gravity, experiments respecting the, 866 

Great events from little causes, 746 

Grosbeak, the social, 234 

Grosbeak, the Bengal, 235 

Grotto in South Africa, 445 

Grotto del Cani, 446 

Grotto of Antiparos, 447 

Grotto of Guacharo, 450 

Growth extraordinary instances of rapid, 37 

Guinea, explanation of all the letters on a, 768 

Gulf stream, 490 

Gutenberg, John, 823 

H 

Hail, surprising showers of, 518 
Hair of the head, account of, 28 
Hair, instances of the internal growth of, 30 


INDEX, 


915 


Hair, ancient and modern opinions respecting 
the, 29 

Halo, or corona, and similar appearances, 680 
Hand-fasting, 609 
Harmattan, 511 

Heat, diminished by evaporation, 867 
Hecla, 442 

Heidelberg clock, 705 

Heinecken, Christian Henry, account of, 114 
Hell, opinions respecting, 812 
Henly, John, singular character of, 107 
Herculaneum and Pompeii, 536 
Herschel’s grand telescope, 713 
Hessian fly, j3<) 

Hobnails, origin of the sheriffs counting, 622 
Holland, North, curious practice in, 630 
Honour, extraordinary instances of, 80 
Horse, remarkable instances of sagacity in a, 
192 

Human work and waste, 826 
Human heart, structure of the, 24 
Humming bird, 236 

Huntingdon, William, eccentric character of, 
134 

Hurricane, curious particulars respecting a, 
5 11 

Husband long absent, returned, 741 
Hydra, or polypes, account of, 359 
Hypnotism, 830 

I 

Icebergs, £28 

Ice factories, 832 

Ice, Greenland or polar, 525 

Ice, tremendous concussions of fields of, 528 

Ice, showers of, 533 

Ignis Fatuus, 644 

Imprisonment of the learned, 76s 

Indian jugglers, 64 

Individuation, 780 

Ingratitude, shocking instances of, 78 
Inks, various sympathetic, 881 to 885 
Insects, metamorphoses of: the butterfly, the 
common fly, the grey-coated gnat, the 
shardhom beetle, 345 
Integrity, striking instances of, 77 
Inverlochy Castle, 574 
Island, new, starting from the sea, 491 

J 

ew’s harp, 755 

ohn Bull, origin of the term of, 634 
K 

Killarney, the lake of, 487 
Kimos, singular nation of dwarfs, 43 
Knout, 804 
Kraken, 210 

L 

Labrador stone, 402 
Lady of the Lamb, 601 
Lama, 810 

Lambert, Daniel, account of, 40 
Lamps, remarkable, 805 
Lamp, phosphoric, 872 
Lanterns, feast of, 621 
Laocoon, monument of, 556 
Leaves, to take an impression of them, 8 c )4 
Letter, curious, from Pomare, King of Ota- 
heite, to the Missionary Society, 773 
Libraries, celebrated, 760 
Light produced under water, 878 # 

Lightning, extraordinary properties and effects 

Lightning, to produce artificial, 872 
Liquids, to produce changeable-coloured, 886 
Liquids, to exchange two in different bottles, 
872 


Literary labour and perseverance, 756 
Lizard, imbedded in coal, 225 
Locusts and their uses in the creation, 349 
London, compendious description of, 813 
London, intellectual improvement in, 761 
Longevity, extraordinary instances of, 96 
Louse, 328 

Love-letter, and answer, curious, 774 
Luminous insects, 319 

M 

Maelstrom, 489 
Magdalen’s hermitage, 575 
Magic oracle, 873 
Magical bottle, 879 
Magical drum, 806 
Magnetism, 693 
Magnetic experiments, 876 
Mahometan paradise, 8xi 
Maiden, 599 

Mammoth, or Fossil Elephant, found in Si¬ 
beria, 170 

Man-turtle, the, 827 

Man with the iron mask, 727 

Mandrake, 387 

Marmot, or the Mountain Rat of Switzerland, 
167 

Marriage custom of the Japanese, 604 
Marriage ceremonies, curious, in different na¬ 
tions, 602 

Masons, free and accepted, 737 
Mathematical talent, curious instance of, 93 
Matrimonial ring, 608 
Matter, divisibility of, 793 
May-fly, 340 

May poles and garlands, the origin of, 629 
Memnon, palace of, 552 
Memory, remarkable instance of, 86 
Mesmerism, 829 

Metals, different, to discover, 856 

Metals, mixed, to detect, 899 

Microscopic experiments, 887 

Migration of birds, 253 

Mills, remarkable, 799 

Mint of Segovia, 799 

Miraculous vessel, 880 

Mirage, account of, 521 

Mite, the cheese, curiosities respecting, 358 

Mock suns, 673 

Mocking bird of America, 233 

Mole, the common, 159 

Money, test of good or bad, 862 

Monkey, sagacity of a, 102 

Monsoons, or trade winds, 5x2 

Monster, 777 

Montague, Edward Wortley, no 
Mont Blanc, in Switzerland, 427 
Moon, account of three volcanoes in the, 682 
Morland, George, account of, 114 
Moscow, great bell of, 726 
Mosquitoes, and their uses, 35s 
Mourning, ancient modes of, 613 
Mountains, natural descriptions of, 406 
Mountains Written, Mountains of Inscription, 
or Jibbel El Mokatteb, 422 
Mount Snowden, excursion to the top of, 412 
Mud and Salt, volcanic eruptions of, in the 
island of Java, 467 
Murdering statue, 801 
Museum, 566 
Mushroom, 395 
Mushroom-stone, 402 
Mysteries and Oracles, 641 

N 

Names, curious, adopted in the civil war, 772 
Naphtha springSj 492 t 

Natural productions resembling artificial com 
positions, 804 

Natural history, curious facts in, 247 
Nautilus, 197 


916 


INDEX, 


Navigation, perfection of, 481 

Needles, 722 

Needle’s eye, 459 

News, origin of the word, 762 

Newspapers, origin of, 762 

New studies in old age, instances of, 763 

New year’s gifts, origin of, 633 

Niagara, and its falls, 485 

Nicholas Pesce, 117 

Nitre caves of Missouri, 457 

Numbers, remarkable instance of skill in, 86 

Numbers, curious arrangements of, 896 

Nuns, particulars respecting, 811 

Nuovo Monte, 419 

O 

Oak-tree, remarkable account of, 380 
Oakham, custom at, 630 
Obelisk, the, 571 

Obelisk, the Egyptian, in New York Central 
Park, 844 

Obelisk, remarkable, near Forres, in Scotland, 
573 

Okey Hole, 458 
Orang-Outang, 178 
Origin of 1 That’s a Bull,’ 635 
Origin of the old adage respecting St. Swithin, 
and rainy weather, 635 
Ornithorhynchus paradoxus, 166 
Ostrich, curiosities of the, 231 
Owl, adventure of an, 247 

P 

Palmyra, ruins of, 535 
Park, New York Central, 844 
Parr, old, in 
Pascal, Blaise, no 
Passion, or holy week, 633 
Pausilippo, 419 
Peacock, the common, 226 
Peak in Derbyshire, description of, 409 
Peg, to make a, to fit three differently shaped 
holes, 900 

Pelican, the great, 229 
Penance, curious account of a, 643 
Performances of a female, blind almost from 
her infancy, 53 

Persons born defective in their limbs, wonder¬ 
ful instances of adroitness of, 54 
Peruke, 783 
Peru, mines of, 465 

Pesce, Nicholas, extraordinary character of, 

„ ir 7 
Petroleum, — 

Pharos of Alexandria, 549 
Phonograph, the, 841 
Photophone, the, 840 
Phosphoric fire, sheet of, 669 
Phosphorus, 670 
Pichinca, 415 
Pico, 422 

Pigeon wild, its multiplying power, 245 
Pigeon, carrier, or courier, 244 
Pin-making, 721 
Pitch wells, 468 

Plague, dreadful instances of the, in Europe, 

™ 747 . 

Plant, curious, 386 

Plants, curious dissemination of, 366 

Plants upon the earth, prodigious number of, 

367 

Plough-Monday, origin of, 632 

Poison-eater, remarkable account of, 94 

Pompey’s pillar, 547 

Portland vase, 800 

Praxiteles’ Venus, 712 

Praying machines of Kalmuck, 642 

Priest, Jewish High, 822 

Printing, invention of, 823 

Psalmanazar, George, noted impostor, 112 


Pulpit, curious, 801 
Pyramids of Egypt, 544 

Q 

Quaint lines, 772 

Queen Charlotte, curious address to, 769 
Queen, a blacksmith’s wife become a, 749 
Queen Elizabeth’s dinner, curious account of 
the ceremonies at, 749 
Queen Elizabeth, quaint lines on, 772 

R 

Races, the five human, 817 

Railroads, elevated, 842 

Railroad, the Pacific, 836 

Recreations, amusing in optics, etc., 905 

Recreations, amusing, with numbers, 848 to 855 

Religions, ancient, 636 

Reproduction, 781 

Respiration, interesting facts concerning, 26 

Rhinoceros, 162 

Rings, on the origin of, 606 

Rome, ancient, 818 

Rome from the capitol, 819 

Rosin bubbles, 879 

Royal progenitors, 744 

Ruin at Siwa in Egypt, 534 

S 

Salutation, various modes of, 598 
Sand floods, account of, 521 
Savage, Richard, extraordinary character of r 
128 

Scaliot’s lock, 712 

Scarron, Paul, account of, 119 

Schurrman, Anna Maria, 123 

Scorpion, 213 

Sea, curiosities of the, 471 

Sea, on the saltness of, 476 

Sea, to measure the depth of the, 857 

Sea serpent, American, 218 

Seal, common, account of, 180 

Seal, ursine, 181 

Seeds, germination of, 365 

Sensibility of plants, 368 

Sensitive plant, 369 

Seraglio, 564 

Serpents, fascinating power of, 219 

Sexes, difference between the, 34 

Sexes at birth, comparative number of the, 36- 

Shark, 198 

Sheep, extraordinary adventures of one, 190 

Shelton oak, description of, 382 

Ship worm, 224 

Ship Great Harry, 836 

Ship at sea, to find the burden of a, 857 

Shoes, curiosities respecting, 724 

Shoemakers, literary, 764 

Shower of gosamers, curious phenomenon of a, 

523 . 

Shrovetide, 630 

Silk-mill at Derby, 800 

Silk stockings, electricity of, 870 

Silkworm, 220 

Singular curiosity, 405 

Skiddaw, 414 I 

Sleep-walker, 69 

Sleeping woman of Dunninald, 70 
Smeaton, John, 113 
Sneezing, curious observations on, 33 
Snow grotto, 451 
Solfatara, the lake of, 488 
Sound, experiments on, 868 
Spectacle of a sea fight at Rome, 711 
Spectacles, a substitute for, 807 
Spectre of the Broken, 420 
Spider, curiosities of the, 314 
Spider, tamed, 3x6 
Spider, ingenuity of a, 3x6 
Spider, curions anecdote of a, 318 


INDEX. 


917 


Spirit rappings, 827 

Spontaneous inflammations, 786 

Sports, book of, 766 

Springs, hot and burning, 492 

Springs, hot, of Arkansas, 847 

Stalk, animated, 392 

Star, falling or shooting, 401 

Steamboat, the first, 835 

Steamship Great Eastern, 836 

Steel, to melt, 858 

Stone, the meteoric, 401 

Stone, the Labrador, 402 

Stone, the changeable, 404 

Stone-eater, remarkable account of, 94 

Stonehenge, 592 

Storks, 229 

Storm, singular effects of a, 5C9 
Strasburg clock, 705 
Sugar, antiquity of, 390 
Sulphur mountains, 424 
Sun, diminution of the, 673 
Surgical operation, extraordinary, 791 
Swine’s concert, 750 
Sword-swallowing, 62 
Sympathetic inks, 881 to 885 

T 

Tallow-tree, 378 
Tapeworm, 222 

Tea, Chinese method of preparing, 388 
Telegraph, 708 

Telegraphy, new mode of, 839 

Telephone, the, 841 

Temple of Tentira, in Egypt, 550 

Tenures, curious, 628 

Thermometrical experiments, 863 

Thermometer, moral and physical, 911 

Thread burnt, not broken, 872 

Thunder powder, 864 

Thunder rod, 654 

Tides, 479 

Titles of books, 755 

Toad, common, description of, 161 

Topham, Thomas, character of, 115 

Tornado, description of a, 510 

Torpedo, 200 

Tortoise, the common, 176 
Tree, the paper, 378 
Tree, the African calabash, 379 
Tree of Diana, 880 

Trees, account of a country in which the in¬ 
habitants reside in, 45 
Tunnel, the great Sutro, 838 

U 

Unbeliever’s creed, 776 
Unfortunate artificer, 745 


Unicorn, 179 

Upas, or poison tree, 383 

V 

Valentine’s day, origin of, 632 

Vegetable kingdom, curiosities in the, 363 

Vegetables, number of known, 367 

Vegetable fly, 341 

Velocity of the wind, 517 

Ventriloquism, 58 

Vesuvius, 434 

Vicar of Bray, 748 

Volcanoes in the moon, 682 

Voltaic pile, to make a cheap, 875 

Vulture, Egyptian, 228 » 

Vulture, secretary, 228 

W 

Wasp, curiosities respecting the, 285 

Watch, the mysterious, 863 

Watches, invention of, 707 

Water, to boil without heat, 863 

Water, to weigh, 862 

Water, to retain in an inverted glass, 863 

Waterspout, 663 

Waves stilled by oil, 480 

Weaving engine, 712 

Whale, great Northern, or Greenland, 204 
Whale fishery, 208 

Whig and Tory, explanation of the terms, 776 
Whirlpool near Sudero, 489 
Whirlwinds of Egypt, 509 

Whispering places, and extraordinary echoes, 
802 

Whitehead’s ship, 712 
Wild man, account of a, 76 
Wind, velocity of, 517 
Winds, remarkable, in Egypt, 507 
Wine cellar, curious, 799 
Winter in Russia, 524 

Wolby, Henry, extraordinary character of, 105 
Women with beards, curious account of, 32 
Wooden eagle and iron fly, 711 
Writing, origin of the materials of, 751 
Writing, minute, 753 


X 


Xerxes’ bridge of boats over the Hellespont, 
586 


Z 


Zeuxis, celebrated painter, 116 





SAMPLE NOTICES OF THE PRESS. 


A book of rare excellence, which should be in every home 
.ibrary in the land. It contains information difficult to obtain 
elsewhere, and has 1,000 pages and 140 illustrations. Send to 
publishers for prospectus and full particulars, and you will learn 
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transaction.— New England Journal. 

This new and great work, by Rev. J. Platt, D.D., we heart¬ 
ily commend ; wherever the senses or thought of man leads him 
into the realm of wonders, in nature and art, that challenge 
his curiosity and investigation, the author lends his generous 
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grand achievements of the human intellect in the discoveries of 
science, the skill and power of man in invention and art, are 
here treated exhaustively, with a view to furnish accurate and 
reliable information. 

Aided by the index, this book becomes a most valuable 
reference-book for the family, school, and public library. The 
engravings are profuse, making the volume one of attractive¬ 
ness as well as of standard worth. Agents would find this a 
good work with which to canvass among the people.— National 
Journal of Education. 

Every page shows something to please, delight, inform, and 
benefit. The physician, the anatomist, the astronomer, the 
divine, the agriculturist, the merchant, the mechanic, the 
naturalist, will learn something from these pages; while the 
general reader will find it a perpetual feast of good things.— 
Neiv York School Journal. 

“The World’s Encyclopedia of Wonders and Curiosities” 
is at hand, and merely a cursory examination of it is sufficient 
to satisfy us that it fully justifies all praises which are heaped 
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the most attractive which we have seen for many a day. In 
diana Evening Register . 

This book is a compendium of valuable and instructive 
facts. Nothing so embellishes conversation as a knowledge oi 
the wonderful in history and science, and this book enables the 
reader to have at his tongue’s end a rich store of entertaining 
information.— Fort Wayne Press . 

The people will find this work highly entertaining and in¬ 
structive.— Barnes ’ Educational Monthly . 







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